[Marina Petrovskaia]

Michael!

Thank you for your advice! I shot a lot of night footage at K3300 this time. I am happy with the result. Previously I had a tendency to adjust and readjust the number starting from a lower value. The results were inconsistent.

Marina Petrovskaia

[Marina Petrovskaia]

Troy,

Yes, I solved the problem, but only at the editing stage. I think I will have more problems when I am ready to output my sequence. I will appreciate any feedback.

I am creating a sequence out of still images for photo portfolio in FCP 6.0.5. My settings are Apple Pro Res 422 HQ 1920X1080, interlaced, 29.97. I have a Mac Pro 2 x 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon with 5 GB of RAM.

Originally, I imported still images resized 1620X1080 or 720X1080 to fit different displays without cropping. I had the following problem: the images on the timeline did not look sharp and clear even after rendering full quality. I used Apple Cinema Display to view my timeline. In addition, the sequence did not play without dropped frames.

I added io HD to my editing station and selected AJA Apple Pro Res HQ setup. I use a 1080i HDTV as a monitor. I keep my primary and secondary video format 1080i.

All problems with color image quality have been solved. The sequence plays well without dropped frames. I am able to manipulate two video tracks and three audio tracks at a time. I use transitions, but not much, just because it is not my stylistic approach. I have to render every edit in full to see the full quality, but my system handles this quite fast. I do color correction for each photograph using three-way color corrector in FCP. At this point, I am satisfied with the quality of the playback and am able to show my rough cut for feedback. I have not tested the output yet. I would like to do the following: getting a recording deck with HD/SDI capability to print 1920-1080i from io HD. I consulted with AJA tech support on this. They assured me that I should be able to print to video exactly what I am watching on my monitor. I would love to have a high quality master on mini dv tape too. I think the best way to go is to get Sony HVR deck that should print 1920-1080 sequence on mini DV. I will appreciate any feedback on output. I did not test in full export to DVD yet.

There is a problem with b&w images though. Some parts of most b&w images look not rendered in full on HDTV Display, The distorted part is stretched horizontally in the bottom area of the frame or in the bottom corners. There are some color lines in the unrendered areas of b&w images. The problem is consistent with the same b&w images, but there are few b&w images that are perfect. After numerous attempts to reimport the “bad” images and edit them in different parts of the sequence, they still behave the same way. I consulted with AJA. They suggested that I might try to render my sequence using not HQ Pro Res settings. I changed Pro Res HQ to Pro Res. I have everything looking good at the moment. Some experts say that there is almost no difference between Pro Res and Pro Res HQ. I think I can see some very little difference on my Samsung HDTV. HQ, especially with color images, looks sharper in my opinion.

Marina Petrovskaia
Documentary
Cinewindow Productions