[Russ Johnson]

Hi Rafael,

I thought I had some info on this at my office, but couldn’t locate it. AFAIK, 5D II clips are formatted as QT H.264 clips, and yes, Cinema Tools is able to change the frame rate. I was under the impression they are interframe encoded and I thought that explained why my MacPro doesn’t play them in FCP all that well (it actually kind of chokes on them). Maybe not, there are flavors of H.264 which are intraframe.

Sorry not to be of help.

-Russ

[Russ Johnson]

Rafael,

Hmmm. I’ll take a look at it again tomorrow and try to get back.

-Russ

[Russ Johnson]

Hi Rafael,

All that is changed is the fps spec in the clip header. It doesn’t mean that it is intraframe media.

[Russ Johnson]

Hi Jason,

I use a Canon 5D mkII sometimes and what you suggest is feasible, but you definitely will want set up your rigs weeks ahead of time, do some simple tests and work out your preferred workflow.

The 5D mkII shoots at 30fps so you will want “conform” to 29.97 using Cinema Tools. This doesn’t really change the video file, it simply changes the clip header information from 30fps to 29.97 and there is no rendering at all. It is an almost instant process and an entire folder of 40 or so clips will take only seconds to complete, no matter how big the media file. The clips now will play at 29.97fps in Final Cut Pro and QT Player (depending on host CPU), which of course means they are playing with a .1% slowdown and any audio clip recorded double system to be synced later will have to be slowed .1% also. As I said, it doesn’t process the video itself, but if this makes you nervous you can backup the camera original files before doing it. Only after conforming the clips do you do any transcoding to your favorite codec for editing in FCP. I prefer ProRes. Here is the conforming workflow:

Start Cinema tools > Get past the opening dialogs about making a new database, etc. (not needed) > select “Batch Conform” from the “File” menu > in the resulting dialog, navigate to the folder with your media in it and select the first clip listed and click “open” > in the resulting dialog select from the menu the speed you want to conform your footage to (29.97) and click “Conform.”

In a matter of a few seconds your clips will be conformed to playback at 29.97 and placed with a new folder labelled “conformed 29.97” within the folder they started in. If the original THM files (camera metadata files not usable by FCP at this time) were in the initial folder then they remain there, separated from the matching camera media files now moved into the new folder I just noted.

You can now transcode these files to whatever available codec in MPEG Streamclip or Compressor to facilitate editing. Incidentally, you can shoot 60p on the 7D and conform using this method to 30, 24, 25 (what ever the editing timebase) for true slow motion.

FWIW, using the Canon 5D mkII or 7D involves some workarounds, which you seem to be aware of, but if you want a markedly limited depth of field, it gets my vote over using a camcorder with a 35mm lens/depth of field converter which are clunky, expensive devices which require a lot of tweaking and futzing. The stuff Bouke links to above looks like it deserves a serious look.

Good luck,

-Russ

[Russ Johnson]

Well, it isn’t me using it, but I would agree with that sentiment. I did sit down with it for a while and it’s a nice piece work for the $. They are adopting it for use in the workshop.

Thanks once again,

Russ

[Russ Johnson]

Ty,

Thanks so much for the quick response. My friends thought that “Audacity” might be too complicated for new users and the short time they have with the students. I’ll download it and check it out. Maybe I can come up with a quick tutorial for them.

Many thanks,

Russ

[Russ Johnson]

I’m not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but what I do is simply make a folder for each project on the root level of the volume I’m using and select that folder as the capture scratch folder. FCP, of course, creates the Capture Scratch, Render files, Audio Render Files in each respective project’s folder. The disadvantage is every time I work on another project I have to remember to reset the Capture Scratch prefs. For some people, switching back and forth between multiple projects often, it might drive one bonkers. The alternative is to set the Capture Scratch pref to volume level and allow FCP to separate the media into various project folders within the three standard folders.

I like creating discrete project folders because I have one folder at the root level which contains all elements for a particular project. If I have graphic and audio elements that I import into the project I organize them into various folders within that one folder, including DVD output files, etc. When I’m finished with a project it’s a simple matter to decide what elements and footage I want to archive onto whatever media.

This is also why I think Apple should assign capture scratch prefs to the project. I’m going to check out FCP Manager.

-Russ

[Russ Johnson]

The reason music CD audio is so loud is that it is in its release state. It isn’t that the audio has necessarily been “compressed”, it is “normalized” for release, which means the entire program is boosted in gain proportionately so the highest peak is at 0db. Before release, when recording, mixing, etc., the music industry works the way we do at a lower level to deal with an unpredictable dynamic range. “Broadcast” audio is usually field recorded and mixed at around a -14db or -12db reference point to avoid clipping (0db) by transient peaks. As I understand it, the music industry uses -24db to record and mix classical music due to the wide dynamic range of an orchestra playing a symphony.

Just a clarification for an otherwise informative thread.

-Russ

[Russ Johnson]

You should have no problem simply reviewing an edit or with many wipe and dissolve transitions. If you lay down a new shot on the timeline and you have to render it, then the settings for you sequence are not set to the same parameters as your source material. Check the sequence settings first. Review the section in the manual on real time previews.

More ram will speed up your rendering and help with long timelines and a more powerful graphics card couldn’t hurt, but your machine as is, is fine for DV.

[Russ Johnson]

yikesmikes,

Thank you.

-Russ