[Michael Palmer]

I would say these lights may be a good solution for your immediate needs. CRI doesn’t always need to be at 90%+, depending on how you are using them or if you can correct them. If you light a person using only these lights and no other units are necessary and no other daylight is represented in the frame then white balancing should give you a decent look or you should have no problem correcting the green out later. Even if these lights have a CRI of 80% or below you could wrap them with some minus green color correction gel, (1/4 or 1/2 minus green) and blend in some 1/8 or 1/4 CTO to make them work with Daylight balance situations.

I wouldn’t call them a 1200 watt light package, with just 2- 85 watt compact bulbs (in each unit) they are marketed to have 600 watts of lumens, (not really) just don’t compare this wattage as you would with a tungsten or HMI unit. I would say it really helps if you have the same source fluorescent lights since there are way to may manufactures using their own blends of phosphor’s combining them with various power illumination sources.

The video camera is a wonderful color temperature meter and it will give you a visual reference to help you with your color correction needs, however a color meter would tell you how these tubes/bulbs are preforming. Here is a link to more info https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/47/855957

I must say I’m very picky and I haven’t found a compact Flo yet that I really like. I like the T-12 and T-8 tubes the best.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Michael Palmer]

“When recording at the 35/Mb data rate to the cards, can you still send a signal out via the 1394 port that they are now calling the HDV port?”
No, there is only one encoder inside the camera and it can’t compress two different compression levels at the same time.

My hope was that Sony would unleash the compression to the new 50Mbps 4:2:2 XD Cam level. This would be the easiest thing for Sony to do but I’m sure it would really P O anyone who stepped up for the new 700. Oh well, I’ll just have to wait for Convergent Design, because they will allow EX camera owners to go beyond the HQ level with their Flash XDR HD-SDI Recorder coming out very soon. This still won’t get you were you want to go because you either get HDV from the SP mode and HD-SDI from the HQ mode, but when you see the quality of what the EX cameras will do with less compression you won’t be worried about HDV scopes.

https://www.convergent-design.com/

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Michael Palmer]

THIS IS THE REASON I KEEP ALL OF THE RAW FILES AND A COPY OF THE BPAV FILE AS AN ARCHIVE. You need to get in the habit of making new folders for each of the cards BPAV files, and keep them in a separate folder on a second drive. I think you need to post a new question asking how to match a frame without the overlay. I can tell you now that I would try using my HD editing monitor and setup the EX1 and shoot the freeze frame off the monitor as a reference, the image will be on the card to use as you planned. I may shoot a tad bit wider for the summer frame so I could make adjustments during post just to be safe.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Michael Palmer]

I don’t believe you will ever get the converted files back on the card with out the EX-30 deck I decribed earlier. There is no reason to put the clips back on the card unless you need to use the camera as a deck for a presentation or to uncompress the XD cam files using the component or HD-SDI ports to transcode to another codec. Not sure why you would need to do this? I feel like you haven’t asked the real question yet.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Michael Palmer]

Just to be clear when you say moved them (because that isn’t really possible) you either converted the original .MP4 file to a QuickTime .mov and then deleted the original files from the card, or you copied the .MP4 clips and deleted the original files from the card. These threads help others and it is important to include all the details.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Michael Palmer]

How did you move the clips off the card? The proper way is to copy the BPAV file to a separate folder. This keeps all the files the camera needs to play the original XD cam EX clips.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Michael Palmer]

If you just copied the original BPAV folder during this transfer then you should be able to copy it back on to the card. If you used the XD Cam Transfer program to re-wrap the files as .mov and you didn’t save the original BPAV file then the camera won’t understand what to do with the QuickTime .mov file. Perhaps you can find a program to transcode back to MP4, or you may need the new PMW EX-30 deck that will encode any HD-SDI signal as XD Cam EX 35Mbps. What is the purpose for this?

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Michael Palmer]

The question: I’m assuming we’ll be encoding with DVCPROHD. What are your recommendations for a reasonably priced, robust, capture card or I/O box given the above information?

I will tell you first not to transcode to DVC Pro HD unless you really need to. FCS2 can work with any codec on the timeline. EX1 media is as good or better than DVC Pro HD and unless you need to transcode down I wouldn’t bother. I would use the AJA Kona LHe to transcode to a higher level but not down to DVC Pro HD. You should use Pro Rez before thinking about DVC Pro HD.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Michael Palmer]

Steve
What a shame that the software link doesn’t have the latest (2.7.0) XD Cam Transfer available.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Michael Palmer]

Yes, just as you directed the software program to the SxS card from the camera you do the same to the new folder that has the BPAV file. If you get into the habit of saving the RAW EX cam BPAV files to a separate folder you will never have an issue. I usually have a backup of the RAW and import a QuickTime version to work with in Final Cut.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer