Update on Mavericks vs Mountain Lion 10.8.5

UPDATE:  I did the full download and re-install option from the recovery options when you boot in command+R.  It took a little less time than an hour total.

I’m letting my system come all the way up for about 15 minutes and then will try a restart after I back up a few things from today’s project.  The question is still there… Do I want to go to Mavericks as I have already done the big change from 10.6.8 or do I wait until a few weeks have passed and the tree has been shaken a little.  Time will tell I guess =)

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time – Good shooting

TDTrey

Mavericks update vs Mountain Lion 10.8.5

Well it looks like we have a new OSX.  And Apple has left the “big cat” naming convention behind…  Ironically I just gave them $20 for the last Mountain Lion version 10.8.5.  I slurped the Cool-aid last week and joined the Adode family with the Creative Cloud solution.  I’m a little ticked that the sales person said “sure, you can run CC in 10.6.8”  and you can – as long as you don’t work in the video or audio business…  So off to the app store I went and upgrade I did.  And, everything was going swimmingly until about an hour ago when I restarted and was met with a big grey screen on all my monitors.  The lovely shade of grey (just one) seem to permanently stick there forever.  

  • I gave it a few minutes and then powered off.  
  • Restart. 
  • Restart….
  • Shutdown….
  • Restart with P+R+command+option – no luck.  
  • Now Restart with command+R and go for a recovery…

I’m now in the last 20 minutes of reloading a whole new OS from the recovery options.  I’m hopeful…  If no joy I have a full back up I did last week and won’t really loose anything important.  I’ll just have to bump back down to 10.6.8 and then find a copy of 10.8.4 or jump to Mavericks…

So I’m open to thoughts and suggestions here.  I’m running most of the usual suspects from Adobe: Ps, Pr, Ae, Au, Ame.  I have been told by someone who was using the developers version of Mavericks that it’s awesome with CC. I have also had the last hour to read on blogs that people are having problems with their CS6 and Mavericks.  So I don’t know if I want to make the leap just yet…

I did have the Adobe Applications Manager auto update this morning on the CPU in question… so maybe that has something to do with it???

Anyway.  Just thought I would put this up as I have a little time to kill (5 minutes remaining)

Hope you all are doing well out there and having a great day.

Until next time – Good Shooting (and editing or at least computing)

TDTrey

SmallHD AC7 Field Monitor

What a great monitor….  The End

OK, ok. Maybe a little more is needed =)

Earlier this summer I was prepping a project and the DP had asked for a larger monitor with a really good sun shade.  I was using an older 5″ HDMI monitor.  We were shooting on my 5D3 and were going to be on the move over the 5 days of shooting.  So I started looking at my options.

I had checked out the SmallHD AC7 and it’s bigger brother the DP7 at CineGear and was very impressed.  Both monitors had a really nice look and feel and were well built.  I’m very partial to the way SmallHD handles their focus assist features.  The peaking in these monitors reminds me of the peaking in my old BetaCam cameras.  When you’re on, you are on!! and you can see the focus plane coming/going as you are rolling through focus.  Really helpful with DSLR shooting. The 5D3 staying in HD during recording is also very nice.

So as I said I was going to be in the field (or actually on an island) for 5 days shooting mostly “Run and Gun”.  We weren’t going to be able to charge batteries during the day and the rig had to be really light and nimble.  Pictured here is my Hand Held rig:

I found the easiest thing was to set up the 5D3 on a Manfrotto raiser with 12″ rods and use a Ultralight 15mm rod accessory to add the monitor via a cine arm.  (Say that 3 times fast =)  This put the monitor almost right over the camera body and still left access to the battery door and CF card slot.  To keep the weight down I used the Canon battery plate from SmallHD.  This allowed me to use all the same batteries for the monitors and cameras.  In this config we really didn’t need a follow focus and normally left the mattebox off as well.  At night we could run without the sunshade leaving a much wider angle of view for the shooter and any one around him.  I didn’t have it at the time but have since added a LockPort to protect the mini HDMI connection on the side of the camera.

The monitor was flawless.  The HDMI port is on the bottom so it was very easy to run the cable under the lens and straight up into the monitor.  It is very light weight.  The screen is quite bright and clear.  The shade helped the daytime shooting immensely.  We could make it about 4 hours on one pair of batteries. ( the plate is set up for 2 batteries to run together extending the over all running time.)  When the batteries are down to about 10% the screen changes to the AC7 logo and starts flashing.  (Can’t miss that warning =)  Pop two fresh batteries on and you are ready to go another 4’ish hours.  You can get a variety of different battery plates to match your kit batteries and needs.

