[Ryan Holmes]

He’s rightly concerned because there’s no PCIe slots on the new Mac Pro. You’ll have to add a thunderbolt expansion chassis to house your internal cards. You’ll can look at Sonnet Technologies or Magma…just Google for “thunderbolt expansion chassis.” Depending on how many cards you need to house you’re looking at anywhere from $1K-$4K extra beyond the price of the Mac Pro itself.

There’s also no internal hard drive bays, so you’ll have to have some external RAID enclosure hooked up over USB3 or more likely, Thunderbolt – https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/

You’re IT guy is rightly concerned. Additionally, this box will be running on OS X 10.9 which may or may not run FCP Legacy. All that said, it looks to be a pretty powerful little computer and may suit some applications really well, while leaving others behind. You need to do you’re homework on it to determine if it will address your needs.

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

[Ryan Holmes]

[Bret Williams] “Not sure what Ryan is smoking. ;)”

Only the good stuff!

This thread first appeared on the Canon DSLR forum (and still lives there):

https://forums.creativecow.net/canonmarkii
Original thread: https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/344/21006?wfid=325

I’m guessing the admins saw it and moved it over to the appropriate forum. No harm. No foul. I just knew the DSLR people were probably not the best people to address a FCPX media management issue.

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

[Ryan Holmes]

No problem.

When in doubt just start clicking and typing till something happens! 🙂

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

[Ryan Holmes]

Your problem seems to be more tied to FCPX than to a DSLR. You’ll probably get a better response or feedback if you post this in the FCPX forums:
https://forums.creativecow.net/finalcutprox
or
https://forums.creativecow.net/fcpxtechnique

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

[Ryan Holmes]

You’ll need a wide-angle lens for your DSLR. To keep everything in focus you’ll just need to stop-down to F5.6-F10 and then you won’t need to pull focus. But you would need a way to mount this on or around your action.

Actually the easiest thing I can think of to do something like this is to grab a GoPro and strap it on whomever and hit record. GoPro’s have a wide angle lens on them already and are used for a good amount of POV work. You may look into that as an option….especially since they cost less than a quality lens would.

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

[Ryan Holmes]

MXF is just a wrapper, like Quicktime. The codec inside can be virtually anything. So you need to determine what codec the file uses and make sure you have that codec installed on your system in the appropriate folder that PPRo can see and utilize.

If Sony Vegas can see it, then import it into Vegas and export out a format that your comfortable using in PPro, maybe DNxHD. Or edit in Vegas is another option….but I’m guessing you want it in PPro for a reason.

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

[Ryan Holmes]

Can I tow the middle between the 2 above posters? 🙂

I think it’s a combination of both factors mentioned – high contrast/low light situation creating the chromatic aberration and the DV codec is likely creating the effect you’re now seeing. Further complicating this is the type of camera/lens you’re shooting. If you’re shooting to miniDV tape it’s probably a small sensor, fixed lens camera which aren’t typically known as strong performers in these types of situations.

I think Shane’s advice is a good stab at reducing the effect by reducing the saturation.

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

[Ryan Holmes]

The 5D2 can’t send out a clean picture via the HDMI port unless you hack the camera (the 5D3 can with the most recent firmware, 1.2.1). If you want to do this you’ll need to run Magic Lantern ( https://www.magiclantern.fm ) on your 5D2. It has been around now for about 5-6 years so the workflow is pretty tried and true. However, you are voiding the warranty and taking a risk that may break (or brick) your camera. Please read up on it and do your homework. The COW has a lot of information regrading ML, as does their website (or a simple Google search).

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

[Ryan Holmes]

Clean out your Media Cache (Preferences–>Media–>Clear Cache)?

Restart?

Lsat idea: open a new project and import the sequence (or sequences) you need from the former project. Sometimes a project file gets corrupted and goes wonky….

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

[Ryan Holmes]

[Neil Sadwelkar] ” are we at a point where it’s simply overkill spending that much $$ on gear that simply doesn’t pay for itself,”

I think there is still a segment, small though it may be, who demand this level. It’s certainly not the level many of us work at. However, when a summer Hollywood blockbuster goes to a finish suite then this type of quality is expected (Avengers, Start Trek, Superman, Transformers, Hunger Games, etc.).

I don’t think for many environments (corporate, wedding, local TVC work) that it’s a viable business model. But if you’re playing in the very deep end of the pool where people are shooting film, 5K, and 6K having a 4K DI projector hooked up to a Baselight/Scratch/Resolve system with full panels attached to a high speed RAID via fibre channel is expected. Especially since the artist working in that room is likely charging a steeper per hour fee then the guy down the road color grading local car dealership commercials.

[Neil Sadwelkar] “I ask because the distinction between consumer and pro gear is narrowing,”

I agree with you on this. And while it’s “narrowing” it’s not completely vanished. There are areas where the professional wants a level of control and customizability that consumer level products don’t match. And typically you will have to pay for that. Specifically in regards to color accurate panels there is quite a bit of difference between the TV I buy at my local big box retailer and the monitor I buy from Flanders Scientific for color grading.

The question probably becomes: in the market one works in is the added cost of getting the image 99% color accurate vs. getting the image 80% color accurate worth it?

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