Julian Williamson
Forum Replies Created
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Hope you’ve received an answer to this. Here are a few suggestions; I’ve been shooting P2 for many years:
1. Reboot your computer and plug everything in again.
2. If you are using a Mac, be sure you click the “safety” tab on the P2 card to the locked position. Otherwise Mac will write little ancillary files to your P2 card.
3. If all else fails, attempt to open up the card directly from Final Cut Pro or Premiere and import the files. You may have one offending file. If so, you might have to experiment around till you see which one it is. Final Cut may lock up on one file. If so, skip it when you try reimporting it.
4. If you have the problem in #3, sometimes this is caused by attempting to eject a P2 card while the camera is still writing the file. Don’t do that; only takes once to learn it’s worth waiting a minute…Julian
Julian Williamson
https://www.blueslandfilms.com -
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yup, HDCP is the problem. The mini-display port in digital mode seems to require HDCP while the older DVI ports do not. For instance, my mid-2010 MacPro feeds DVI into the HMX100 without a problem. My Late 2010 MacBook Pro won’t do it through the mini-display port for the reasons Walter mentioned. Only solution so far I’ve found is to go analog out of the MacBook into the DVI-I port in the HMX100. Annoying. Anyone finding a hack please post it (shh… I won’t tell anyone 🙂
Julian Williamson
https://www.blueslandfilms.com -
You can’t do wrong using the “drag and drop” method with FAT32 formatted Western Digital Passport drives. I use MacBook Pro with Express slot, Duel adapter. Make a folder on the Hard Drive, “Card 1” or some such, then drag the entire contents of card to that folder. Check sizes of folder vs. card to ensure all material transferred. If using FCPro, the editor can use the “Log and Transfer” tool. Avid people can use whatever tool Avid people use these days.
Fastest transfer: Duel to Firewire. Only slightly slower: Duel to USB2. Fastest transfer from camera (HPX-170) … USB port, believe it or not. Glacially slow transfer: Firewire from camera through laptop to USB2.
Caveats: Treat the Duel adapter carefully. They stop working; I’ve had several. I now keep it in a padded sleeve. Once you’ve removed the Duel from the Express slot, you have to reboot computer to use it again.
Julian Williamson
https://www.blueslandfilms.com -
The 6×6 is large enough for a shot just above the waist for one person. Back the camera up and zoom in some. For two people, I would use the bigger rig. Make sure the individual pieces are not too big to fly with; I usually carry tripod and greenscreen rig, and greenscreen lighting in a hardshell golf case.
I’ve never had to iron out the scrim jim fabric; it’s double sided, green on one side, blue on the other, and made of heavy enough material that it doesn’t show wrinkles once stretched out. The velcro keeps it pretty tight.
Regarding lighting… my preferred setup is to do an XXS chimera (the really small one) on either side, using a 500w tota and Chimera’s speed rings, lighting the talent separately. The Pro-light with medium diffusion works in a pinch; I just finished 20+ interviews on this setup for a major corporation at a tradeshow in Orlando.
Try to avoid shootiong DV and especially not HDV on greenscreen, by the way. (HDV works fine on a lot of stuff, but the long-gop compression and limited samples makes it not play well with keying, in my experience)
Hope this helps.
Julian Williamson
https://www.blueslandfilms.com -
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Sam:
At this stage, I think it would be wise to enlist the services of a consultant who can advise you of the various advantages/disadvantages, including weekly time commitments needed to create content for this setup as well of the substantial monetary investment it will take to implement any of these solutions correctly.
Sometimes attempting to “do it all yourself” is the most expensive way.
My 2c worth,
Julian Williamson
https://www.blueslandfilms.com -
Hamburgers always taste better cooked over Arris. 🙂
Seriously, I use totas all the time to light up a chimera bag, especially when travelling in “lightweight mode”. But I use Arris or LTM’s when I need a Fresnel. Both have their particular applications, as everyone has mentioned. But I agree with all who recommended some daylight balanced stuff, otherwise you’ll probably be fighting the existing lighting. This is time consuming as well as frustrating. The kino Diva’s are great for this, as are Litepanels 1×1’s. Even homemade rigs using multiple CFL’s can be an immense timesaver.
Good luck,
Julian Williamson
https://www.blueslandfilms.com -
I do fly dates with portable greenscreen a lot, usually shooting on a Panasonic HVX-200 or HPX-170. I use Wescott’s Scrim Jim 6×6 frame with their blue/green reversible surface. Has velcro on the edges for tighter fit than the Chimera frame. I use one standard kit stand and a 2 1/2″ grip head to hold it up. I usually pack the Scrim Jim frame parts, the surfaces, stand, Sachtler tripod, and a couple lights in a golf case. For talent light, I use XXS Chimeras bags with 500w totas & rings. Lightweight and compact. In general, I can get away with a Pro-light, 200w Pepper, or Arri 150 as hairlight, a Prolight on a baby plate behind the talent to light the greenscreen. All this goes in 2 checked baggage around 50 lbs. I take the camera in a Pelican carryon case, my other carryon is a backpack with my computer with veescope and Adobe OnLocation, hard drives, long firewire cable, and enough clothes for the trip…
Julian Williamson
https://www.blueslandfilms.com -
Matrox triplehead will allow you to use Keynote across 3 XGA displays. You’ll have to enter the new resolution manually within keynote. 3072×768 (three 1024×768 displays)along with other resolutions are available. Making full motion video run on this will require creative compression.
Julian Williamson
https://www.blueslandfilms.comJulian Williamson
http://www.blueslandfilms.com