The monitor comes in two versions: an HDMI only version or an HDMI / HD-SDI version.  I went for the HDMI version at the time but am now thinking about getting the combo HDMI / HD-SDI version.  That way I can hang it off my EX3 or the H2S converter on my 5D3 / Blade kit.

The menu is easy to navigate and has a dial entry approach along with two assignable button for shortcut features and menu functions.  There are a number of guides that can be assigned as well as false color, etc.  Truly a well thought out monitor.

Well just my first impressions of the monitor.  Very happy.  It now lives in the 5D3 bag.  I’ll give an update as I use it more this year.  Thanks again for reading my post.

Until next time, Good shooting

TDTrey.com


Blackmagic Design has big announcements from IBC

Some really cool stuff coming from Blackmagic Design at this year’s IBC.  Looks like the new Beta 10 version of DaVinci Resolve is now available for download at Blackmagic Design Support.  This is the all new version that was originally announced at NAB earlier this year.  Some of the cool new features are:
  • Resolve Live-live grading of the incoming video signal from the camera
  • Enhanced editing features
  • Multitrack editing with support for up to 16 tracks of audio per clip
  • Expanded support for more NLE’s via XML and EDL
  • Support for OpenFX plugins
  • Support for mixed frame rates and media types
  • Fantastic updated to limiting, qualifiers and power windows
  • Outstanding workflow features for window burns, file naming overlay and audio syncing of secondary tracks to picture
  • and much more
Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design was quoted saying:

 “We are extremely excited to have this public beta of DaVinci Resolve 10 ready for download from the Blackmagic Design web site,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “This is an important update for all DaVinci Resolve customers and dramatically boosts the ease of workflow in the television industry. This new public beta is available for high end DaVinci Resolve systems as well as the exciting free of charge DaVinci Resolve Lite edition which now includes support for UHD timelines and rendering. This is an exciting moment for DaVinci Resolve because its the biggest update to a DaVinci product line in 30 years!”

Another cool announcement was regarding the new Desktop Video version 10.  With the onset of 4K coming faster and faster BMD felt it was time to completely revamp the Desktop Video architecture from the ground up. Aimed at helping the UltraStudio 4K and the DeckLink 4 products, this upgrade will make the ever changing job of managing signals around the edit bay, design center, paint and color correction rooms a breeze.

Please check out all the new goodies at BlackmagicDesign.com

Until next time, Good Shooting

ATOMOS Samurai Blade

So, the afternoon that the Samurai Blade was first in stock at B&H, I ordered it.  I had been waiting a while for it to be available and was happy it was finally on it’s way.
At CineGear I was able to check out quite a few recorders including the Atomos Samurai Blade and the Convergent Design Odyssey 7.  Both are excellent recorders.  Both have terrific feature sets.  Both are priced at $1295 USD. 
I went with the Blade.
      • It’s 5.5″ screen makes it a nice tiny recorder to hang on any rig.
      • It has a non proprietary storage media solution. (the Odyssey uses Convergent Design’s own SSDs to ensure compatibility with the recorder)
      • With the Blade, you can use SSDs or spinning 2.5″ hard drives right from your local computer store (as long as they meet the specs required by Atomos)  The fact that you can use spinning drives is one of the main reasons I went with the blade.  I can use a 500 gig laptop drive for tripod shoots and it will only cost me $60 or so and yields almost 5 hours of ProRes HQ.  For “run and gun” I’ll probably want to use SSDs because of the risk of shock to the drives.
      • I can run all day on a couple Sony NP-F970 batteries.
      • The Blade works well with both my EX3’s SDI out and my 5D3’s HDMI out.  For the HDMI from the Canon 5D3 I use the Atomos H2S converter.  It converts HDMI to HD-SDI and does 3:2 pulldown removal in real time.
      • The focus assist features work like my Zacuto EVF and SmallHD AC7 monitor.  I can see the focal plan coming my way as I roll through focus.
      • The waveform feature is very handy and pretty much a necessity these days on DSLR shoots.
        One of the other things I’ve been waiting for in a recorder is the ability to delay the audio coming into the recorder to compensate for the 5 frame LAG the Canon 5D3 has on it’s clean HDMI output.  When feeding the recorder audio directly you’ll end up with your picture behind your audio 5 frames.  Those clips will then need to be slipped back into sync on the timeline during editing.  However, (this was great) I wrote Atomos about the LAG and asked if there was anything in the works at Atomos to help.  The next day (at 3:02 am) Tech support sent me an e-mail saying they had released a new firmware update that morning and added an audio delay function and way better audio meters.  I was stoked as those were really the last 2 minor things that disappointed me about the Blade.

