[Rob Gutermuth]

Thanks Al,

Just curious what you upgraded to? – Do you think the reason the XF300 had a better image than the C100 was due to the lenses used? or the codec? or the sensor? – Interesting debate I think – being that the XF300 is a 3 chip camera, using the MXF codec in 4:2:2 (which is tough to beat still for the price I think: 3 smaller chips vs a single larger chip…

But you are 100% right – I never liked this camera’s images past +6 – +12 is usable, but not great – I think the Sensor of the C100 being larger, allows for a much greater dynamic range. I have heard though that above about 3200 iso it starts to get noisy, but my guess is that is about +18 on the 300 and at that, it’s almost unusable to me.

I love the 300’s – but I would love to see them 2x as good in low light… that’s really my only complaint now with them.

Rob Gutermuth
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[Rob Gutermuth]

Yes, HDMI for sure works while recording dual – i use it a lot that way as well.

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

I noticed this too on my G30’s and G40’s (same camera basically)

I noticed it more so when you use IS – esp powered – and also sometimes this can be an issue if you have the WIDE or TELE settings on in the camera and not using their lenses for this, or vice versa (using the WA85 lens and not choosing the WIDE option for example)

but, yes, if all that is ok, I think they do that as sort of a “safety” measure, so you don’t lose anything in the actual frame… should be about 98% I think though if you have the above all correct. (press function twice to get to all those settings)

Cheers

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Hi,

First, 1080i is the only option for 50mps and 4:2:2 with the xf300 as far as I know. Yes, I’m at 1/60th – need to be since anything past +6 in these cameras adds too much noise in my opinion, and some places the lighting is just horrible. – Old Middle schools with 1960’s tech – 8 par 60’s and 1/2 don’t work – to light the whole stage – horrible. – anyways.

But, also I find that in past experience, when I downscale interlaced footage, it looks better overall. I have still a large demand for DVD’s – Once that wanes, and everyone transitions to thumbdrives, I will look at using Progressive for all the cameras, and heck, by then, I’ll be in 4K all around Im sure.

I think the problem has to do with the tech itself – rolling shutter with the CMOS sensors, vs my old XlH1s that used the older CCD type sensor… never had this problem per se, even with the IS on.

I played with using the first one – the stock IS (standard they call it) – and looks like that is the best trade off… The powered is great of course, but noticeable smear for sure… esp when panning too fast. I know that is meant for Handheld use.

The manual doesn’t really explain anything clearly – basically it says “don’t use IS when on a tripod”. I understand the Powered IS – but nowhere does it really explain Dynamic vs Standard very well – but I was really looking for real use examples too…

BTW I am using the latest firmware on the xf300 – but no 1080P option for 4:2:2

Thanks

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Thanks Al

but, when I click on that link, I see some videos, etc and even after joining the group, can’t see where you’d download these, etc…

Just curious, what settings you tend to like with the 300? – I’m trying to even out some of the differences when we shoot in very harsh light and the girls are in flashy outfits, etc… I saw the new 3 profiles, which I looked at with the new firmware, and liked the HDR one a lot – esp for outdoor stuff. I think the other is Wide Gamut or something? – the 3rd is s/n – didn’t see much difference in low light with that one.

Anyhow… thanks for the reply (s)

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Hi Al,

I actually did do that… since the two cameras can be locked to K temp

Im liking 3900 – seems a good mid point between true color, and white balancing.

I can tweak in post of course, but the idea is to get them close to start with…

I agree, I think that the 300 has amazing color as is… but I found it to be less neutral than the G30, which looked more like sony cameras, which tend to run cooler… so I need to watch that, exp the reds.

anyone have a huge library of profiles for the xf300? they care to share?

Thanks!

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

yeah, that’s too low for sure… heck, MiniDV is 25 – I wanna say it should be 30 but I can’t recall.

I would try prores HQ and see if it creates larger files (not needed, and prores 422 (regular) is fine, and all I ever use with that camera)

how do you know it’s only 13.3? I don’t have a blade, I have the original Sam – works fine with the XLh1 and the XLh1s….

there could be a firmware upgrade you need for the XlH1 for it to work with the blade? – or vice versa? – I think this is a good question for Atomos too. the only way to really troubleshoot this, is to try the blade on another camera, and see… then you can rule out one or the other for sure.

let us know what you find out… also, do you have another drive you can try? might be a bad HD?

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Al, or anyone – what custom profiles do you like?

When people talk about “flat” recording, I am assuming they mean with the CP turned off, and then grade in post, etc?

My big issue right now is that the picture is noisey esp past +6. I may need to use +12, but it looks pretty noisy…

thoughts?

Thanks

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

He is not using a XL-H1, if so, easy solution of course…. Samurai is a no brainer. He has a xh-a1s which has no HDMI on it, so FW is his course…

If you have to transcode prores footage in Vegas, that sort of defeats the whole purpose of using it too, and might as well just use the M2T files from the FS units.

I would disagree with use of tapes – They are Really cheap insurance, and costs you nothing more in equipment to use them, since you are already operating the camera. $2 a piece for 1 hour back up – just silly not to do it… the only thing you might loose is a little bit of battery life, but not much on the XH-A1s

Again, as a BACKUP – not as the main way of recording your footage these days.

note on tapes:

Tapes can be switched, however it’s BEST to stick with either Panasonic or anything else – the reason has to do with how the tapes are lubricated – Panny was different than anyone else and used a wet, vs Sony and everything else that used a dry…

The other issue is that the heads will “get used to” how a certain tape “feels” almost like breaking in a pair of shoes – they just are used to the track alignment, etc and will wear correctly with the same brand of tape like that…

you actually can switch though… what you need to do is to run a cleaning tape a couple of 10 sec passes FIRST before you switch… and it’s a good idea to run one about every 15 hours of head time just to keep them clean – not for longer than 10 secs though… or you will shorten the life of the heads.

I personally have used both, and find the Dry lube to be better for the canon cameras (Sony tape) – the panny tapes always gave me drop outs, more than what was acceptable… Sony tapes – I might get one drop out in 55 mins, usually none, just depends. been about 4 years since I used tape now as my primary way of ingesting footage.

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

First, I can’t speak on compat of ProRes to anything PC related, except I know that PP will open them on a PC for sure, which is what most people use on the PC – not sure about sony – you can of course, always transcode, but that sort of kills the whole workflow.

I think in your case, I’d opt for the FS-5 which is the unit I think you are talking about that takes CF cards – those work good, and you can just direct connect them to your FW port on the camera with no other adapter, etc…

I don’t recall the name of the adapter I used – but it needed AC so, was mostly a studio/tripod use sort of application – for mobile, I would then need a battery pack, and then it’s getting to much like a band aid looking set up where you have a cable into a box, and then another cable into the ninja.

The samurai doesn’t need anything additional with a SDI direct connection… and it can all be portable, but you don’t own an XL-h1 so, kind of a moot point…

I may be in the minority, but I do still use tape as a reliable back up of what Im shooting – I shot 50 jobs last year, and didn’t need to use any, but it was nice to have it there, in case the samauri had an issue, etc

So, as I said, in your case, for what you want to do, the FS-5 seems like your best option – the good and big CF cards are not that cheap though… that would be the only draw back, but besides that… no problem I can think of

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations