Scott Sheriff
Forum Replies Created
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“External storage solution recommendations “
I am so glad that someone has finally asked about this topic, which has remained in the dark for so many years. How this has been overlooked in past discussions on this board is truly mysterious.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
If you own a home, and just need liability coverage to get access to demanding locations go to your homeowners agent and get a one million dollar general liability umbrella.
This is pretty standard stuff, not that costly, maybe a couple hundred a year depending on your relationship with your agent, and past claims. If you don’t own a home, it won’t be as easy to get.
Insuring equipment is a whole ‘nuther deal.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
You could use a Mac w/FCP and a capture card to go right to a HD in something like ProRes.
If your in NTSC-land, tape is still an affordable alternative. BetaSP decks can be had pretty cheap.
I guess it really depends on your output format, desired quality retention, how much material you want to record, and how often you want to call it back up for use.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
I did some live dance shows in a dark club and you might think about something like a large chinese lantern over the dance floor to bring up the base light, and some high angle keys off the dance floor that can create pools of light for the talent to walk into. Barn door these down so they aren’t splattering light all over.
I have to second the caution on the lasers. Even reflections from atmospheric dust has burnt image sensors, and in a club your more likely to get stray reflections from much shinier objects than that.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
“So what you’re effectively saying is that in conditions such as these, a small amount of gain (eg +3db) may actually HELP the situation- if thats the case then you’re by extension suggesting a possible time to use gain for real broadcast work? (I still dont understand why they build cameras able to use 18db- anything needing that would look TERRIBLE anyway…)”
+3db is only 1 stop, so that isn’t a lot of gain. No one but you is even going to notice.
Broadcasters routinely use gain all the time, even with the new modern digital gear. A place its used a lot is ENG work, and sports remotes.
Back in the old days when I worked for one of those 3 letter broadcasters, we would use as much gain as we had to on tube cameras, because it wasn’t always possible to get enough light, or if we needed more DoF. Those cameras usually topped out at +9. Saticon tubes, at +9. Now that my friend, is a grainy image!
When the chip cameras came out they had +12, or even +18, and we used that if we had to. We really didn’t fear the gain switch. It was more important to come back with the shot, and there isn’t much level you can get out of underexposed footage in post, at least in analog NTSC.
On new digital cameras, a lot depends on how your going to deliver. If the final is going to big screen, or projection, I might worry more about grain. But for small screen, the audience probably doesn’t even notice, if your story has got their attention.
Another thing you have going for you in digital, is there is a bit more level boost you can do in post, maybe two stops. So that means you either have to have enough light, or gain to get within two stops. If circumstances wouldn’t let me add more light, and it took +9 (or more) to got me into that zone, I would do it, rather than be down in the mud. Under and over exposed footage both suffer from information loss which at some point, can’t be recovered in post. So I think grain reduction plugins work better on grain, than on dark noise.“And just to confirm, all the negative gain does is reduce exposure digitally, rather than actually reduce noise as well? (I know it makes it darker, just wondering if there were any other hidden benefits to it…)”
Yes, negative gain is something you use to reduce exposure, like using ND. So if your cam has a -3db setting, that cuts the exposure by a stop. This will not reduce ‘dark noise’ caused by underexposing the image sensor.
What you have to understand about image sensors is they have an inherent noise floor, which shouldn’t be confused with grain caused by using the gain switch. This noise (think of it like visual room tone) can only be overcome by getting enough exposure. You have to find the Goldilocks balance between gain and dark noise.In the end these things are all just tools. They all have a place, and shouldn’t be feared, with the exception of anything marked ‘auto’. Be happy, don’t worry. If you have to use a little gain to get your shot, go ahead.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
“So my quesiton is, do I really have to drop 4 figures to get a decent looking picture?”
So could you be comparing HDV to DV? Both use the Mini DV cassette.
If that is the case, not only does the better glass and pickups found in the HDV prosumer cameras make a difference, but HDV has more pixels, better colorspace and compression algorithms. And if the other camera you are comparing yours against is a Progressive scan format, it will have a better perceived sharpness.Besides the acquisition cost of an HDV camera, you have to think about editing. If you have a system that is adequate for DV, that doesn’t mean you can just jump into HD problem free. You may need to spend some money to upgrade your editing system as well.
In the end these HDV prosumer cameras are a bargain. You get a lot of picture quality for 5K these days. 10 Years ago, there wasn’t anything that even came close to these cameras in professional broadcasting as far as picture quality, and those cameras would have been 60K+ without a lens.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
Science!
Low light environs don’t saturate the pickup sufficiently. What you are seeing is noise caused random electron movement in the pickup. This is made worse by heat generated by the cameras circuits. The warmer the camera gets, the noisier it will be.
Sub zero gain is really for bright shooting situations when you have to much DOF and can’t add any more ND. I would go with more gain, not less. I think the noise from the extra gain is less intrusive, than the dark noise from the pickup.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
I had a job recently,
half up front, half upon finish.
Done on a handshake.First check was fine,
finished the job,
He cancelled the second check while overseas screening the finished film!! (and my bank charged me for his stopping payment)
Because he wanted to “change” a few things after screening the film.. now, because I mistakenly made the deal on a handshake, I feel I can do nothing but make his changes and hope he gives me the final payment without canceling the check he writes and running.
Im curious how someone else would handle this..
I like what Ron said.
Or go watch ‘Get Shorty’ on some proactive client relation tips for deadbeats.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
Not completely unheard of to have a property management company, or building owner ask to be listed as an additionally insured party, but this sounds excessive. It almost sounds like a deliberate jerk-around. You would think listing the parent company, or the division directly responsible for the building would be sufficient.
I would ask the client to use his position as a tenant to help resolve this on the building company end, since the underwriter thinks this is outside the norm as well.
If not, unless there is something unique about the clients office that can’t be duplicated somewhere else, it might just be better to shoot in a different location.
For every location like this that is a hassle, there is one that doesn’t even ask, or care what your doing.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
Hi,
Here is a something you might be interested in. A dock for esata HD. Should make spinning up stored HD quick and easy.https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/NewerTech/Voyager/Hard_Drive_Dock
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com