[John Sharaf]

Sony is not discontinuing the 700! The PDW800 is a much higher priced option ($11000 more list price) that is not for everybody. If you do not need standard def write to disk or 24p (in 1080) or variable speed recording you won’t want to spend the difference.

The whole 24p thing is something of a trap anyway (I’m talking about 1080 24p because the camera already has 720 24p built in and there is no way to write NTSC 24p at all). If you need 24 over 60, that is to play out to broadcast or transmit over uplink or fiber you will need either the PDW-HD1500 (@ $21000 list) + $5000 option card or the PDW-HD1600 (@ $28000 list) or the PDW-HR1 ($21000 list), it cannot be done with the camera alone. Furthermore you’ll need these same playback devices to play 24p into a 24p timeline. Of course the upgraded PDW-U1 should move the files to you NLE and is therefore the most economical method.

My advice is not to buy the $4500 24p option and just use the included 720 24p and transcode to 1080 24p on output. You should be able to pull the “A” frames from the timecode.

Despite the added features in the 800, it still is not really a digital cinema camera, mainly because of the long GOP 8-bit recording. That’s not to say that adding a 10 bit file based recorder (like the AJA, Convergence or S.One) will not make it such.

Sony is playing a marketing game here, charging dearly for added features that in reality not everyone needs/wants. I believe that they will still sell many more 700’s than 800’s because of the cheaper price. If for example you want the slomo, just shoot it at 720 60p and transcode into your 1080 24 or 30p timeline. Is 48fps really a deal maker? For some it will be. As a multiple camera owner and provider, I’ll most likely add one 800 to the three 700’s I own now to accomodate the need for the added features on an occasional basis.

The real problem, which I brought to Sony’s attention at NAB (for what it is worth) is that you cannot write 24p to NTSC on the disk. The only way is to have the 24p option in the 700, or the more expensive camera and the deck with the 24p option or 1600/HR1 deck and use the downconverted output. For those of us servicing SD network news/magazine shows that sometimes want 24p it will be impossible to deliver for playout in their current PDW1500/R1 decks.

[John Sharaf]

Anthony,

You’re asking all the right questions, that’s a good start.

As far as the motion, the best you can do is go with a skinny shutter like 1/100th or 1/125 to make each frame sharper and a progressive frame rate of 60 would be ideal, but I doubt your camera does that, so a 30p rate would be a good second choice. This rate is particularly good for the web as it allows the compressor to keep up with the action, by giving it two identical frames in a row.

As for lighting, yes, be careful to eliminate any green reflections in the chrome drum kit. This can be accomplished by using white card or fabric to be reflected. remember that the chrome is essentially a mirror and your challenge is not to light the chrome but provide an white object to be seen in the reflection (the same principal applies to lighting any highly reflective object like a car).

Hope this helps,

JS

[John Sharaf]

Hampshire frost is often used for this purpose on windows, but it only comes in rolls of 3-4′ width. Another idea is “fantasy cloth” which is semi-transparent and available in 10′ widths of many colors. By lighting objects behind you create semi abstract reality.

JS

[John Sharaf]

It’s a mismatch in sampling rate from what the Avid is outputing to what the deck is recording. 48 vs 44.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Trey,

This is a common issue and has been dealt with scores of times before here on the lighting forum (feel free to peruse the archives), but put simply, gels on your tungsten lights rarely succeed. The issue is the the overhead fluoros are discontinuous sources, that is they have a green “spike” and the plus green gel you would put on your movie lights create only an overall greenish light.

The best and most elegant solution is to beg, borrow or steal some of the same tubes that are installed overhead and use them as “poisoned lights” in four foot kino flo instruments. This way all the lights have the same quality and white balancing your camera corrects everything.

The only other advice is to be careful with the overhead directly above your subject(s), you might want to flag or turn off (by unscrewing) panel(s) directly above to minimize/eliminate bright noses.

JS

[John Sharaf]

James,

In the future, it might be helpful for you and the editor to know that the frame rate converter is only useful in creating slomo effects when inserted into a 24 or 30p timeline.

It sounds like your editor used AE or some other means to try to slo down footage that already had an pull down in it, thus the stuttering.

When 60p material is FRC’ed to 24p timeline it is slowed down 2.5x or when into a 30p timeline 2x and the motion is very nice. This is why it’s so important to coordinate production flow with post.

I tend to agree with Gary’s assessment of your editor and refrained from saying the same thing in my previous post because I do tend to say these things in person, but try to be more civil on these forums.

As a cameraman who has been called many times with similar issues, I can tell you, it’s always the editor at fault, and usually because he/she is afraid to ask the appropriate questions and then has to cover his ass.

I’ve had situations where camera people I know have lost accounts because the editor erroneously maintains to the end it was the camera person’s mistake.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Steve,

The PDW700 is not a temporary thing, the new 800 camera will be sold as a higher end, more digital cinema worthy version. You’ll notice that the recording formats, imager and DSP are the same in both. The 800 comes with the Standard Def and 24p options that are available in the 700 and the main distinction is the variable speed function, which I believe is compromised by half (540) horizontal resolution in the 1080 60p mode. All the metadata and other such features are included in version 1.5 software which is available free to 700 owners under warranty. You will pay dearly for the variable speed function as this camera will be much more money than the 700 when you figure that the SD option lists for $2100 and the 24p option at $4500 (less $1500 rebate if bought within terms). The 700 will continue to be sold in large numbers (already more than 4000 worldwide) to TV stations and crews that specialize in TV production. For digital cinema 10 bit recording formats will soon be the standard.

JS

[John Sharaf]

James,

Not sure what your question is? The rational for shooting at 24p is this; either you are planning for filmout, where you need to isolate the 24 frames for conversion to 24 frames of film, or you are seeking a film “look” for presentation on a video display and you seek to save storage space (24 is only 40% 0f 60).

Once your project is “output” to Beta SP, which is an interlaced format, you’ll never be able to recreate the original 24 frames (for the purpose of filmout), but the display will still have the film “look”

As regards the quicktime, either the DP was wrong and the project was shot at 30p or 60p or the editor chose not to create a 24p project and instead digitized at 59.94. The original tapes will tell you the frame rate in the user bits if you want to find out for sure.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Yeah Bob, I think the media makes more sense, and yes you can backup or clone the XDCAM discs easily. The real advantage is that that you can master in 1080 25p or 50i (for PAL) and play out with PDW-HD1500 deck in SD PAL. This camera and XDCAM media has taken over in Europe where thousands of cameras and decks have been delivered. Remember with the double sided (50Gb) discs you can record for 90 minutes without stopping. I’ll try to find CR’s phone number or email and email to you.

Regards,

JS

[John Sharaf]

Bob,

Five days is definitely to your advantage.

I’d build out control room in a box van to easily repo venue to venue, and use your 2000’s for the interviews and 700’s for the system cameras.

The XDCAM discs are a much more robust means to transport the media back to France and you’ll still make plenty on the markup. I would think you could swing a two day deal (less 30% off book) from VER as they have slews of PDW700’s.

There’s also a top notch engineer named C.R. Caillouet, Jr. in your area. I’d seek him out for this job and you’d have it made in the shade.

JS