[John Major]

Hi Bob, What type of ariels are you looking to get? Middle mounts work well when you’re running along side a subject such as a car. Often people make the mistake of renting a middle mount and are looking for those nice looking ahead shots like you see when showing the layout of a golf course. A nose mount it what you would want for this. You can do this with a side mount if you have the pilot crab at about 40 degrees so you have more of a head on shot. The results are usually not as good though. I assume you know this, but I thought I’d mention it just in case.
Having the rig balanced properly is a must. You should have enough weight with the HPX500, but take your time with this and add weight if you need. Pilots are another big variable that I often have to deal with. I have one guy that hangs workers on high voltage power lines with when not flying around camera gear. He’s also a retired military pilot. He can do anything I ask. Without an experienced guy or gal on the stick, I always takes longer due to re-setting shots and doing extra takes. So be prepared. If it’s the type of shoot where you only get one shot at it, go over it in detail ahead of time with the pilot so he/she knows exactly what you expect. Also try to get in the air early enough to do a few dry runs and block it out. Both for you and the pilot. Once the gyro is powered up, take a few min. to practice and get the feel.

Overall… HAVE FUN!!! Depending on the weather, it can be a lot of fun hanging halfway out the side of a helicopter!

Good luck,
John Major

[John Major]

Hi Brent, you made the comment “I would Never have these as my main and only camera. There are also rolling shutter issues with both.”. But from my understanding, the rolling shutter issue is due to the Canon cameras using a CMOS sensor. Both the ex-1 and ex-3 use CMOS sensors as well and are prone to the same issue. Am I missing something in your comment or do you feel that the issue isn’t as bad on the Sony cams?
Thanks, John

[John Major]

Thank Mark! I appreciate the info and links!

[John Major]

I have to agree with Noah. I’m all for saving a few bucks when you can, but as others have stated, if this is your business, these are your tools. Professional tools help bring professional results. The bigger thing to keep in mind is that while you’re tinkering with making your own rigs, you could be actually working and making your full hourly or day rates. I don’t know about anyone else, but my rates are much higher then what the guy working at the local machine shop makes. 25 years of experience in the industry tells me it never pays in the end to make your own gear. Especially when you factor in the value of your own time.

And that’s my 2 cents! 🙂

~John

[John Major]

I found out the project will be coming from Pinnacle Studio 11.

[John Major]

Gary, I actually get timecode just fine using the HD connect MI. I don’t use the firewire deck control, I use the RS-422 from the Kona attached directly to the br-hd50 deck. The HD connect MI only converts the video and audio from the HDMI to HD-SDI. I have no lag, frame accuracy issues, or anything.
I agree that HDMI isn’t an ideal for broadcast use, but my thought was that it was a better option than going component analog.

Thoughts?

~John

[John Major]

Interesting Point. So there isn’t any suffering of video quality by going component analog vs. through the box and into the SDI?

[John Major]

Thanks for the input Shane. I’ve been using compressor thus far for convertions, I just wasn’t sure which way I should go as far as the final editing frame rate. I most commonly work in 720p 60. So I didn’t know if there was an advantage converting the JVC footage to match the Panasonic, or vice versa.

Thanks, John

[John Major]

I’ve tried it both ways. Either way it still doesn’t work.

[John Major]

BTW… Did you have any thoughts on why I can’t just change the setting in the clip settings menu?

~John