        The Convergent Design Odyssey 7 and 7Q look like excellent recorders as well.  At the time I needed my recorder the Odyssey units weren’t shipping and did not yet offer ProRes.  They are projected to ship a little later this year.  The 7Q will be able to do up to 4K resolutions  and also record in camera raw formats.
        All in all I think the Atomos Samurai Blade is a great choice for a flexible external field recorder and one that I will be able to use for some time to come.  As we all move ever closer to the 4K world new technology is going to keep sneaking up on us.  But for now HD recorders are a great way to go.

        Until next time – Good shooting

        Adobe CS6 Production Suite and The Animated Fairytale

        Well, we just finished recording the narration for our new animated short – working title: “The Birthday Princess”.  It’s a cute story about a princess and her mother, the queen.  The princess learns many life lessons during one wonderful afternoon.

        We recorded at Stewart Sound in Santa Ana, California using ProTools as our DAW.  All the files are in straight AIFF.  Dave Myslek, “Wookie”, our engineer was awesome!!!  From there we will move almost completely into the Adobe Production Premium CS6 suite. We are editing the dialog in Adobe Audition for the rough cut.  We’ll also use Audition for the final sound design and mix out at the end of the project.  In the middle we will use a combination of Premiere Pro 6 and After Effects to bring the animation to life.
        Once the dialog is roughed in we will be giving it to our animators.  We’ll continue the sound design during the animation process and give them the final audio locked dialog + M&E tracks in the home stretch for fine tuning.  We’ll then use Premiere to do the final video edit and layback of the mix.  Output will be done with Adobe Media Encoder.
        We are using Smart Sound to create the music. Their product, Sonic Fire, is a fantastic tool to create an “almost” original score.  If you haven’t checked this software out yet, I highly recommend it.  You can create very original sounding pieces of music from their library and tailor the cues to meet and match your project.  Add hits, mood changes and even variations in side of one long piece of music.  We pulled our temp tracks while we were editing the narration selects – Very Cool.
        This is one of the new projects we are starting for 2013 at Polydactyl Pictures.  We hope to have good luck with it at the festivals.  It will also allow us to build “the machine” a little more before jumping into some of the larger projects we have on the horizon.

        I realized this piece sounds a lot like a sales pitch for many of the software companies – but I really just want to show a step by step of the process.  I want indie filmmakers have yet another road map to follow showing different kinds of projects and their workflows.  Indies (including ourselves) need to have resources at our fingertips to help keep us creative and forward thinking =)

        Stay tuned.  I’ll be posting our progress on “The Birthday Princess” as we go.  When we find out something cool (or problematic) I’ll give you an update and suggestions.

        Until next time, good shooting, editing, animating, mixing….

        Rokinon Cine Lenses-Second Look

        Still loving the Rokinon Cine lenses.  I have three now: the 24mm, 35mm for a few months and the 85mm just came in last week.  All the lenses are at a T1.5 max exposure. 

        The 85mm is a little smaller than the 24 and the 35.  It still has both an iris gear and a focus gear.  Very handy for jib work.  Since this one just came in, I haven’t had a chance to test it in the field yet – but plan to in January.

        The build quality is just as amazing.  The markings are nice and bold (although still only on the driver’s side).  The gears seem to work nicely with my FF.  And… the 85mm has a deep filter thread.  I ordered from B&H so I also ordered a Tiffen UV filter to go with.  The pair shipped as one and I knew that I would have the lens protected as soon as it arrived.

        I’m hoping the rumors about a 50mm Cine lens are true.  I would like to round out my basic prime set now and then start adding T&S lenses and other more specialized glass later in 2013.

        I’ll keep you posted as I put this one through it’s paces on the F3 and the 5D2…
        Until next time, good shooting.

