[Ron Craig]

Thanks for that, Shane. And for your tutorial on tapeless workflows. (I’ve been tapeless for a while and learning on my own but I did pick up a couple of interesting new facts from that tutorial.)

As for file verification by Shotput, that’s certainly a plus. I’ve never had a problem with disk image creation in FCP or just using the Finder, but given that errors are certainly possible, file verification could be extremely important in a very small number of cases.

I’ll look at Shotput for that and for the simultaneous copying functions, which could keep me from having to leave the bar downstairs after a shoot day in order to get back up to the hotel room to switch out hard drives so often…

[Ron Craig]

Yes, you’re right. Just as you would need someone with a satellite dish and connection/decoding hardware to record a satellite downlink, you would need a Vyvix terminal operator/studio to capture the Vyvix signal for you. Here in San Francisco I used to use a company called ITN on Battery Street. I think they might still be there; not sure. If so, that might be a first inquiry to get guidance on whom to contact in your own area.

[Ron Craig]

I got mine stock; no add-ons. I think I might have bought them at B&H, in fact. Or maybe Amazon.

[Ron Craig]

I use Sony MDR V6. Happy with those. They’re actually more of a field headset because they fold up. I like ’em.

[Ron Craig]

Think of a Vyvix line as a satellite replacement. They are simply long lines that are capable of carrying a broadcast signal over distance. They used to be cheaper than booking satellite time but I haven’t done that for a long time so I don’t know prices.

Good-sized cities will have one or two (or more) studios with Vyvix connections and satellite uplink/downlink connections. They will have cameras, switchers, personnel, etc. to shoot an interview and send the signal live to a Vyvix-connected studio with receiver/recorder somewhere down the line (you).

[Ron Craig]

I hope that someone who has worked through this gamma issue (if that’s what it is) with 7D or 5D footage would chime in and say how they managed it. There are a couple of suggestions in this string that are interesting guesses but it would be most helpful to hear from anyone who has discovered/developed settings that reliably deliver good results when importing Canon data. I have exactly the same problem as the original poster and, frankly, I’ve decided to deal with Canon footage as little as possible because of it. Instead, we are using the Panasonic Lumix GH1 HDSLR and having no such issues when importing that material to Final Cut via Log & Transfer, using the Canon plugin.

But I know that many people are getting great results with Canon footage. If you are one of them, what are you doing to the footage that delivers an excellent image and avoids this “dark footage” issue? (And no, this is not a shooting/lighting problem, I assure you.)

[Ron Craig]

This whole conversation is sad. At least someone did make reference to George Carlin. When will be stop letting certain combinations of letters drive us to such distraction?

Sorry… I just can’t help but be aghast that we would have a conversation in 2010 about whether “damn” is “OK” to put on television.

What a load of “crap.”

[Ron Craig]

Just test it.
Your Mac won’t explode.

Ha!
Yes…I’m sure it won’t explode. (Although that would be an interesting scene to film…)

But the reason I haven’t tried that is because I don’t want to have it “sort of” work and then run into problems down the line. Come on, Rafael, give it up: Have you done this? Does it work?

And if my machine explodes, I’m blaming you.

[Ron Craig]

Not really a FCP issue. You probably could get responses to this question on either the Canon Camera or DSLR forums.

I will check out the other forums but there’s plenty of talk here about 5D footage and how to handle it with FCP in post production. Which is what my question is about.

Any further help here would be much appreciated.

[Ron Craig]

Wow, well that is a very interesting post, Michael. If you have a moment, could you expand on that a bit. I’m not experienced enough at this yet — although I’m certainly working on it — to fully understand your terms and meaning. What tools are you using for this and what do you do exactly to bring out those great looks?

Thanks in advance for this…