XDCAM How to clips by me!

John Woods · May 30th, 2009, 02:00 PM

Alister:

I enjoyed your story on interlace, but would like to make a small comment. I agree with you that most converter programs do a poor job of going from 50i to 50p (60i to 60p over here), however the fact remains that the 50i footage has more motion information and that an excellent deinterlace program can often generate better 60p from 60i than from 30p. In particular, the Shake program does a nice job with interlaced footage. Now, you never said that this was not so with sophisticated programs, but I thought it would be a nice addition to observe this fact. This would be a nice demonstration.

John Woods

Dave Morrison · May 30th, 2009, 03:04 PM

Very nicely done, Alister. I especially enjoyed your comparisons showing the impact of shutter speeds on panning blur. One thing I'd suggest strongly is to keep your cel phone away from you when you are recording. You could hear it during the early part of the timelapse video piece.

Alister Chapman · May 31st, 2009, 01:48 AM

But John, almost no one has any real delivery options for 60P at the moment. 60P from 60i will have more temporal resolution, true, but there will be a lot less spacial resolution than 30p. it should be remembered that with current cameras 60i has less spacial resolution than 30p due to the line averaging that takes place to generate fields in current CCD and CMOS sensors. Temporal resolution isn't everything and to try and go into too much detail in a 2 min video would probably confuse and cause more questions than answers.

Dave: I was wondering who would spot that first! When I record the next VO's I'll re record those sections. The phone was in the room next door, but against the wall where I had the mic. DOH!

Mitchell Lewis · May 31st, 2009, 09:14 AM

Thank you Alister. Your tutorial on "why to use a shutter when shooting progressive" was a huge help to me. You made the light bulb come on above my head. Much appreciated. :)

John Woods · May 31st, 2009, 02:17 PM

Alister:

I guess by 30i you really mean 60i. I guess the best acquisition 60i or 30p for conversion to 60p depends on the scene with its spatial and temporal detail. However, it is not clear that one choice is always best.

Dave Morrison · May 31st, 2009, 02:33 PM

Alister, that's one of those sounds that jump out at me instantly when I hear it. I used to produce two podcasts for the newspaper I used to work for (three guesses what happened to THAT job) and I was always plagued by people bringing their GSM phones into the studio. "But I muted it....isn't that enough??" I'm hearing it a lot on network shows (!) which is really surprising.

Greg Chisholm · May 31st, 2009, 08:02 PM

nicely presented. concise.

Well done!

Picture profiles would be awesome, also tcls.

thanks

Greg

Alister Chapman · June 1st, 2009, 12:49 AM

John you are correct, I meant 60i and I have corrected my post above. You are correct that there is no clear right or wrong way to do it. It will depend on your specific requirements. That's why I don't say you must or should shoot P. I simply state that I choose to shoot p.

Erik Phairas · June 1st, 2009, 10:55 PM

Awesome Al, thanks for the videos!

Alister Chapman · June 2nd, 2009, 09:00 AM

Here's another

YouTube - Aperture, Depth of Field and Diffraction. How to Guide.

Aperture, depth of field and diffraction.

Erik Phairas · June 2nd, 2009, 07:03 PM

Great work Al, keep at it!

Alastair Traill · June 3rd, 2009, 07:04 AM

Thanks Alister for a lot of good tips.

I have been wondering about lengthy time lapse shots of things like plants growing or flowers blooming where providing uniform illumination would be a problem. Is there a way synchronising a flash with each frame?

Alister Chapman · June 3rd, 2009, 11:25 AM

With an EX only by building a controller and then using frame record, but it would be tricky to set up. For those kinds of sequences a simple digital stills camera is the way to go, stiching the stills together with you edit software. I've done sequences over weeks and months that way. There are plenty of cheap controllers on ebay for timelapse with DSLR's.

Tom Roper · June 3rd, 2009, 01:02 PM

Thank you Alister. Well done.

Alastair Traill · June 3rd, 2009, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

With an EX only by building a controller and then using frame record, but it would be tricky to set up. For those kinds of sequences a simple digital stills camera is the way to go, stiching the stills together with you edit software. I've done sequences over weeks and months that way. There are plenty of cheap controllers on ebay for timelapse with DSLR's.

