[Mark Dobson]

I’m still waiting for a New Mac Pro vs a topped out 2012/13 27″ iMac comparison.

Maybe I’ve missed it?

Whilst I’ve lusted after the new machine for years I can’t really fault my iMac for the type of work we do which is making documentary style programmes using single cam native files. To get a significant performance boost and from what I’ve been reading I’d be better off investing in a 12GB Raid system than a new computer.

But should Apple upgrade their Thunderbolt monitors I would be sorely tempted with the 6 core and D700s. It would be nice to join the party!

[Mark Dobson]

I would have thought it would have said it was edited with FCPX – Looks great for iPhone footage.

Well if not FCPX surely iMovie.

But maybe Premiere?

[Mark Dobson]

I suppose that one would need to use an external audio USB input device with the new MacPro such as the M-Audio unit I use with my iMac to get audio into Logic Pro X.

[Mark Dobson]

I’ve got my last MacPro sitting forlornly in a corner of my office. It’s already redundant. In fact I wonder why I’m giving it house room, backup?, sentimentality?, for another workstation if we ever expanded?

I’ve already moved forward into Apples next phase through buying a souped up 27″ iMac this time last year. I’ve got the eSata and thunderbolt peripherals already
but for some reason I’m holding off on the new MacPro. I suppose I’m waiting for a definitive iMac vs MacPro comparison and it’s not as if the performance of my current iMac is that shabby.

But the old MacPro has already been given a place in Apples design Museum and in a year or so will look as preposterous as the multi coloured set of original iMacs.

[Mark Dobson]

2014 looks promising.

We are a small company and already we have a full order book to take us right into the Summer. That is a relief because the last 6 months have been difficult. I know that with the recent FCPX upgrade the work should go a lot more smoothly than last year and ten times more smoothly than the year before that when FCPX was really sticky and awkward to use.

There are 2 of us working full time in the business, a producer and camera/editor (me!) and being in good health is really important, last Autumn I broke my ankle out walking and suddenly we were in the situation of having to hire in camera operators and an editor and that was really not good for the cash flow or profitability of the business. 4 months on and I’m back to normal although still going to the hospital for physiotherapy once a week.

In more general terms I often wonder how healthy a job this is. Out filming is pretty good, some days you get lots of exercise carrying gear and walking a lot, other days are more static. But editing is basically sitting at a desk for long periods of time, so taking a break to go for a walk or ride on the bike is pretty important.

An aspect of this business that has changed dramatically over the last ten years is the social interaction side of it. I figure that a lot of people now work the way I do. That means one person fulfilling the roles previously carried out by a bunch of people. I now operate a camera, produce graphics and edit video through to final delivery. Working like this is the new norm and ultimately pretty antisocial which is why forums like this are important to get a feel for what other people are getting up to and here of new developments. It’s also good to get out to trade shows and talk to people.

So that’s a good new year resolution, go to more shows and trade events and participate in more forums.

[Mark Dobson]

30 years eh.

I got my first Mac 28 years ago and can blame Apple for everything that has happened since then!

[Mark Dobson]

I’ve been using yousendit / Hightail for years now and apart from a couple of occasion when the service has gone down for unexplained reasons it has served us well.

With online delivery being the main way that our work is delivered now you need to use something that you can rely on and that is easy to use. All regular contacts are now stored in it’s database so uploading files to our clients is a doddle.

I also like that you get confirmation that the file has been delivered to the recipient and that you can also check how many times it has been downloaded or not.

It’s also possible to set the time limit on how long files are stored for. It might well be that other file transfer providers offer the same services but I’ve yet to come across them.

So I’ll stick with Hightail unless it starts getting unreliable.

[Mark Dobson]

Yes – good luck with your event Sam.

And taking up on Jeremy’s point it would be great to see some of the presentations, especially Apple’s one, posted online for those of us unable to take up your kind invitation.

I’m in the UK and can’t find my passport!

[Mark Dobson]

Whilst I would agree with many of the points you make about working with audio in FCPX, especially your experience of attempting to carry out audio work in Logic Pro X, I could not agree with your comments about color correction.

[james Lackleter] “Now for video. The color correction is awful, don’t bother. If you use Davinci good luck. FCPX is constantly changing the XML rendering it useless.”

Not my experience at all.

Whilst initially I thought that the color correction in in FCPX was was really sub standard I’ve found it a very powerful part of the application. I know I could learn how to use Resolve but I really like the ability of staying within the application to complete any project. It allow me a greater degree of flexibility.

I film and edit my own material mainly and for the last 2 years have been using a Canon C300, filming in CLog mode. This produces very milky, low contrast unsaturated files to work with. I very rarely ever use the automatic correction function and in combination with the scopes have developed a workflow to manually correct or enhance my clips.

This includes both primary and secondary corrections using the shape or color masks and I find it easier to create multiple corrections rather than try and complete the process in one pass.

What problems are you having with color correction? Possibly you don’t like the rectangular color board? I found this very hard initially but again it just takes a bit of time to get used to using it, sort of counter intuitive.

[Mark Dobson]

It looks like an amazing plugin.

Can’t quite think how to use it yet for my projects but no harm in downloading the trial.