[Tony]

I thought the dude was actually measuring the amount of film they are predicting to roll on for that given take.

Since the film camera measures footage in feet I thought that was the reason for the tape measure to make sure they do not roll out of film in the middle of the take.

Seemed logical I guess.

Not!!!

Just kidding,

Tony Salgado

[Tony]

The best thing to do is to call them directly and verify that the festival does indeed have a digi betacam vtr for playback.

Inquire if they will feed the projector via SDI , analog component or even worst NTSC composite.

Bob is dead on with his advice assuming the festival does have a digi beta vtr. If not there is some major confusion regarding what they are specifiying versus what you can delivery to them.

So when in doubt call them and try to get it in writing as to what specific vtr they will be using and how they will output it to the projector.

Tony Salgado

[Tony]

Paul,

The SRW/SRPC-1 are two piece required for a standalone portable vtr solution.

Together they are closer to 100K in the US.

Currently the SRW1 works alone with the Panavision Genesis camera whereas other camera heads require the SRPC-1 processing unit along with the SRW-1 recorder as a combo unit.

Tony Salgado

[Tony]

I tried the other one and found Digital Heaven’s version to be quite a deal at an affordable $20.

Martin Baker (the owner of Digital Heaven) modified the countdown plugin based on direct feedback I provided him. I can honestly say the response time and customer service from Martin are above par.

The counter plugin is available as a demo download to try before you buy.

https://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/fcplugins/dh_counter.php

Tony Salgado

[Tony]

A much better fcp plug in for a running clock forward or backward can be found at Digital Heaven’s website.

Tony Salgado

[Tony]

Jay,

Little secret to tell you.

I showed my Ikegami RCP-50’s to the Panasonic engineers years ago to push them to produce a paintbox similar to the RCP-50 or RMB-750 to finally harness the power of what could be done creatively with such a unit.

Regarding the scene files yes it is true they do not get everything as they are not “all files” so I use instead the memory card files to quickly store all my settings as snapshots. I always have separate cards loaded into the cameras for multicam work which allows me to use the eight memory card files as registers for the individual cameras.

Regarding the RM-P9 I think I may have learned that secret from the guys at MI I guess they may have not told you about it when you worked there.

Take care,

Tony Salgado

[Tony]

Walter,

I have to correct you in that Panasonic or Sony camcorders cannot record Drop frame timecode when set to 23.98 or 24P mode. When in either of these frame modes the timecode by default is non-drop frame. This applies to camcorders such as the Varicam, SDX-900, F900, etc. FYI there is no current SMPTE TC standard for drop frame at 23.98 or 24P. The non-drop versus drop frame issue has nothing to do with FCP, as it is a function of the original recording.

In addition even an external vtr recording a HD signal from a camera which is outputting 23.98 or 24P will also not record the tc in drop frame as it must be non drop frame.

Drop frame is possible with Sony, Panasonic and other brand camcorders or vtrs, which are recording in 29.97P or 59.94i frame rates but not at 23.98P or 24P.

At 29.97P or 59.94i frame rates, the user has the option to set the timecode to drop frame or non-drop frame.

It is paramount to understand if you are dubbing 23.98 or 24P original footage to NTSC that, the down converted dubs must be recorded in non-drop frame.

Non drop frame and drop frame timecode are one of the most misunderstood concepts in production and post production workflow and at times it seems only old time CMX on line editors such as myself even remember why there is a need for both.

Tony Salgado

[Tony]

Jay,

Retaining the paint setting created with a paintbox when disconnecting the unit from the camera head is indeed possible with Sony Cameras via the scene files or internal paintbox dip switches for camcorders way back to the BVW-600.

The correct dip switch settings on the RCP-9 internally were the secret to allowing the bvw-600 to retain the paintbox settings. This was a little known secret which many operators overlooked when using the RCP-9 with the BVW-600.

One of my favorite method was Ikegami’s use of the personal function switch to automatically recall a specific scene file or other parameters. The personal function can be left in the “on” position and whenever the paintbox was disconnected the camera would revert to that specific scene file for recall whereas when the paintbox or RCP is connected that would override any manual switches at the camera head.

Tony Salgado

[Tony]

Hey the Mister T,

I pity de fool who shot 4×3 when you told them to shoot in 16×9.

I suggest you fire that cameraman but first make them reshoot due to their mistake.

Good luck,

Tony Salgado

[Tony]

Hey the Mister T,

I pity de fool who shot 4×3 when you told them to shoot in 16×9.

I suggest you fire that cameraman but first make them reshoot due to their mistake.

Good luck,

Tony Salgado