James Hilton
Forum Replies Created
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Why use megui h264? Just use After Effects to export to 50 or 100mbit mpeg2 and upload that.
With all the advanced options, megui all too often creates streams that not all converters are able to read correctly.
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This is a problem I have run into before too when something has been filmed in HD and the output needs to be 720×576 PAL.
I don’t feel that FCP is as good as it could be at resizing. On a PC, Premiere isn’t much better either, and I am still not sold by AfterEffects resizing , which is strange as Adobe’s Photoshop is good at resizing.
If I need to down convert, e.g. 1080p25 to DV-PAL for example and am not happy with the output of the above programs for whatever reason, I often use a free program called VirtualDub, and the built in Lanczos resize filter to resize down to the lower resolution. You may get a few raised eyebrows telling someone you did it that way, but the important thing is it works well, and as long as you can get the final result you want, who cares! It has solved a few problems for me over the years.
It usually involves a roundtrip to an AVI file however, but quality is great, and is perfect for those clips that are proving troublesome. Virtualdub is PC only, though I have been told it works on a OSX using Wine, but have not tried running it using Wine personally.
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How long do you want the final sequence to be. If it is 60s, then you need 60 * 24 = 1440 frames. Over 100 hours that comes out at 14 an hour at an absolute minimum.
Talking from experience, more is better as it gives you more options when editing. For example you can merge frames, or decimate frames as needed.
There are three types of time-lapse motion blur, stuttered, normal or maximum blur. I doubt you will be able to keep the shutter speed at 50% or more of the shutter interval, so you may end up with some form of stuttered movement if there is lots of continuous movement going on in the shot.
I dislike speeding up footage in FCP etc when you have duration of more than 1s between frames as you can often end up with a single frame with an object that is moving fast appearing in several areas with some blur between where individual frames have been merged. Having said that it can produce an interesting effect when the time is right, so I never write off the idea of doing it.
My advice would be try 1 frame every 5s as a starting point. How are you going to handle exposure, is lighting going to remain fairly constant as ideally you want to lock the exposure? Make sure you have colour balance on manual.
My worry would be keeping the camera in a constant position each day, with no movement and getting the right compromise for the exposure. Fame rate would be the least of my worries to be honest.
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Get it right when shooting, don’t try and fix it in post is my top tip.
I have a very simple (cheap) method that works very well for me that I use most of the time as I am not bothered if I loose it when I am out and about. I have a white plastic lid (like the ones that go on the ends of poster tubes) from a 4″ x 6″ flower container that I put over the lens and take a photo and get my 5D to white balance using that shot.
It works the same as these.
It was luck finding on that worked just right, another piece of white plastic gave a slightly cool white balance. The flower lid gives results that are as good as my ExpoDisc which is MIA at the moment!
Have a look here for some ideas.
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I agree, I can’t see any major updates to FCP untill 2011 either (maybe even late 2011), I would like to be proved wrong on this though!
Maybe the FCP team have been too busy playing on their iPads recently and iPhones before that? I tried Premiere CS5 a few weeks ago….have to say I was very impressed….it will be interesting to see what the next major update of FCP will bring.
From my recent experience can I also reccomend you get an extended warranty on your new machine.
I agree with Walter on the ram, go for at least 8GB if you can afford it, and a fast HDD aray is a must.
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At times it feels like you are right!
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I should have been more clear, I meant an HDV camera in my post, not HDV codec on an EX-3.
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I would add, do remember settings in the camera are only part of the story. Once your EX-3 is setup the real fun begins.
You need to approach every shot as if you were shooting on film if you want to pull off a film look.
When using film every second costs money. So you want to get everything planned and set up so you can get it right in a limited number of takes without wasting film or crew time. In my book the same should apply when filming in digital be it a feature film or small indi production, you want to aim to get it spot on first time.
To do that really think about what look you want to get before you hit record, practice panning the camera etc and make sure you have got the best camera position. Consider the focus, and where the subjects will be in the frame and depth of field before the cast arrive. Very importantly, get the lighting just right.
You want to use a good quality external mic connected to your EX-3 as bad sound quality can potentially can ruin anything.
Other tips would be use a rock steady tripod, lock exposure and use manual focus. Also don’t zoom in or out. Make sure you set the camera’s white balance correctly before each shot. And don’t think “it can be fixed in the mix”, aim to get it right when shooting.
In truth you can make HDV look very film like if you approach it the right way, the only thing you won’t get without any extra help wth HDV is a lot of depth of field. Approach each shot the right way and you will be able to produce some really good, film like results with your EX-3. Good luck and enjoy!
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That is good news, well done Cannon!
One question, what about the bitrates?
I think I am right in saying that it was previously c43MBit @ 1080p30, or something like that. What happens when you use 1080p24, is the bitrate now lower, or are you still getting the same overall bitrate at each setting?
If the later is true, you are now getting 20% higher bitrate per frame if you use 24fps.
I will be honest; I was not expecting this to be released so soon…it is good news for any 5dmk2 owner. Cannon have really made an effort here, they could all to easily have never released it.
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Thanks for the info Daniel.
I did wonder, so far I have been quite impressed with H.264 from QuickTime and seems like a good option for sending files to clients who have file size limits etc.
I have done a test encode on a video here, that has a lot of vibrant colour, and comparing an encode (using QuickTime) at Photo-JEPG @95% and H.264 at 100%, there is no obvious difference, except for file size (for a c20s clip the H.264 is about 160MB smaller). The original colour has been retained well to my eyes with this non scentific experiment.
I was under the impression that Photo-JEPG @95% was 4:2:2, hence my interest to know what H.264 @ 100% actually was.