Robert Ikenberry
Forum Replies Created
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Many thanks to all who responded and commented. The client finally saw the light and arranged for a FCP studio which should solve any issues, but the expertise in this forum is impressive. You are all a great resource.
Rob Ikenberry
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Thanks Wes (& all who responded). The client finally saw the light and arranged for a Final Cut studio for the finishing. We think that will solve the issue!
Rob Ikenberry
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[TimK}”Well…yes, when you shoot 60p, it’s 100 Mbps…if you shoot 24p, there is a reason why you can get higher run times on P2 cards…you drop to 40% of that (40Mbps). XDcam’s variable bit rate 35 Mbps should generally be in the same quality neighborhood (if not somewhat better), even at 1080.”
Just to clarify… Let me preface this by saying I have more experience with the DVCPRO HD (100Mbps) codec than HDV or XDcam and may therefor be biased toward the familiar:
Most video codecs deal with a 60 fps data flow. DVCPRO HD at 100 Mpbs should offer much less compression for each frame than XDcam’s 35Mpbs, if both are recording 60 fps. The P2 card advantage shooting at 24Pn is because the data stream only has to deal with 24 actual frames per second, not 60 (and is why this advantage isn’t available with the Varicam shooting to tape because it still lays down a 60 fps data stream even when shooting 24P). The relative merits of intra-frame compression versus long GOP compression aside, it appears to me that the DVCPRO HD codec still gives 3 times as much data as XDcam and 4 times as much as HDV.
Does anyone know if XDcam can use the full 35Mbps data stream to encode only 24p fps? or is the camera still recording 60 fps (with a 3:2 pull down for example) regardless of the shooting rate selected (24P, 30P, 60i). If XDcam records at 35Mbps with true 24P and no pulldown (“over 60”)then the amount of data recorded WOULD actually be equivalent to the P2 24Pn.
Rob Ikenberry
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Video is moving to a tapeless workflow. As an educational institution it is at least partly your responsibility to prepare students for the technology they will encounter. You will be best able to leverage your available funds without sacrificing quality by going with the Panasonic HVX. Learn the digital workflow, your students will need it, you will benefit from it and you’ll all be able to make great feature length docs with an inexpensive system and be prepared for the future. And you’ll be ready for the HPX 500 when it comes out…
Rob Ikenberry
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A good, inexpensive choice for time lapse with a still camera is the Pentax W10 (now superseded by the W20, I believe). It can shoot stills at up to 6 or 7MB per frame (3MB is plenty for HD) and can be set for intervals between about 10 sec and 99 minutes. Since the camera “sleeps” between each shot, I have had good success with 500 or so shots per battery charge/2 GB SD card. 3 minutes between frames will give about 500 shots in 24 hours and runs 20sec at 24fps (17 sec @ 30fps). Waterproof too. If you need to go more than 500 frames from one location, make sure that your tripod/support will allow access to the battery/SD card door on the bottom of the camera without moving the camera.
Rob Ikenberry
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Just ran across your post and saw that you got no responses. This is probably too late, but by far the cheapest option for good time lapse is the Pentax W10 (now W20 I believe) with a 2GB SD card you can take up to about 1,000 frames at 3MP plus and set the interval to any time period from 10 sec to 99 minutes. The camera goes to “sleep” between frames and I have been able to take 500 plus frames with just the on-board battery. Plus it’s waterproof so rain and fog won’t damage the camera (although they may obscure a few frames). Assemble the shots with QT Pro at any size, aspect ratio and frame rate you want.
Amazing for a pocket camera at $300. There may be others as well, this is just one I’m familiar with. You’ll need to force off the flash and there may be other tweaks you’ll want to make with the exposures, but I got good results just letting the camera pick the exposures.
Rob Ikenberry
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We are editing a 1-hr Documentary (720P24 – DVC Pro HD) with a Macbook Pro 17″ 2.16 (2GB memory) and a 1TB FW800 Raid0 external drive with very good success. Our primary editor says this system is faster on HD than his prior set-up was with SD. The show is broken up into 5, approx 10 minute chapters on separate sequences, mainly because that’s how the story lays out, but I would not expect problems with a 60-120 minute single timeline (sequence).
Rob Ikenberry
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Your P2 file prior to generating the QT files IS your master tape. Treat it the same way. If you have another copy archived somewhere else (the master on the shelf, so to speak), you don’t need the P2 files on your editing drive anymore and they can be deleted. if you don’t have another copy, be sure to make one before your delete the original P2 files. The QT files could become corrupted or have some other problem and you won’t have a way to recover or “re-capture” them without the original P2 files.
Rob Ikenberry
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I shot some footage from a tiny, wobbly, two-seat helicopter (with the entire door off) with my HVX 200, as a very novice shooter. It is possible to get decent footage. I got several clips from my 30 min of shooting that I think I can use (lots was too shaky). Having used the camera a bit more, I could probably do better now.
Depending on the subject, try shooting at 60 FPS overcrank and edit at 24 frames. This 2+ slow motion should make the shake much less, if you don’t have action that will be obviously slowed. I tried, but didn’t know the camera enough at the time (2nd or 3rd day shooting) and only succeeded in filming at 720/60p. I think that would have helped. If you are interested, I can try to send or post a couple of clips from my Helicopter shoot.
The HVX 200 image stabilization will help, but others have said it is not as effective as some. I can’t comment, as this camera is my only exposure to HD shooting. I have no experience with stabilization rigs.
For others who might know-Does the Stedicam Merlin work with the HVX200? Would it help in these conditions?
Rob Ikenberry
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I have a relatively old (3 yrs?) Dell Inspiron 8600 with a 1.4 GHz Pentium M and 0.75 GB memory. Transfer of a full 8GB card usually takes about 8 min. This PC will play clips full speed in the P2 viewer in the window but does not have enough resources to play full screen (even at half speed or half resolution).
In my opinion, any inexpensive PC should be fine for field file transfers so long as it has a PCMCIA slot and multiple USB connections or a firewire port.
Rob Ikenberry