        TDTrey.com

        My F3 Christmas Wish List

        OK.  So we didn’t all blow up today – YAY!!!  Now it’s time to start thinking about questions for the big man in red ( and I don’t mean Jim Jannard =)

        Here’s my wish list for my Sony F3 from Sony in 2013:
        • Could we get an upgrade for 4:2:2 internal recording with 50 m/bits throughput?
        • Is there enough processing power to give us RAW out of the F3?
        • If the sensor is 4K can it be De-Bayer’d down to 2K to an external recorder?
        • Can we us the new faster SxS cards with an upgrade to the firmware?
        • If not free, could this be done for a purchased upgrade under $2000?
        So,  obviously what I’m aiming for here is a 2K RAW F3 upgrade for under $2000 to extend the life of our cameras as we start to save up for the F5 and F55.  I think we’ll need another year or two for 4K to be requested by clients and this gives us a path to stick with and the ability to use our current configurations a little longer.

        Seems like there is ‘a storm a brewin’ for the 4K market but we won’t know anything until it passes.  If these cameras can be upgraded for a few bucks now and stay relevant until the new crop (no pun intended ) of sensors is released – could be a good thing.
        Just thinking out loud… Santa Sony are you listening???
        Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.  I look forward to hearing from you in 2013 =)
        Until next time, good shooting.

        TDTrey.com

        Rokinon Cine Lenses-First Look

        Just got the sneak release of the Rokinon 35mm T1.5 Cine lens from B & H — Wow.  Very impressed with it out of the box.
        I’m going to be using it on my F3 so the build quality needs to be OK and lets face it… It has to look a little impressive besides being sharp.  I did a lot of research on the Bower, Samyang, Rokinon brands (they are all the same manufacturer) and thanks to information found on KenRockwell.com site and a few other sites these lenses seem really sharp in comparison to their Nikkor counterparts.  I thought I would give them a try and report back.  They aren’t supposed to be out until September but a few got released early and I was able to get one.  I’m waiting for the 24mm, 50mm and 85mm.
        Build quality is very nice at first blush.  Not all plasticy.  The witness marks are on the left side only.  Barrel rotation is about 180 degrees and smooth.  Aperture rotation is smooth as well.  Image looks nice and sharp on the first tests.  Bokeh is creamy.  It is a full frame or FX lens so compared to my 5D2 where it’s a 35mm it’s more like a 50mm field of view on the F3.

        All in all a nice lens so far.  More to follow…

        Until next time, good shooting.

        TDTrey.com

        Which Camera?? Decided… Sony F3

        Well after a little over a year of searching and waiting and wanting I made a what I think is a fine decision for my next camera.  For those of you who have been following my “which camera” posts you’ve scene me ponder everything from the Scarletus… I mean, Scarlet.  And the 5Dmk3, Nikon D800, FS100, FS700 and more.  But after working with the Sony F3 for others I decided to get one of my own.  Great Camera!!!
        I went to CineGear this year to look at everything that was coming out and projected to be out soon.  Lots of cool stuff – (technical term).  Spent quite a while at the Canon booth and the Sony Booth.  Big competition there.  With all the research about new cameras and features I was feeling very lost and then about 2 weeks ago sat down and took a hard look at what I do and how this new crop of cameras could affect that – here’s what I found:

        Most used this year: 5Dmk2
        Most flexible: Sony EX3
        Best combo of the two: Sony F3

        I’m not being asked to go 4K just yet. If need be I can rent an EPIC from VR and go crazy with resolution.  Super Slowmo is great but likely to get overused in my circles and burn out quickly and again — EPIC if needed.  Super Shallow DoF nice but not the end all be all.  The F3 seems to fit the bill right down the middle.
        The best part I like is I’m already an EX3 owner so all my achechepies plug right in. I’m planning to do the S-Log upgrade soon so I’ll keep you posted on the progress.  Also I’m getting a set of the Rokinon T1.5 cine lenses as the come out.  See my review of the 35mm T1.5.  I’ll be getting the 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm.  I can rent a Zeiss ZF.2 kit when needed but I wanted to start with the Rokinons to give them a try.  I got the Tokina 11-16 in Nikon F — no cine mod yet; a Nikkor 28-70 ƒ2.8 and a Nikkor 80-200 ƒ2.8.  It will be a balanced kit when I”m done.

        Well dinner is ready.  More to come…

        Until next time, good shooting