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DaVinci Resolve 9 Flippin’ Fastastic

Black Magic Design released the Beta version of their new DaVinci Resolve 9 Lite week before last.  You can download it for the Mac here.  
It’s a great new look and feel to this wonderful application. I love the new layout.  Still has all the tools you need — they are just in a better placement now.  And, you don’t have to be as much of a rock scientist to figure out how to “make it go”  =)
I decided to jump in with both feet.  My friends are on the home stretch of their first feature and asked if I would be willing to have a go at the grading.  I said…Suuuure, why not.  It’s a fun vampire flick with all sorts of twists and turns.  It was shot on the Panasonic HVX 200.  INT’s, EXT’s and mixed lighting – a real good test.  Check it out here.

The new layout only took a little while to get familiar with and helped to really speed things up.  Things I liked best right out of the gate:
  • Improved Layout
  • Better Scene Detection feature
  • Smarter HSL keying
  • Easier access to Primaries and Wheels
  • Smart gallery access
  • Fantastic Motion Tracking!!!!!!
    • Super easy to use and link
  • Delivery TAB for outputting
  • Premiere Pro 6 support

This is all from me using the Beta 3 version for only about a week.  As I dig into the app I’ll update this post.  Feel free to add comments to help all the readers =)

I got this project as a full length ProRes movie and used the scene detection feature to split it up and conform it.  Took just a little tweaking and it worked great.  A lot of the content is set in a dark or flat location so I had to pickup a few of the cuts as they were hard to discern for the detection threshold I had set – No biggy.
The vignette and power window features are very nice.  Made it easy to correct windows, clothing, walls… everything!!!

The delivery TAB is now super easy to use.  You can make your own custom  output settings and then save them for future use or just take advantage of one of the many presets.  A new feature I like is the fact that you can set multiple outputs and then place them in the render que and walk away.  Each output can have it’s own settings and destination.

Well, that’s it for now.  I’ll add more as I go.  Just wanted to give props to BMD for delivering such a great update to an already awesome tool.

Until next time, good… grading

TDTrey.com

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Premiere Pro CS6 and 6.0.1

OK. So I’ve been on CS6 for about 5 weeks now.  I like a lot of the new features: better trimming, adjustment layers, Warp Stabilizer built in to Premiere Pro directly.  When up and running it’s great.  But in the last week I’ve had some issues with my tower stuttering and freezing.  I called Adobe last Friday at the end of the day and tried to give them a detailed explanation of the issue – they were very kind but kept passing me around from department to department… Frustrating.  Well I did a little more digging on my system and found a few more answers on my own.  Then, low and behold, I got a phone call from one of the lead tech support guys this morning following up as they could see there was not a resolution to the issue yet in the report.  VERY COOL =)

Well the tech spent almost an hour with me on the phone and went through all the nooks and crannies of my Mac Pro to determine where the problem might be.  We tracked it down to a probable conflict with some behind the scenes apps interfering with the PPro performance.  (Keep in mind that this system is an 8 core, 2.93 Ghz box with 24 gigs of RAM and separate GPU and GUI graphics cards, RAID 5 @ 200MB/sec — not a sleeper)  We set up a ROOT account to log into and ran PPro 6.0.1 with no problems.  This means it must be in the building of my main account – not the Boot Drive or the system.  Good, I don’t have to blow the drive —  bad, I have to pluck out the offending sub apps or slowly bring across my prefs from the old account to the new one and the delete the old one when I’ve got a solid new one… Tic Toc – but doable.

I’ve been testing 6.0.1 on my 17″ MBP and found it really nice, fast and friendly.  The issues were only with the big tower.  PPro 6 seems a lot like FCP 7 (or 8 =)  I think Adobe is really coming along with this product.  Very happy about that!!!  I’m moving almost 50 percent of my work into DSLR territory and the file size and Xfer/conversion time is a killer on fast turn arounds and on-set reviews.  I love just dropping the native files into PPro and going.  Hoverscrub and JKL functions really help to speed up the process of logging and picking clips on set.  I’m waiting for PluralEyes 3 to come out and everything will be in place.

The majority of my work these days are talking heads for docs and sound bites so being able to turn them quickly is important.  I cut a series of interviews with CS 6.0 and was very pleased with the adjustment layers and the sound control.  I was prepared to got out to Davinci Resolve and Audition if I needed to but instead elected to stay in Premiere the whole time and make a go of it.  The client was very happy and didn’t need a second round of changes – Yay!!!

Overall I think Premiere Pro is moving forward quite nicely.  Probably by 6.5 we’ll be in a place that feels a lot like where we left off with FCP7 – Sorry Apple… Still love the computers =)  I’m very happy with the openness of Adobe to listen to our needs and then do there best to get us the updates ASASP.  I think letting Apple do what they want to do – computers and mobile devices and letting software developers work on what the really want to work on will give us the best result in the long run… Too wordy???

Well that’s it for now. Until next time, good shooting and good editing.

TDTrey.com

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Which Camera(s) cont’d – Sony FS700

Well, looks like Sony has gone and done it again…. The FS700 is the new camera to beat. I thought I would wait until the dust settled to put my two cents in. I’ve got nothing to report that hasn’t already been written — Other than WOW!!! wait… I read that somewhere too…

This seems like what the C300 should have been, what the Scarlet X might have been and what we were hoping the 5Dmk3 would have been. And it’s a Sony =)

I was very intrigued with the FS100 but not completely sold. And have been looking for a way to use my Canon EF glass to make the package a done deal. I found the Metabones adapter for the lensing and the battery support for running all my monitoring but was not just there yet… Then I was hipped to the FS700 last Monday and everything changed.

Looks like the new camera route might be to get the FS 700 ASAP. Shoot the 5Dmk2 for as long as I can. Rent the Mark III when needed. Adapte the 5D cage to the 700 for maximum use. If I still get requests for the 5D a lot upgrade later and replace the mark II….

Exciting times my friends… exciting times indeed!!!!

Good FS700 resources:

Andy and AbleCine – Video Overview

Den Lennie

Frank Glencairn

Well that’s it for now. Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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SmallHD HDMI Active Splitter

Life Saver!!!!

I just recently added a Zacuto Z-Finder EVF to my 5D2 package. (Really great tool to have in your kit) But I was having a little trouble routing my signal through the whole rig. I was going from the 5D to the EVF and then looping out to the Black Magic Design HDMI to SDI converter. While the loop-thru works pretty well, it appears to sometimes be a little intermittent. I think it has something to do with the handshake between all the devices. Thus the SDI feed going out to the client monitor would cut in and out occasionally.

Enter the HDMI active splitter from SmallHD. The unit is about the size of a Zippo lighter (for those of you who can remember a Zippo =) and is self powered drawing it’s juice from the inherent 5V present in the monitor/device connections. It has a great little hook at the top that is perfect 1/4-20 size. There is a little LED at the bottom to indicate if you have 1 or both HDMI outputs in use. Green for 1 and Yellow for both.

The configuration of the connections is really nice. The bottom has an HDMI IN and Out. The top has the HDMI OUT and optional power inputs if needed. The power connectors are 1 DC barrel and one mini USB. I found these were not needed in my rig and wouldn’t be needed unless I was looping a bunch of these little guys together or doing really long cable runs.

The active splitter sends full 1080 HD out each output and maintains individual handshakes with each of the devices connected. The BMD converter’s signal is really stable when the splitter is in line. The one thing I noticed in my testing is that you have to power up the rig after everything is connected to make the handshake process work correctly. Once I did that it was perfect.

I’ll do an update to this post in a few weeks after I have used the system a little more. I just wanted to get the word out how cool this little guy is. And he’s built right here in the USA in North Carolina. The price is a mere $59 and the shipping is fast and easy. Pretty Cool =)

Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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Lovin’ Premiere Pro 5.5

Well we are coming up on a year since Apple decided to improve Final Cut Pro for us… And while there are several sites and sources dedicated to the training needed to learn FCP X, it is still lacking in many of the features that we use every day as editors.

