[Joel Cotlhorpe]

SOLVED…kinda:

I would still love the answer as to WHY, but, for whatever reason….

Premiere 13.0.1 does not like the command+anything function when navigating panels, no matter what I map after the command+ it will navigate to the panel but will lose it’s selection point (or reset selection highlight to the very top of page). IF however I map a function that does not include ‘command’ it will navigate there and maintain the previous selection on that clip, even within the same mapped keyboard .kys

So, it appears that v13.0.1 seems to have a problem with the command function being used, seems to be the only function that for some reason messes you up as far as maintain your previous selection point in the panel/window.

So my solution was to remap that particular function to just plain “4” to navigate there and have changed my other panel navigations to 1,2,3…etc without the ‘command’ modifier

[Joel Cotlhorpe]

Guys just found this article which I think is very interesting. It explains exactly what I am experiencing with the use of the flat profiles so I am incline to believe it..

Bottom line – Flat profiles are a gimmick as far as I’m concerned. They are really not ever meant to be on cameras with a recording codec like h.264. They are probably beneficial for a very certain type of shoot, but they do not do what they say they do in reality. Cameras like the Canon DLSR’s cannot record data this flat without paying a price to the rest of the image, because they were never meant to. I think people are just cashing in on the idea that’s out there in cinema world that flat is better for post. And it sure is, but maybe on a red one, or even a xdcamex format, not on a h.264 camera. It just can’t do it.

https://crookedpathfilms.com/blog/2011/02/27/459/

[Joel Cotlhorpe]

Thanks mate, very helpful.

I honestly was totally unaware that sharpening in post was a common process. I’ve worked with professional colorists in baselight, da’vince 2k/resolve, and pablo suites and I’ve never seen any of them apply sharpening to their shots. Having said that they are usually working with RED, Alexa, or film scans so I guess at that level it’s a different story.

Would it be fair to say though that this sharpening business is more unique to DSLR workflows than the higher end stuff? I, for example, would never sharpen my EX1 footage. It’s as sharp as a tack, and it should be shouldn’t it? I guess I just thought that DSLR stuff should have been as well if it was good enough for cinealta cameras to deliver that kind of image. Would you even suggest though that the nice clear stuff I’ve seen on the web from DSLR cameras has most likely been sharpened in post?

Cheers mate, I think I’m on the right track now 🙂

Joel

[Joel Cotlhorpe]

Thanks guys.

I figured the only reason anyone would suggest to set the sharpness this low in camera would be if it’s better to do it in post. I don’t see why anyone would want to leave an image as soft as what I get with this sharpness setting on ‘0’.

So what is still confusing me though is shouldn’t I be getting better image results than this anyway? Even with these settings? Or is this normal? To me it seems strange that this lining business and pixels dancing around in the dark areas would just be normal with these cameras? I don’t remember anything like this with my 5D. And my Sony EX1 smokes this for sharpness and clarity!! Can anyone answer this one?

fyi – I did a test yesterday and shot the same subject in good daylight with 4 different settings and compared…

I used,

Standard
Neutral
Cinestyle (with flat settings) 0,-4,-2, 0
Cinestyle ( ” + 2 points of sharpness) 2,-4,-2, 0

The image that came up the best looking technically, or the cleanest, was the cinestyle with +2 sharpness, and standard did well too. cinestyle with ‘0’ sharpness was terrible. That’s when I saw the most artifacts dancing around and also the worst as far as clarity goes. The sharpest point of focus (which was set perfectly using the digi zoom) was still so soft that it looked out of focus almost. Compared to my sony EX1 it would actually look like an out of focus item. I’m still confused at this, would lens calibration be a factor at all? I should point out though that I will get this same kind of thing happening with my other 50mm f1.4. I’ve uploaded the comparison here, shot at 1080:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isWMTtSXBh4&feature=youtu.be

Hard to see this with the web compression but you might get the idea.

I wouldn’t mind knowing, if anyone owns a 600D, whether your camera gets the same results? Anyone?

