[Paul Thurston]

Hi Anne,

Thanks for the data. Here’s one that was just sent to me.

https://registration.expoexchange.com/ShowNAB061/VIPDefault.aspx

When asked type this Source code: BR08

-Paul

[Paul Thurston]

Happy new year to you too. How did the shooting go?

-Paul

[Paul Thurston]

For Film Cameras (and HD cameras too)

To get rid of flicker from fluorescent lights, mercury vapor lights, metal halide additive lights, high pressure sodium lights (street lights), CSI lights, CID lights, non electronic ballast HMI lights and similar AC arc discharge lights, the following shutter angles and speeds are required:

50Hz Country (fluorescent tubes flicker at 50Hz)
fps: 24
Shutter angle: 172.8

[Paul Thurston]

Hi,

Where in Tokyo are you? Just curious…

Michael Bravin, Chief Technology Officer of Band Pro wrote some things about the camera in the HD Hi End forum. According to him, it “…is basically the same imaging and processing as the F900. It was necessitated by the international agreements to remove lead (primarily in the solder) from the manufacturing process. The F900 R will be built on the HDW 750/730 chassis so it will be a slight bit shorter and smaller. It will be a bit lighter also.”

Flicker from fluorescent tubes is a problem that has some very simple solutions. You can change the ballast of the tubes to an electronic ballast which turns the flicker to 20,000 Hz (flickerless for all practical purposes) or you can change the shutter speed of your camera. For video/HD it would be something like this:

In a 60Hz country (tubes flicker at 60Hz)
Shooting fps speed: 23.98
Shutter speed: 60

Shooting fps speed: 24
Shutter speed: 60

Shooting speed: 25
Shutter speed: 60

Shooting speed: 29.97
Shutter speed: 60

Shooting speed: 30
Shutter speed: 60

Shooting speed: 60
Shutter speed: 60

In a 50Hz country (tubes flicker at 50Hz)
Shooting fps speed: 23.98
Shutter speed: 50

Shooting fps speed: 24
Shutter speed: 50

Shooting speed: 25
Shutter speed: 50

Shooting speed: 29.97
Shutter speed: 100

Shooting speed: 30
Shutter speed: 100

Shooting speed: 60
Shutter speed: 100

Regards,
Paul Thurston

[Paul Thurston]

You know what,

I bet there are a couple of people here that know this answer, yet will not disclose any of this data to us.

For the longest time I could not figure out why Sony would not allow its engineers to talk here, or for that matter letting us suggest improvements to many of their designs.

Well, as it turned out, Sony does ask Americans their opinion about certain products. We just never hear about it much because these are mostly events that have to do with people that authorized, at some moment, the purchase of LOTS OF STUFF.

So, what will we see next NAB…

Haven

[Paul Thurston]

Hi Michael,

If you can, usa a Digital Betacam camcorder setup to record in 10-bit 4:2:2. Use soft TUNGSTEN lighting for the Greenscreen and foreground image. If that is not possible, use soft Daylight and make sure forground and background light levels are similar and that no shadow is seen on the greenscreen.

-Paul Thurston

[Paul Thurston]

Hi Scott,

Normally when you travel to a different country, the customs department at that country will want you to pay an import tax when you arrive. This is solved by various means including a CARNET for all your equipment or declaring the equipment as in transit when you arrive. Each country is different as to what local custom officials expect from you.

In some countries in South America, you may be expected to contact a local import/export company to do all your paper work in advance. In other countries, you just declare the equipment when you arrive and the customs agent stamps your passport. You may want to contact a local Director of Photography to know in advance what will be expected from you at the airport.

Regardless, you will need various copies of a document that lists all your equipment and the serial numbers. Always declare all the equipment you are traveling with BEFORE going through customs.

If you can, travel with someone that speaks the local language… you will be happy if you do.

Power in South America is usually 220 volts, 50Hz. Some exceptions are parts of Bolivia and Peru where the electricity is similar to that found in the USA (110v, 60Hz).

ALWAYS bring your camcorder as carry-on luggage. The same goes for your video monitor, take it onboard as carry-on luggage.

Regards,
Paul Thurston

[Paul Thurston]

Ok, thanks, Andrew, but the question remains. Let me reformulate it…

If I have QuickTime 7Pro installed in a WINXP machine, and now I upgrade to BMD v5.2 drivers, when I use Premier Pro 1.5 for an NTSC sequence, will I get audio out of the SPDIF connectors from DeckLink Pro when I play the video in Premier Pro?

Regards,
Paul

[Paul Thurston]

You know what; it is quite possible that the video tape player head is out of alignment. This would explain why the camera didn’t give any indication that the tape was bad… the tape is probably not bad… it’s more than likely the tape player is misreading the data off the tape (because of alignment issues.)

This has happened to me before.

The best way to prove this theory, is to actually have the camera original tape played on another tape player and check, frame by frame, where the drop out is observed. If the still (paused) image shows no dropout, where a dropout is seen when playback is executed, then the tape is OK.

Hope this helps,

Paul Thurston
Santiago, Chile

[Paul Thurston]

So what you are saying then is that if a WINXP BMD decklink pro card user upgrades to QuickTime 7 professional, the SPDIF audio out connections will not output audio when using DeckLink 5.1.2 for Windows XP and Premier Pro 1.5.

Is this correct?

-Paul