[Tom Nelson]

If I were to do it, I’d shoot with a remote trigger in RAW, and compile all of my footage in After Effects, which can sequence the layers.

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group

[Tom Nelson]

We’ve been using Coolights dimmable 600 LED panels for about a year now, and they’ve held up surprisingly well considering the price. We’ve shipped them, they’ve flown all over the country with us, and they’ve held up. We did have one power supply go bad, but I contacted Rich, the owner, and he had a replacement shipped out to me within days. I use them with a V-lock battery on the back to light the interiors of cars, and I also have the compatible softbox which also works surprisingly well.

https://www.coollights.biz/clled600-panel-dimmable-p-114.html

Are they built as tough as LitePanels? No. They’ve still worked out quite well for us, though.

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group

[Tom Nelson]

I’ve re-visited the project after unmounting the volume, shutting down, and restarting Avid, and all of my AMA linked clips show up in the correct bins and play properly (it was XDCAM MXFs that were giving me a problem). I’m going to have to go to each Avid and check that all of the plugins we will need are there and updated.

Ricky – I’d definitely be a bit more comfortable with your workflow, as I try to make everything bulletproof, and transcoding the AMA-linked media files ensures that you’ve got that tried-and-true Avid media files and folder to work with in the software, instead of working directly with the AMA-linked file. I am going to give AMA a good run, though, because skipping the transcoding step, if successful, would save tons of time. I’d need to be absolutely sure, though, that any Avid would be able to easily see all of the AMA linked files, regardless of the drive letter associated with the project drive, and the editor could work with all of the linked files quickly and effeiciently, as if they were Avid native. If it’s not 100 percent reliable, I’d think that transcoding would be the way to go.

Thank you guys for the valuable info. I’m all about researching and testing before I push the Beta version of the workflow out to the editors, and you’ve been very helpful so far.

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group

[Tom Nelson]

What is the extension on that lens at full wide? Many DSLR lenses are hard to balance on a Merlin because the center of gravity shifts with zoom and focus changes. Having said that, I’d recommend shooting as wide as possible and trying to lock the lens barrel so it doesn’t move. Also, I would imagine you don’t need a lot of weights on the Merlin with that setup, as it’s a pretty lightweight cam and lens.

You know you’ve gotten it right when you quickly shift the Merlin left to right and front to back and the unit doesn’t sway at all.

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group

[Tom Nelson]

Are you willing to change the way you operate to make things work? As I am a problem solver, I would approach this working backwards, and try to shoot the tour in a way that doesn’t show windows in the shot unless they’re the focal point of the shot. Unless you’re in a room with more than 2 walls of windows, you can always shoot the room away from the windows. If you want to show just the windows, you can stop down.

The other, clearly more practical solution, is to simply plan your shoot according to ambient light. You’d have to work pretty fast, but just get to your location an hour or so before dusk, bang out your exteriors when there’s still plenty of light, then do your interior walk-throughs when the ambient light outside falls to a manageable level. You could even get away with bouncing a Tota off the ceiling off-camera to bring the levels inside the room up, and keep your practicals on for ambiance. The window light will be daylight balanced and quite blue, but it looks pretty nice.

Try it in your own property before venturing out and see if you like the results.

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group

[Tom Nelson]

Also before trying Twixtor in After Effects, simply use Time Remap, then frame blend. I find that if the video was shot properly, Time Remap works pretty darn good. I’d shoot it with a shutter speed somewhat on the fast side to avoid motion blur in camera, and then add it later. You certainly can’t take it away in post.

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group

[Tom Nelson]

Also, a circular polarizer is a must, in my opinion. It can cancel out out-of-phase reflections.

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group

[Tom Nelson]

Can you post a sample clip? Your shutter speed should always be close to your framerate, or a multiple. You may simply need to alter the way you’re shooting to achieve your goal – the speed of the action may be too great, or the framing may need to be changed. It will be much easier to provide feedback, however, if you post a sample clip.

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group

[Tom Nelson]

We use a couple of these:

https://www.coollights.biz/clled600-panel-dimmable-p-114.html

You can buy the battery plate add-on and power them off of a V-lock or AB gold mount, and they last a few hours at full intensity with one battery. Dimmable, and you can drop in a CTO panel to switch between daylight and tungsten (although it cuts a stop). You can also pick up the softbox attachment for $99, which is actually pretty good. Also check out the smaller LED they have – you could easily mount it atop the camera and power it off another battery.

I’m also in agreement with Ken – remember monkey in the middle – when shooting interviews, your subject is looking at your interviewer, who is standing between the camera op and the light.

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group

[Tom Nelson]

We’ve got one of these:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/227385-REG/Sachtler_5385_14_HOT_POD_14_Carbon_Fiber.html

It’s a bit heavier than a standard set of Sachtler sticks, but all of the leg locks are released simultaneously when you lift up the spreader to a certain height. If you’re real talented, you can hold the camera with both hands, lift the spreader with your foot, lift/balance the camera, and re-lock the legs with your foot again.

-Tom

Tom Nelson
Videographer/Editor
Essex Television Group