Also, do any of you video guys actually use sharpening in post as a routine exercise with your dslr video footage? If so, what do you use to do the sharpening?
I guess my question is…If shooting with zero softness is the way to go, how come I don’t hear just as many posts on the web about “post sharpening” because I’d assume this would have to be a routine part of the process if none is used in camera? Unless something is bogus about my camera, I can’t imagine anyone thinking the softer images in my tests above are more desirable than the sharpened clips??

Cheers guys!

[Joel Cotlhorpe]

If you’re shooting all day I would grab 3 x 16GB cards. Fast ones like Sandisk Extreme Pro’s.
If you’re not shooting reception 2 x 16GB should do it. I personally would always prefer 2 smaller cards than one big car, for flexibility, but it’s worth keeping in mind that you then have twice as many cards to potentially lose and change overs need to be more timely. The reason I still go with 2 smaller ones is because I’ve never lost a card, and if I did, I’d rather lose one 16GB card with HALF my footage on it, than one 32GB card with ALL my footage on it 🙂

All the best. The rest of your set up sounds good.

Joel

[Joel Cotlhorpe]

Apple DVD Studio Pro does not pause at the loop point.
I am using Encore now for Bluray and I really hate the pause.

FIX IT ADOBE!!!

[Joel Cotlhorpe]

Alright, problem is solved!!

Yes it was the power supply. That’s what was mucking up the PMU I guess, but strangly the first time we reset it, it seemed to refresh the computer and it worked alright for a while until the dodgy power corrupted it again. But the 2nd time I took it in, we reset the PMU and it did absolutely nothing??

Thanks everyone who gave their comments!

[Joel Cotlhorpe]

Ok,

Half solved! I took it to a mac tech and he reset the PMU. You can push this tiny button on the motherboard and it resets the power management unit. To it is not the power supply, I don’t think, but yeah, a power issue. Not sure yet what caused the PMU to stuff up but he reset it but pressing this button very quickly. If u have this problem he said to me it is not a good idea to try and push this button yourself as it can do something not good to your motherboard. It’s free to go into a apple store and get this button pressed.

It solved the problem for a while, but whatever is causing the PMU to go funny is still doing it because my computer is slowly starting to do the same thing again. AHHHGGGG!!!

The mac tech said that he thinks it could be the graphics card considering that it seems aligned with rendering or specifically video rendering (even though I’m quite sure that Final cut studio doesn’t use GPU processing, but there must be more to it than I understand). It did give us a weird graphics card error message in the shop too, but then never did it again. Something about quartz??
The graphics card is a ATI Raedon card. I’ll let you know what becomes of it.

Anyone have any other ideas??

Peace

[Joel Cotlhorpe]

Just an update,

I’ve moved off the bad ram idea and am starting to think my power supply is struggling. It’s now got to the point where the computer doesn’t even boot, it just turns on and then cuts seconds later. So since it’s gone from bad to worse I’m starting to think that it can’t be giving me worsening results for a ram problem that is static, random results maybe, but not this downward trend. I can see how repeated power ups and interruptions would be stuffing the capacitators or something.
It also makes sense however that if the power supply, or some capacitators in it (or the motherboard) are getting flooded that it would struggle most when you choose to render something and the cpu’s demand more power. That is probably what triggers the mac to shut down out of safety.

Still not sure but I am getting it looked at on Monday by a tec and I’m thinking it will be a power supply replacement, or repair.

Does this sound like it fits the symptoms to anyone else??

Cheers

[Joel Cotlhorpe]

Sorry guys, should have mentioned..
I have bypassed the power board and plugged the computer directly into the power point, to eliminate the power board from the list of issues.

I am starting to think this could be a bad ram issue like Andrew has suggested. Am doing a ram test now. I’ll follow with a hardware test from the osx disc next because the computer is now not even firing up. And I am getting the little blinking white light below the power button when I try some sticks isolated. Apparently that is the mac saying bad ram?

Thanks for help so far!