[Ryan Holmes]

3rd party batteries can cause problems. Additionally, cheap or slow recording media will cause your camera to heat up because the camera will have to fill up the buffer because the card isn’t able to write data fast enough. Cheaper cards (Transcend, Komputer Bay, etc) are far less stable than name brands like Sandisk, Lexar.

DSLR’s don’t have a fan. So if you’re shooting outside, in direct sunlight it’s going to heat up…potentially overheat too. Add to that the items listed above (3rd party batteries, slow media, etc) and you could be in for a world of hurt. Take a towel with you when you shoot outside to cover over the camera with when not in use. At one point with my 7D, we even used icepacks to help keep it cool. But there’s no great solution to dissipate heat with a DSLR. They’re just not made for video even though they’re capable of video.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[Colin Ryan] “nevermind, im an idiot”

Funniest follow-up post ever! I lol’ed at this! I trust you figured out how many different record buttons Canon puts on its cameras. 🙂

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[Denis Kunz] “I’m looking for file size at about 1 GB because he got the 160 GB model. “

First off, there is no 160GB iPhone model. Biggest they sell is 128GB and that is raw size, not the size with the OS installed. So you may need to adjust your quality standards a bit.

[Denis Kunz] “The Presets are for older iPhones I guess and no longer accurate. “

The old presets would play fine on a new iPhone. In fact, I’d recommend you start there with your settings. For the exact capabilities of your given model of iPhone look at Apple’s website:

[Apple website] “Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 frames per second, High Profile level 4.2 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format.”
https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/specs/

Depending on how long (duration) the movies are you may have to tweak your data rate settings higher (shorter duration) or lower (longer duration) in order to hit your overall file size goals.

Also keep in mind that you’re using CS5.5 which was first released in 2010, so there’s been significant advances in speed, efficiency, presets, and overall encoding within Adobe since then. CS5.5 should get the job done, don’t get me wrong. However, things like adjusting the level to a higher spec of the mp4 setting may not be possible since the spec has moved on since 2010. They’ve allowed for bigger frame sizes, higher frame rates, and higher data rates.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

You can grade RAW with a MacBook Pro but you won’t have realtime playback. There’s not enough horsepower in a laptop for that. The 2014 Blackmagic Resolve config guide states that HD is really what a MBP is built for.

https://software.blackmagicdesign.com/DaVinciResolve/docs/DaVinci_Resolve_Mac_Config_Guide_June_2014.pdf

I’m sure they’ll update that Config guide in the next few months for Resolve 12.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[Jacob Giacometti] “You just need to edit out the parts where the camera searches for focus but that’s not so bad!”

Except when it hunts for focus during a portion of the video you need to keep. Hence, why Warren says “it’s just not usable.” Many video professionals aren’t willing to take the chance that the camera decides to go squirrelly and start hunting for focus in the middle of an important section of dialogue, or during a sit-down interview, or (fill in the blank). When I shot video on DSLR’s I only ran manual focus and used a SmallHD DP4 or AC7 monitor to judge critical focus.

If you’re demands are lower and having the camera hunt for focus is acceptable, then by all means roll on. But it only takes it biting you once in the back side to never use it again! 🙂

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[David Cherniack] “They are clearly working hard”

Yep.

[Tim Wilson] “And in case y’all didn’t see on the index page, here’s Kylee Wall’s complete coverage of Adobe’s Creative Cloud announcements. Some pretty wild-looking stuff….”

From Kylee’s article:
“New support for Apple ProRes 4444 XQ, Avid DNxHR with compressed alpha, Canon XF-AVC, MXF-wrapped JPEG 2000, and Panasonic 4K_HS allows for expanded native editing.”

I’m surprised that they are already incorporating codecs from cameras that just got announced yesterday! Obviously. they’ve been in talks with Canon, Apple, Panasonic, etc but that’s very on-top of it. So when the new Canon C300 Mark II ships in September Premiere will natively edit the footage. I’ve rarely seen any of the major “A’s” be that aggressive in new camera support.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[Mark Fraser] “Any advice?”

Get a different camera! 🙂

But seriously, the problem is with the camera, not your lens, ISO, shutter speed, etc. Moiré in Canon DSLR’s is a long documented fact stretching back to the 5D Mark II. Much of the problem has to do with how Canon is taking a 20MP sensor and getting down to a 2MP image (spoiler alert: line skipping). Couple the line skipping with a subpar codec, h.264, at modest bit rates and you have a perfect storm of moiré brewing.

So honestly, your lens or camera settings aren’t going to help because the problem is largely happening internally between the sensor and the compression. Your best solutions are to avoid shooting tight patterns, use a different camera when those scenes arise, or learn to embrace it. :-/ Your last set of options boils down to “fixing it in post” and there are plugins that can help manage it, but will not entirely eliminate it. Neat Video and Digital Anarchy make plugins compatible with most modern NLE’s that can help you blur/soften parts of the image which help reduce moire (or noise).

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

Here’s a series of stupid questions that may help you flush out an answer… 🙂

(1) You did encode these as DNxHD and not as DNxHR?
(2) How did you encode the DNxHD files? Presumably Quicktime files?
(3) Does the editor have the compatible DNxHD codec properly installed on his system?
(4) What version of Avid 7 is your editor running? 7.0.1? 7.0.2? etc. Have they tried to update?
(5) Does the editor have another install of Avid they can test on?

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

Ashley – I think Blaise’s advice is extremely sound:

(1) Shoot at a 180 degree shutter angle (basically take your frame rate and double it, that’s where you should set your shutter speed.
(2) Any Canon DSLR is bad, bad choice for blue/green screen because of the 4:2:0 8-bit h.264 codec it employs. You may have better luck with a green screen as the physical sensor inside the camera is more sensitive to that color over blue. However, you’re still dealing with a heavily compressed codec and one that doesn’t do well in visual fx or color grading.
(3) DOF is an entirely different problem and is really more of a math equation than anything else. There are plenty of online DOF Calculators for you to explore:
https://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
https://dofsimulator.net/en/
https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/dof-calculator.htm
https://www.outsight.com/hyperfocal.html
So practically speaking, this helps you get an idea of how close or far you should put your subject to your camera in order to achieve a desired background look (in focus or out of focus). The DOF may play into your ability to pull a key since your focus plane may be so small it’s hard to get a clean edge. Add to that the above listed problem of a poor h.264 codec with poor chroma sampling and your in a world of hurt.

Hopefully this helps point you in a direction that solves your problem. Ultimately, I would recommend a camera that is more geared explicitly towards video (a Canon 6D is decidedly nowhere near this ideal). Something more like Blackmagic Pocket/Cinema/Production cameras, Sony FS700. FS7, Canon C100, C300, etc would all serve your blue screen needs better than a Canon DSLR, IMHO.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[Eric Santiago] “As as Scarlet owner just gonna be drooling at the Weapon.”

Don’t worry. It won’t ship until NAB 2017, and RED won’t tell you any of the actual shipping specs of Weapon until then either! 🙂

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost