[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

The Cartoni is great but I also am a very big fan of Miller. The Compass 20 is an awesome head. B&H has a kit that should be great for you. It looks expensive online but if memory serves from the last time I was in NY, it’s less expensive in the store or if you call them to order it:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/644516-REG/Miller_1844_1844_Compass20_Solo_2_Stage.html#specifications

Panasonic HPX170 P
2008 Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
CalDigit VR
Final Cut Pro Studio 3
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

Using and old power book with a 54mm slot would work as would an older macbook pro with a duel adapter as long as you are not running snow leopard.

And Jeremy, I think that you misunderstood me when I spoke of “P2 Nonsense.” What I meant was basically what Noah said. The duel adapter was cheap and not the best, but it worked. When it came out that it doesn’t support snow leopard, everyone who used that adapter had to either choose between spending $2000 or hold off on upgrading to snow leopard. I myself have held off on upgrading and continue to do so until I can get the Panasonic single slot reader or maybe if I can save for it, the Sonnet Qio. But I think that the disregard for everyone who relied on that workflow, when there literally were no alternatives at that price point in the market, was nonsense and caused a lot of issues for a lot of people.

I agree with you though. You shouldn’t complain about a format that you chose to purchase and work with. If something goes wrong you do what you need to do and do what you’re capable of doing to keep going. That’s why I don’t run snow leopard. But that doesn’t mean that what happened with the duel adapter was any less irritating to a lot of people. But I do love my workflow and I have done nothing but praise panasonic and the p2 workflow on this forum and others. the “nonsense” that i was referring to was about third party issues, not panasonic.

Panasonic HPX170 P
2008 Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
CalDigit VR
Final Cut Pro Studio 3
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

Thank you Dan. Well spoken.

Panasonic HPX170 P
2008 Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
CalDigit VR
Final Cut Pro Studio 3
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

Assuming that you’re on snow leopard (based on this being a new mac), there really is not a quick and simple way to offload your P2 footage. The duel adapter used to be the best but now with snow leopard that won’t work. And regardless, the only MBP with an expresscard port now is the 17″ (… thanks apple…).

So here are your alternatives. On the high end of the budget you could get a Panasonic 5 slot card reader that will read through firewire or USB but that will run about two thousand dollars as I’m sure you know.

There are two midrange alternatives that you can consider. If you DO have the 17″ MBP and have the expresscard 34 slot, you can get the Sonnett QIO. This will run you a thousand dollars. The other choice would be to purchase a PC laptop with an PCMCIA slot and just offload to an external hard drive through a PC and P2 software. You can get a cheap laptop nowadays anywhere and you don’t need anything with any sort of power to it… just the card slot.

The cheapest thing to do you unfortunately can’t do now. In April, Panasonic will FINALLY be releasing a single slot, dual USB cable P2 card reader that will work on snow leopard. Based on what I’m hearing from you though, you don’t have time to wait until then and I completely understand and sympathize. I think that the nonsense that has gone on with P2 over the last few months is completely unwarranted.

Hope you figure it out!

Best,
Matt

Panasonic HPX170 P
2008 Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
CalDigit VR
Final Cut Pro Studio 3
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

And as of today, the 5D Mark II now handles 23.976 and 48KHz sound… seems like that’s going to become a primary camera very quickly. If you can get the 5D Mark II, the 24mm-70mm f2.8L lens, a baseplate/follow focus/matte box kit, beachtek adapter, and a bunch of CF cards you’ll be pretty golden.

You don’t even desperately need the matte box if you don’t want to spend the money for it or L glass for that matter (though L glass does rock). If you don’t need auto focus and mechanical zooming, I would say the Mark II.

And this is coming from a very happy HPX170 owner.

But in regards to your original post, you would be very surprised at what you’re capable of pushing the HPX/HVX to do. The low light is NOT BAD as people so commonly attribute 1/3″ cameras to be. Don’t knock it till you try it! And also, give Panasonic some credit. They aren’t going to release anything that they don’t believe has a worthy place in the market. Most of the criticisms of Panasonic cameras that I see on this forum and many others are criticisms of numbers. Look at some footage and use it yourself… the 170 is AWESOME and so is the 300! Personally, I look at EX1/3 footage and for me, it’s just TOO sharp and the color doesn’t cut it in my opinion.

And yes, AVC-Intra is the new big thing and it is great! But even on the HPX170/HVX200A, DVCproHD is a great codec! it’s 4:2:2 and subsampling is not necessarily a bad thing and neither is pixel shifting! Sure it’s not preferable but if you like the final image, and I do (very much), then it doesn’t matter what goes on inside. What I DO expect to see at NAB is moving AVC-Intra into the smaller cameras. they could seriously benefit from the 10bit recording among other efficiency advantages. And while I maintain that subsampling is NOT bad (remember, HDCAM subsampled until Sony came out with HDCAM SR, which is H.264 based as well)… AVC-Intra doesn’t bother with it.

Panasonic HPX170 P
2008 Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
CalDigit VR
Final Cut Pro Studio 3
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

Well, I suppose you could get an articulating arm and just have it cocked out to the side. redrock Micro makes a nice one for a decent price:

https://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.472981/it.A/id.1177/.f?sc=2&category=4290

That should do what you want. The arm has 1/4″ male screws at each end so that should be what you want for going into your camera’s top handle though I’m not sure the size of the female threads in your shockmount. You may want to look into it and see if you could find some adapters if necessary. You shouldn’t have too much trouble with it.

Hope it works out.

Panasonic HPX170 P
Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
Final Cut Pro Studio 2
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

I also have a very nice Petrol. It’s simple to set up and certainly does the job well.

Panasonic HPX170 P
Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
Final Cut Pro Studio 2
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

Redrock Micro, Micro Follow Focus, Size D Lens Gear. Also, redrock is awesome at customer service. just shoot them an email and they’ll answer any questions you have. I’m about to get their mattebox and support system. nothing better for the money.

Panasonic HPX170 P
Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
Final Cut Pro Studio 2
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

Thanks for all of your help Shane! Thats answers everything.

Panasonic HPX170 P
Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
Final Cut Pro Studio 2
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

Thanks Shane!

So, here’s my question now. What would be the best way to remove telecine off of the 1080i24P stream and still preserve maximum image quality? As a side thought, the best thing to do would be to probably just shoot in 24PA from now on right? And then I can just remove the advanced pull down during log and transfer? I had been trying to get Cinema Tools to reverse the telecine but for whatever reason it wasn’t working with the clips that I had shot.

Also with regards to the subsampling… For playback, the software/hardware upscales it to 1920×1080 so that it can be intercut with other HD footage and so that it can play on standard hardware correct? Am I completely misunderstanding how it works? Obviously since DVCPRO HD has been industry standard for so long, there must be some sort of logic behind how it works with everything else and how it can be used properly, I feel like I may just be missing the mark on how. Could you help me understand this as well? As a Final Cut editor too, I’m trying to understand my workflows as best I can.

Thanks!
– Matt

Panasonic HPX170 P
Unibody Macbook Pro 15 inch, 2.8 Ghz, 4GB RAM
Final Cut Pro Studio 2
Avid Media Composer
The College of WIlliam and Mary