Like many video professional last summer, I decided to give Premiere Pro (PPro) a try. I figured that if I was going to have learn a new NLE anyway I might as well make it one that is going to be around for a while. Plus Adobe was giving us that really great deal if we were switching from FCP. Who could pass that up?

So just a couple quick notes on my progress.

  • I like using the FCP keyboard shortcuts. I feel right at home. I hope that they will bring even more of the shortcuts over as the app improves.
  • Bringing in all of my footage with out transcoding is awesome.
  • Knowing I’m using all the horse power under the hood is also great.
  • Dynamic Linking is real handy for moving from app to app in the suite.
These features along with many of the improvements that are coming down the line are going to make PPro an editing force to be reckoned with.
That’s just a quick look at Premiere Pro 5.5 from my perspective =)
Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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The Zacuto Z-Finder EVF Pro

The Zacuto Z-Finder EVF Pro – in a word, AWESOME!!!

I finally broke down and bought one this year. (What was I waiting for?) I got it last week for an upcoming 5D2 job and got to use it on an unexpected car spot a few days later. Almost all out side – could have really been difficult. The EVF Pro made it very easy. I used the Zebras and the Action Safe makers all day.

The 16:9 Sun Mask is a must. (DON’T TAKE IT OUT) it is very easy to burn the LCD when shooting out doors – It will happen in just a few seconds. And, the burn ins are YELLOW!!! not black or grey like the old BETACAM days…

I was very pleased with the auto scaling for the 5D REC compensation and the HDMI loop through. I had to put one stage of extension in to get the diopter in range for my eyes. Easy to do. I added an eye cushion to the eye cup for the comfort (and the look factor =). I’m mounting it to my Easom cage with a cine arm right now but will be checking in to something better in the future. I put a Switronix DC cable on it from my Hawk-Woods VL-DC5X D-Tap battery brick distribution system so the whole rig can be powered off of one brick. In the end I think we are all still trying to make these DSLR rigs like our old shoulder camcorders with all the new features of the sensor size and sensitivity.

With all the goodies coming out this year I think it’s a good time to start streamlining your rig and this monitor is a great start. Definitely check it out at the next HD gear show you go to and watch the Zacuto video series on the the EVF – well worth the time.

Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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Which Camera (cont’d) 2012

Well it’s 2012… Yeah!!!

And now we have a few more camera choices – woo hoo!!!

The Canon 5D Mark III is finally on the horizon with the Nikon D800 giving it a good run for the money. The flagship DSLRs are also coming out soon. Then onto the big boys, the Sony PMW-F3 now has S-Log built in and the RED Scarlet-X is more then we were really hoping for (or at least the proposed version =) The Canon C300 seemed to be the best of all worlds except for the price tag… As for me, I’m caught in a spiral of full frame DSLR or Super35 camcorder.

I currently have an EX3 and a 5D Mark II both of which get pretty regular work. The 5D2 has picked up a little more action this year which is great. I’m waiting to see what happens at NAB – it’s going to be crazy this year!!! The acceptance of 35mbs /sec has been hanging in there for a while but now with the Mark III at an estimated 90+ mb/sec it could set a new standard for most cameras. If I go on with the DSLR plan I’ll likely go to the 5D3 first and then the next offering (4K ?) after that. I do have to say the Nikon line up is looking pretty good. I was all Nikon for years and then moved to the Canon side of the street when the 5D came out. Clean – uncompressed 4:2:2 is a step in the right direction for sure… I’m waiting for a box with any mount and a clean out, place for a monitor and external recorder!!! This would be the best solution ever — just change out the body when a new one comes out. Maybe later this year??

At any rate the next 2 months will be really exciting!!!

Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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Shooting with the RED is EPIC

So I got to spend 3 days with the new RED Epic-X last week. Really nice. Some quick notes:
  • I like the touch screen menu adjustments. Although, we got the side grip the day before the shoot and I must say that it lays out a lot like a Canon system when you start accessing the menus that way.
  • We are using mostly zooms on this shoot for moving fast. The RED 18-50, RED 50-150 and the Tokina 11-17 PL. We have the full set of RED primes with us but have decided to lean on the zooms. A lot of the work is being done from my Porta-Jib Explorer camera support system. We are using both the JIB and the slider configurations so the zooms are coming in handy.
  • Playback is still forthcoming so we are treating this like a film shoot. If the client wants to review a shot they go over to the DIT station and look at it there. (usually after the card has gone in for offloading). It will be great when it is put in a future build.
  • The media management seems pretty straight forward. Very much like an EX workflow. We are getting the MacBook Pros to play back at 1/8 resolution in REDCINE-X with out much problem. No real color adjustments are being made on the set – We just check to see when there is a problem that we will be able to remove it in post.
What a great camera package for digital cinema. I’m looking forward to the next time I get to shoot with this camera.

Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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Exit the ScarLETUS – Enter the Scarlet-X !!!

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was at the Technology Expo in Burbank today, visiting the Canon booth, waiting to hear the good news about their new $6K HD camera like everyone else. They had no news. The Paramount team hadn’t called yet. At 3:30pm I started getting phone calls about the Canon presentation at Paramount: The camera is cool, great form factor, very sharp…. then the price came out — $20,000 freakin’ dollars!!!

Hop over to RED. The stage is set. Every one is hoping for a Hail Mary and RED delivers!!! A gigantic round for their bazooka. Dead hit! 4K Super 35 for under $10K Yippee Cy Ya M… F….

Sorry. I’ll reel in the enthusiasm a little. I’ve just been waiting for this camera for soooooo long. I got a fast track lesson on the EPIC yesterday. I’ll be shooting with it next week. I was very impressed. I had relegated myself to the idea that the Scarlet could possibly fill a gap for me until the EPIC-S/Scarlet S35 eventually came on the scene. As in my ScarLETUS blog I was even planning a way to make the fixed 8x lens concept work for the mean time with my 35mm LETUS adapter. Well I don’t have to worry about that anymore =)

I’ll just say that my EX3, 5D and F3 were filling in the gaps and if I were to buy another camera it would need to really stand out. EPIC not withstanding, (out of my price range) the EPIC-S was going to be the only contender for that position but had reportedly gotten pushed to the back of the line – SOOOOO glad that RED brought it out as the Scarlet-X.

Great job RED!!! Now I can look forward to the Digital Future with hope =)

Until next time, good shooting. (Go RED!!!)

TDTrey.com

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Zeiss ZF.2 lenses with the DuClos Cine-Mod on the F3

Well we had the chance to spend some quality time a Duclos Lenses last week and try out the new Zeiss ZF.2 lenses with our F3. These lenses all had the Dulcos Cine-Mod: aperture de-clicked, solid focus gear added and an 80mm front ring put on. These were fantastic.

Matthew Duclos took us through the 5 lens kit they are now offering – what a cool deal. They also have these available for rental as kits configured with 5 or 9 lenses. The typical group consists of a 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm (macro) and an 85mm. You can also get an 18mm, 25mm or the 100mm (macro).

Zeiss makes a great lens and the Cine-Mod just adds to the experience. A very robust a solid feel with the added features of the focus ring and the common 80mm front. The rotation of the barrel is 270 degrees to 360 degrees in some cases – very nice. To that, very little breathing.

The images from these lenses are very sharp and clear. I did not see any contrast ratios that were out of range or false sharpness. CRI seemed right in there with our Sony PL primes. We did a comparison between the 50mm PL prime and the 50mm ƒ2.0 Zeiss and focal length was identical (within an inch at 10 feet side to side) and the Zeiss was a little faster. (I’ll post some frame grabs soon)

Over all I think these lenses are a great addition to any camera package and deserve a closer look.

Until next time, good shooting

TDTrey.com