First paid gig tonight! Help me not screw it up

[Gabriel Florit]

Hey everyone,

It's my first paid gig tonight. I'll be recording a seminar.

1) I only have the 1 free 8GB card - just got my camera two weeks ago. I do have a Macbook Pro.

2) I only have the 1 free BPU-30.

3) I do have a solid tripod, the Miller Solo DS-20.


Could you guys care to give me advice on what to do / not to do? The guy already knows I can only record 28 min at a time, so he'll take a break while I download. Should I maybe not shoot in HQ 720p?

[Jon Carlson]

Do you have a way to capture on the MBP? I would look to use the SP HDV mode and record right into the MBP and not worry about switching cards. Even if yo hit 4x transfer speed, you'll have a 7 minute break every 28 minutes, which would be very annoying.

[Jason Bodnar]

Don't worry about the battery....Run the camera off main AC, I am sure there will be an AC outlet. Jon brings up a good point if you do not need HQ capturing straight to Macbook would probably be best unless it is a short seminar or has a fair amount of 10+ minute breaks.

[Gabriel Florit]

As far as I know there is no way to capture footage off the EX1 directly onto the macbook pro. Am I mistaken?

[Craig Seeman]

Any place you can rent one 16GB card even if from another EX1 user?

Where I am I can rent a 16GB card for between $40-$60. That and your MacBookPro can keep you going non stop for hours. One card offloads while the other records. With the fast offload you'll have the two cards back in the camera for the "roll over."

[Robert Young]

The EX1 will output HDV (1080 SP, 720 SP, but not HQ) via the firewire. I don't have the manual with me right now, but I believe the output is garden variety HDV m2t that you can capture directly into your laptop as you would any other HDV firewire stream.
Take a look at the manual.

[Andrew Hollister]

You can use Capture Magic HD on the Mac Book Pro. Its basically a Mac version of Adobe On Location. I've tried it, its wicked easy... Firewire from camera to laptop, camera set to output via firewire. AND at $299 its a lot cheaper than another SxS card. You may even be able to get away with the trial version. http://www.bigmugsoftware.com/capture/

Just make sure you DO NOT connect your firewire cable to the EX1 while the camera is turned on. This can cause a static something or other and kill your LCD and/or EVF. Trust me on this, I found out the hard way.

Also, if any of you ladies are interested, I did watch an Adobe video the other day and the mug was using On Location on a Mac.

[Andrew Hollister]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

Any place you can rent one 16GB card even if from another EX1 user?

I wonder how many rental houses carrying EX1 & SxS are in Anchorage Alaska?

[Darrell Essex]

Gabriel, do you know a Brian Smith, who is a director friend of mine?
To the modorator, sorry for being off subject.

Darrell

[Craig Seeman]

He can find another local EX1 user not using the card/camera for the day. It doesn't have to be a rental house.

Originally Posted by Andrew Hollister

I wonder how many rental houses carrying EX1 & SxS are in Anchorage Alaska?

[Gabriel Florit]

I am SO EXCITED. I just finished my first paid gig. What a thrill. Been looking forward to this moment for years. Hopefully it's the first of many!

I ended up renting another 8GB card, and then following Craig's advice: capture on one, transfer clips from the other one, put back in slot, format (while the other one is recording, great!), and repeat. It worked really well.

Things I learned:

1) I can't do that again, not with my current setup. My MBP's hard drive won't do. Either I get lots of cards, or an external hard drive for on the field.

2) I had the red rec light off, and now I see how clients like to have it on - they find it reassuring to see a red light on the camera.

3) Standing for 3 hours can be uncomfortable. It would be great to have an external monitor, and be able to pan/tilt without looking at the LCD.

By the way, there is ONE place that rents EX1's in Alaska. That's where I got my card.

And no, sorry, I don't know a Brian Smith.

Thanks everyone for all your advice! Truly invaluable.

Originally Posted by Andrew Hollister

I wonder how many rental houses carrying EX1 & SxS are in Anchorage Alaska?

[Craig Seeman]

Why won't your MBP hard drive do?
Of course one can always use more space but that all depends what one shoots in a day.
You can certainly buy a terabyte hard drive for the price of an 8GB card.

[Gabriel Florit]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

Why won't your MBP hard drive do?
Of course one can always use more space but that all depends what one shoots in a day.
You can certainly buy a terabyte hard drive for the price of an 8GB card.

Because I was about to run out of space. With Final Cut Studio 2 installed there's not much room left.

[Craig Seeman]

What I did when I installed Final Cut Studio is do a Custom Install and didn't install any of the SoundTrackPro clips, any of the Motion clips, any of the DVD Studio Pro themes, any of the LiveType Fonts or clips. The result was an install of under 10GB.

I'm not going to do that kind of heavy editing on my MBP. That happens on my desktop. I can still do rough cuts, clean audio and burn a quick DVD for the client if needed. The MBP is not my "finishing/online" system though.

Unless you're using all those ancillary clips, you can keep Final Cut Studio 2 fit and trim. I have 150GB free on my MBP. Short of an 8 to 10 hour non stop shoot, it'll get me through nearly any shoot day.

Originally Posted by Gabriel Florit

Because I was about to run out of space. With Final Cut Studio 2 installed there's not much room left.

[Andrew Hollister]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

He can find another local EX1 user not using the card/camera for the day. It doesn't have to be a rental house.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious. BUT I'm not really sure where in my original statement where I said ANYTHING at all about rental houses being his only option? I was just making a general inquiry about what I assumed to be a lack of rental houses in his part of the world.

AND thanks to Gabriel I now know, there is only one place in Anchorage Alaska. Which is one more than I thought there would be.