Tony Connoly
Forum Replies Created
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How do you recommend converting from .ram files? I am afraid to download some random program off the web, and I did not find any Adobe product that can do this conversion.
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Thank you. To me, this seems like the top feature of CS6.
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Jeff,
When I right-click on a clip in PP, I do not see “New After Effects Comp”.
I do see “Replace With After Effects Composition”. Is that what you meant?
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Thanks John. I realize that people here like Vegas. It’s the Why’s I’m interested in. The things I like about Premiere Pro: -comes with Photoshop and Illustrator bundle, being able to edit any format without conversion, the admittedly cheezy soundtracks that came with the now defunct Soundbooth. Dislikes: very steep learning curve, especially when you consider that you have to learn After Effects too; motion stabilization is VERY important to me, but I’d have to learn both AE and Mocha for that; there is no way to save a file back to the same format without re-compressing it in the process, projects are hard to manage, Metadata is powerful but cumbersome and does not work well with AVCHD, having to you Soundbooth was annoying (maybe this is better with Audition but I’m not willing to pay full freight for a midterm mini upgrade with CS5.5); having to buy specific nVidia cards to take advantage of acceleration.
I am basically a novice, but do not like dumbed down programs like the one that came with Windows Live, and I need state of the art stabilization and support for DSLRs.
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Alex-
MacGurus makes a big deal out of using a “Port Multiplier”. I couldn’t find out whether the SohoRAID uses that. Would you happen to know?
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Arid-Custom control f2 is what you want. Set it to AE Hold.
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Isaac- I now have the D5100 so I can answer some of your question follow.
(1) There are two types of Nikon Auto Focus lenses: AF (which lack their own motor) and AF-S (which have an onboard auto focus motor). The D5100 will autofocus only with AF-S lenses. Not a big issue for video. All newer Nikons (inlcuding the very cheap ones) are AF-S.
(2) A pentamirror is lighter and possibly not as bright as a pentaprism (which is a solid piece of glass). Not an issue for video, since you will be using the LCD.
(3) AF points don’t come into play while shooting video. They’re only important for fast action photography (phase detection). If you use AF during video, it will be contrast detection. With the D5100, you can move the focus area where ever you want even while recoding. I don’t know about the Canon.
(4) Pulling focus manually during video will be very demanding, and 100k pixels probably would not make a difference. You need an external LCD to do this properly, although a loupe works if you have the type that can be attached easily to the camera. I prefocus before I start shooting, and during shooting depending on the situation and the lens, I will either MF with a loupe or AF.
(5) The image quality advantages of the D5100 are significant when taking pictures: the D5100 has a slightly larger, more modern sensor with better high ISO prformance and better dynamic range at base ISO and high ISO. How much of this translates to video depends on factors such as the video codec and so on, and needs to be tested.
(6) You are mistaken in your assumption about the D5100 auto focus during video. You can trigger it any time you want by pressing the shutter half-way. It may have “continuous” AF but I have not (and never would) enable it. I do not not know whether the Canon can auto focus during video.
(7) You are correct that the AF during video is most useful during ENG or gun and run situations. It is a little disruptive to the flow of the video, so it often needs to be edited out later, but it sure beats having to turn off video, focus, and turn it on again.
(8) High dynamic range is a photo-only feature. The D5100 can take two pictures at different exposures and merge them. It’s very nice for landscape photography.
(9) Color depth, dynamic range and high ISO sensitivity are things I would care about, but I have not tested the Canon so I cannot say how it compares.
(10) The D5100 has audio settings that you can set beforehand (Auto, low, medium and high I think). I have not tested that yet, but I will soon. When I want REALLY good audio, I use a Marantz audio recorder.
You asked another question about auto-focus. 30,000 foot view:
Phase detection: standard on all SLRs and DSLRs; works when the mirror is down, can be very, very fast on high-end cameras.
Contrast detection: used by consumer digicams; much slower but potentially very accurate because it analyzes the actual image. This is the only mode that can be used when the mirror is up and live view engaged or video is being recorded.
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Andy-Does your method of locking exposure also work with Ai, Ais and Non-Ai lenses, where the camera cannot measure exposure at all?
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Andy, that’s amazing for a camera to do. I assume you can’t make changes during a scense.
I remember with my D90 an additional issue was that the camera never actually told you what ISO and shutter speed it was using while recording. Has that changed? Does it actually tell you what it’s doing, so that when you press lock, you know that you’re good? Also, even if it’s at 0, does it every choose another combination of ISO and shutter that get to zero?
Does it allow locking White Balance too?
Thanks very much!
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(1) I don’t care whether or not it’s a DSLR, but in my limited experience DSLRs at this price level gave better video results in terms of low light sensitivity and flexibility with lenses (to get some subject separation). Am I wrong about that?
(2) By manual control I mean setting the ISO, the shutter speed and the f-stop. This is probably only an issue with DSLRs because I imagine other video cams in this price range have slow lenses that you always shoot “wide open” and at a set shutter speed.
(3) I have a very nice Marantz audio recorder and a Rode NTG-2 for when the situation demands it, although by all means I would prefer it if the camera had XLR inputs and nice audio controls. But for under $1,500?
(4) I’ve been to B&H. What category of cameras should I look at?
(5) I would hate to start down the road of comparing the obvious DSLR choices to death–D7000, GH2, D5100 and 60D. I wish there was something drastically different about them. I suppose the GH2 is out because it’s not available anywhere, the D5100 probably doesn’t have the manual controls I’d like to have. Nikon D7000 vs. Canon 60D is a close call: the D7000 is the better still camera but how much of that translates to video? I suppose the D7000 is probably better in low light? The 60D has the flip-out screen but would require an adapter to use my Nikon lenses, and I would not have AF if I wanted to use it as a still camera. Thoughts?