Jonathan Frank
Forum Replies Created
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Thank you for the links and the patient response (my head is swimming after a day learning Premiere…wrapping my head around Boris at the same time is cause for vodka). I had seen the Red tutorial but FX hadn’t entered my radar as an option.
What is the benefit of Red over FX (or vica versa) – or rather is Red essentially FX with a host of other options? (does it do the same thing and then add a host of other potential options?). If one gets Red is FX then redundant, I guess is my question (I’ve downloaded trials for all…plus FEC and BCC to see what best fits my need)
Again thanks for your help – this is one area where google is not one’s friend and it’s hard to wade through what is beneficial advice and what isn’t…
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I’ve been using a pair of 32gb cards (recorded simultaneously as redundant backup…which…knock wood…I haven’t needed). Record time on highest quality is 3hr15
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The only feature of the 160 I wish was on the 130 was the PCM sound but honestly the sound hasn’t been an issue on any of the shoots (even if I have things insanely under the level needed as a safety…or the sound guy changed the feed level without telling me so it was higher or lower than expected). And I haven’t had any problems with rolling shutter – but I have been very careful not to move the camera too fast.
Just shot an event that had light levels all over the place (had to pump up the gain on two numbers…both of which were major dance pieces and aside from a little softening of image on the longshot, I really can’t complain)
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First off, to extol the virtues of the camera let me start off by saying that I ended up buying a second one instead of renting the AF100 – which then led to my buying a third one for a three camera shoot a few weeks ago. Needless to say I love it/them. I’ve been using one almost every day shooting interviews in a variety of lighting situations or stage productions and have encountered very few instances where I haven’t been happy.
I can’t speak on the speed of the auto-focus as I never use it. I find that the depth of field is good enough on most stage shows that it stays sharp when moving from end to end of the stage and the moderate up/down stage moments. The only times I have had a problem with things going out of focus are when the lighting is really REALLY low (to the point where I’ve pumped the gain up to 6…and still have to have the iris fully open). But if a stage show is adequately lit, I am usually in the area of f5 -f8 and things stay sharp (having an ‘issue’ with that now, actually…where an ‘actress of a certain age’ is not liking the sharpness and HD…but that’s another issue). Given how well things stay in focus, I don’t want to use auto focus and have things pulse at inopportune moments.
As an aside…I second guessed myself in one concert shoot (luckily had another camera on that one as well). Was using a monitor that the salesperson swore was adequate for using as a focus assist even though the resolution wasn’t as sharp as the LCD on the camera. Don’t ever believe that. Your eye will get tricked by the change in sharpness and you will end up second guessing the focus, tweaking it and discovering you were right on the nose to begin with (both the second camera man and I had same reaction). I returned them and bought the monitors I should have in the first place.
As for battery life…I’ve only used external power once, and really didn’t need to. The batteries last 3:15 when recording (more on playback mode) and so far seem true to the readout. I’ve only bought Panasonic batteries as I hear the ‘generic’ ones aren’t accurate in their ‘time left’ readings.
I bring along two batteries per camera per shoot and have not had to swap out for a second battery yet.
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what settings did you use for Quicktime conversion? I just did it and it made a file 1/10th the file size with specs suitable only for web use…)
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That makes perfect sense and is good to know (the joys of cross-platform…especially when combined with the glory that is a gazillion codec possibilities lately!).
Out of curiosity…I exported the footage as a photoJpeg setting as you suggested – hopefully it works. Is that the best setting for your ease of use in Vegas? If not, what is (wondering what/how the footage would be delivered to you in an ideal world…or in an ‘every day’ world situation)
Thanks for all your help.
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Thanks for the heads up – I exported it using the JPEG 100 NTSC settings so hopefully…(not sure how it can be better quality than the original…or why this isn’t something they could do on their end…but ours is not to reason why…:)
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They tried it…and between you and me I think it’s a case of ‘the footage isn’t HD and we can’t wrap our heads around that’. They are claiming that it looks poorly rendered (which it hasn’t as that’s not how FCP works…it was exported uncompressed and unprocessed for optimal quality)
So it sounds like there’s nothing that I can do that would make it more….Vegas friendly? That it should work fine as is?
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I’ve been seeing this happen too and had thought it was a bug in my system…but as it is happening to you as well…
I wish I could give some sort of rhyme/reason for its occurrence (such as “if I’m running Safari on an alternate Friday”) but it doesn’t seem linked to any other program consistently. I do find that simply quitting and restarting FCP clears it up.
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Yes, I’d be starting from scratch. So it looks like they may have a valid reason for using it as a stock lens…whodathunk!
Can’t wait for B&H to get the GH2 in so I can see how it feels in hand