Thanks Alister

May 30th, 2009, 02:00 PM	#16
John Woods New Boot Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Clifton Park, NY Posts: 7	interlace 50i vs 25p Alister: I enjoyed your story on interlace, but would like to make a small comment. I agree with you that most converter programs do a poor job of going from 50i to 50p (60i to 60p over here), however the fact remains that the 50i footage has more motion information and that an excellent deinterlace program can often generate better 60p from 60i than from 30p. In particular, the Shake program does a nice job with interlaced footage. Now, you never said that this was not so with sophisticated programs, but I thought it would be a nice addition to observe this fact. This would be a nice demonstration. John Woods

May 30th, 2009, 03:04 PM	#17
Dave Morrison Major Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: West Central Florida Posts: 762	Very nicely done, Alister. I especially enjoyed your comparisons showing the impact of shutter speeds on panning blur. One thing I'd suggest strongly is to keep your cel phone away from you when you are recording. You could hear it during the early part of the timelapse video piece. __________________ EX1, Nikon D750 http://www.morrisonphotographics.com http://www.heritagefilm.com

May 31st, 2009, 01:48 AM	#18
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	But John, almost no one has any real delivery options for 60P at the moment. 60P from 60i will have more temporal resolution, true, but there will be a lot less spacial resolution than 30p. it should be remembered that with current cameras 60i has less spacial resolution than 30p due to the line averaging that takes place to generate fields in current CCD and CMOS sensors. Temporal resolution isn't everything and to try and go into too much detail in a 2 min video would probably confuse and cause more questions than answers. Dave: I was wondering who would spot that first! When I record the next VO's I'll re record those sections. The phone was in the room next door, but against the wall where I had the mic. DOH! __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com Last edited by Alister Chapman; June 1st, 2009 at 12:43 AM. Reason: Corrected 30i/60i

May 31st, 2009, 09:14 AM	#19
Mitchell Lewis Trustee Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Kennewick, WA Posts: 1,124	Thank you Alister. Your tutorial on "why to use a shutter when shooting progressive" was a huge help to me. You made the light bulb come on above my head. Much appreciated. :) __________________ Sony EX3, Canon 5D MkII, Chrosziel Matte Box, Sachtler tripod, Steadicam Flyer, Mac Pro, Apple/Adobe software - 20 years as a local videographer/editor

May 31st, 2009, 02:17 PM	#20
John Woods New Boot Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Clifton Park, NY Posts: 7	60p to 30p Alister: I guess by 30i you really mean 60i. I guess the best acquisition 60i or 30p for conversion to 60p depends on the scene with its spatial and temporal detail. However, it is not clear that one choice is always best.

May 31st, 2009, 02:33 PM	#21
Dave Morrison Major Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: West Central Florida Posts: 762	Alister, that's one of those sounds that jump out at me instantly when I hear it. I used to produce two podcasts for the newspaper I used to work for (three guesses what happened to THAT job) and I was always plagued by people bringing their GSM phones into the studio. "But I muted it....isn't that enough??" I'm hearing it a lot on network shows (!) which is really surprising. __________________ EX1, Nikon D750 http://www.morrisonphotographics.com http://www.heritagefilm.com

May 31st, 2009, 08:02 PM	#22
Greg Chisholm Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Jersey City, NJ Posts: 244	nicely presented. concise. Well done! Picture profiles would be awesome, also tcls. thanks Greg

June 1st, 2009, 12:49 AM	#23
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	John you are correct, I meant 60i and I have corrected my post above. You are correct that there is no clear right or wrong way to do it. It will depend on your specific requirements. That's why I don't say you must or should shoot P. I simply state that I choose to shoot p. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

June 1st, 2009, 10:55 PM	#24
Erik Phairas Major Player Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 628	Awesome Al, thanks for the videos! __________________ EX3, Q6600 Quad core PC - Vista 64, Vegas 8.1 64bit, SR11 b-cam

June 2nd, 2009, 09:00 AM	#25
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Here's another YouTube - Aperture, Depth of Field and Diffraction. How to Guide. Aperture, depth of field and diffraction. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

June 2nd, 2009, 07:03 PM	#26
Erik Phairas Major Player Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 628	Great work Al, keep at it! __________________ EX3, Q6600 Quad core PC - Vista 64, Vegas 8.1 64bit, SR11 b-cam

June 3rd, 2009, 07:04 AM	#27
Alastair Traill Major Player Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 626	Thanks Alister for a lot of good tips. I have been wondering about lengthy time lapse shots of things like plants growing or flowers blooming where providing uniform illumination would be a problem. Is there a way synchronising a flash with each frame?

June 3rd, 2009, 11:25 AM	#28
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	With an EX only by building a controller and then using frame record, but it would be tricky to set up. For those kinds of sequences a simple digital stills camera is the way to go, stiching the stills together with you edit software. I've done sequences over weeks and months that way. There are plenty of cheap controllers on ebay for timelapse with DSLR's. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

June 3rd, 2009, 01:02 PM	#29
Tom Roper Trustee Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Denver, Colorado Posts: 1,891	Thank you Alister. Well done.