[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

What you’ve read is really talking about the diameter of the lens, not the focal length. What is the focal length of your lens? But yes, that diameter will fit in the mattebox. The questions of whether or not it will vignette is dependent on the focal length.

Co-President at fourB Productions, Inc.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

This is really about what a “Proxy” is. Unfortunately that is not how the workflow works.

A proxy is a low resolution version of you original footage that you use to export. Basically the workflow would be the following;

1. Bring 12bit raw footage into resolve
2. Grade or leave as is but typically a first light color correct will be beneficial for editing as you have a better idea of what it will ultimately look like.
3. Generate proxy files by exporting to an editing codec such as ProRes, DNxHD, or Cineform. DO NOT RENAME YOUR FILES!
4. Do your edit using the smaller, more manageable files.
5. Export an XML or EDL of your final sequence.
6. Import XML or EDL into Resolve.
7. Relink to your original 12bit raw files.
8. Final color grade on original files
9. Export final sequence out of resolve.

Co-President at fourB Productions, Inc.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

That’s all about your lens. Chances are you will be fine with a 4×4 as you will probably not be wide enough to vignette on the 2.5k version. This is typically the problem with a 4×4 system. Wide lenses may see the edge of your filter. But unless you are using some very wide glass, due to the crop factor you will probably be alright most of the time. As per effects, you have the option of anything that comes in a 4×4 which is just about anything. Tilta stuff is very good too.

Co-President at fourB Productions, Inc.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

I like that clamp a lot! Kinda wish I had known about it. Not needing the tools is very nice. Though I do like that the Wooden clamp adds a couple small mounting points should I need them. They’re in an awkward place, but you never know.

I had a similar cable made like the Laird BMCC at Professional Sound Services in NYC. I actually tried to get the Laird but B&H couldn’t get it in stock in time. Had it made as a 3′ though which is admittedly long on my rig but I tie it up with a Bongo tie and it’s all good. Had it made also with a headphone return so I can monitor camera audio through the MixPre and bounce back and forth between mixer audio and camera audio to check levels and hear the differences. Had it built with all right angle connections on the camera side. Very happy with it. Mogami cabling and Neutrik connections.

Co-President at fourB Productions, Inc.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

I also use the MixPre-D and it is fantastic. I’ve mounted mine to rails but I do like the V-Mount idea as well I had not thought of that.

To mount it on rails I got the Wooden Camera 15mm Lightweight rod clamp;
https://woodencamera.corecommerce.com/Blackmagic/Rail-Components-BMC/Rod-Clamp-15mm-LW.html

It’s relatively inexpensive and it works brilliantly. It also makes it instantly compatible with any 15mm LW rail system which is nearly everything these days. I have the Shape support rig as well and I mount it on the top rails of the cage. This puts it slightly higher than my head when on my shoulder so I don’t have XLRs in my neck. The only criticism that I have with it is that the right amount of torque, and it comes loose and spins due to the one 1/4 20. However, this is easily fixable and I have been meaning to do so. All you need to do is go to Home Depot and get a small sheet of rubber and small piece of foam core or even foam insulation (there is window insulation that’s peel and stick that is rubberized and works brilliantly), and then you can cut it to go on in between the MixPre0D and the rail clamp and it will have the grip so it won’t slide around if you accidently torque it.

By the way, I know that sounds complex, but it’s really not. I’ve done before in similar situations and I’ve been to do it to this for quite a while now. I’ll try to do it tonight and snap a few photos of my rig all together.

Co-President at fourB Productions, Inc.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

The raw is not meant to be edited directly. You will need to do an offline workflow if you intend to shoot in raw. Furthermore, based on the specs of your laptop in your signature, the issues with playback are purely because the machine is underpowered for the workflow that you want to do. I have no doubt that these are issues that you would have run into sooner or later even had you not done the clean install. You are running a dual core CPU, with comparatively slower and less RAM than a modern machine, and integrated Intel graphics, not a discreet graphics card such as an NVIDIA or AMD. Also you need to have a fast disk array. The fastest you can possibly have is an eSATA RAID through the ExpressCard slot. You have the power to cut ProRes in FCP7 but not much more than that.

Above all, FCP7 was never built to handle CinemaDNG and at the time of the release of the BMCC, FCP7 had been considered legacy technology for well over a year. They expect that you are using FCPX, Premiere Pro, or Avid. None of these applications though edit CinemaDNG natively.

If you are looking to shoot raw and still use the laptop that you have and cut in FCP7, I would recommend taking a serious look at Cineform. They have instructions on converting the raw to useable Cineform Raw files that are far less CPU intensive. CinemaDNG requirements are basically unreachable without a desktop workstation.

Co-President at fourB Productions, Inc.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

It sounds to me like a Mercury Transmit issue. I don’t actually think that AE supports Mercury Transmit like Premiere, Prelude, and Encore do. These applications will automatically follow you when you switch between them but I don’t think AE does. I could be wrong but I couldn’t find anything about AE actually having this support.

Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

Have you checked your sequence settings? Make sure that your sequence matches your material otherwise the output is probably referring to your sequence and not your material. You have External Video set to full screen right checked that All Frames is on?

I would avoid using the AJA options if you do not have the AJA installed to run it. That’s probably the problem with your audio lag. Stick to default playing options. Do your best to match sequence and output settings to your material.

Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

I second Gary.

Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

The SanDisk is definitely the best out there for the BMCC. All around reliable in my experience. I have three of the 240s myself and honestly couldn’t be happier. The 240s are not on the approved list but I too have had no issues. I opted for the smaller drives to have faster offloads for more cycling of drives. Also using the Voyager Q and no complaints. I’m curious though, what your audio rig? There has been a good deal of discussion here for best audio practices and audio issues. Did you record in camera? If so what was your set up and your experiences?

Definitely agree on the external monitor as well. I’m saving up for one myself and using my HyperDeck shuttle as an SDI/HDMI converter to run my Zacuto EVF.

Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
AJA IoXT
Adobe Production Premium CS6, Avid Symphony 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 3
The College of William and Mary