[Harry]

No image flip is a real drag for those of us who want to use 35mm lenses.

Is there any possibility –or does anyone on this board know of a way of mounting an additional viewfinder and how to connect it?

With thanks

Harry

Harry Bromley-Davenport

[Harry]

Would one not hope that such upgrades would be available over the net and transferrable to the camera via UBS?

Or am I madly optimistic?

Harry

Harry Bromley-Davenport

[Harry]

9/8/05 6:56 PM

I understand the very valid point you are making, but …

Forgive me, but I’m one of the dramatic “film persons” to whom you refer and who’s directed 8 feature films — none is a particularly big deal, so I have nothing to boast about, however they are dramatic features nonetheless. And I’m complaining precisely because of the reloading issue. I don’t want to have to reload after 15 to 18 minutes. This whole Digital Video thing is supposed to alleviate issues like having to sit around while the P2 cards are downloaded onto a computer and everyone takes a coffee break. And I want to record direct to disk so that I don’t have to worry about the amount of coverage I am giving to a scene. I don’t want to cut at the end of a take when an actor is doing well and warming up. I want to keep rolling and run into another take. That’s expensive with film and, apparently, expensive with the P2 cards at the moment — plus it’s a bit of a pain in the ass.

And, by the way, on my pictures (at least the better ones) I have used 2000′ 35mm mags which give me 22 minutes with the actors without reloading.

About 4 years ago I did a picture with a 10 year old child in the lead called “”Mockingbird Don’t Sing”. It was a serious movie. Since she had no acting experience I would run the camera (shooting 35mm scope) for 15 to 20 minutes at a time to catch a few naturalistic moments with her. Digital recording is supposed to make this easier and cheaper and less troubling for the accountants.

Your point is well made – and who the hell am I to disagree with you? Nevertheless I seriously believe that a producer/director of dramatic films is going to see this as an unfortunate restriction until the P2 cards can record longer scenes … and it would be nice to see them come down in price

Now I feel that I’ve screamed at you and you’re probably a very nice person.

Forgive me for being such a curmudgeon.

Best wishes,

Harry

Harry Bromley-Davenport

[Harry]

I am reliably informed by Jan Crittenden of Panasonic, in response to my email to her, that the camera will indeed capture direct to a laptop and into FCP using firewire.

I too have no desire to spend thousands of $$s on these cards. Besides which, I understand that in HD 1080 24p you munch up 1 gig per minute — so unsuitable for documentary or dramatic film-making. Probably ok for ENG guys.

I am planning on purchasing a LONG firewire cable with a repeater.

Best

H.

PS. There are also plans afoot from a third party to make a direct to hard drive recording system, but I have no idea when this might appear.

[Harry]

Sorry, but where and when is IBC held? I’d like to get my hands on one of these puppies.

Thanks,

Harry

[Harry]

And anyway, would one be forced to use the FCP CAPTURE mode to record the footage onto a laptop? Seems a clunky way to go about it what with all that messing about while FCP “allocates disk space” etc and naming files. Is there a simpler “hit one button” way to record from the camera direct to the laptop Mac?

Any ideas out there?

Best

Harry

[Harry]

So would I be able to record directly into, say, the Apple 12″ ibook, or would I need a firewire 800 port?

Any further thoughts on capturing direct to laptop?

Thanks,

Harry

[Harry]

You might want to check out a posting from August 1st called “Losing Sync during Master to tape” a few lines below this post.

Regards,

Harry

[Harry]

Omigod! So if I cut a feature (say 100 minutes finished running time and without massively complicated opticals) in DVCPRO HD format and hopefully shot on the forthcoming Panasonic P2, and I store the rushes on external firewire drives, I will have to make a nested sequence of the movie, turn this into a QT file, and then transfer it to my internal SATA drive/s?

Can someone please tell me (a) how much storage space I’m going to need for dailies (say shooting at 15-1 ratio) and (b) how much space I will need on my internal SATA drives for the finished 100 minute movie.

I am coming up with absolutely astronomical figures.

Please forgive my ignorance. I’m new to this High Def stuff.

Am I doomed to mortgage my house to buy some kind of massive RAID system?

Arghhh.

Thanks,

Harry

[Harry]

I have no experience using AJA i/o. I use a preamplifier and input into the Mac line/mic input on the computer itself. I have done tons of work including ADR with the v/o tool and never had a problem, so I can only conclude that your problem stems from your going through the AJA card.

Hope this helps.

NB. Lots of people try plugging a mike into the Line/Mic input and find they are recording at a ridiculously low level. Please remember to go through some kind of pre-amp.

Best

Harry