Category: Production
Tiger Tamers
If you have not read my three previous posts (if you have not, go and do it now, please….pretty please) you know I have forsaken my low budget video production methods for a Canon 550D and a bad hunger for L lenses.
I’ve been happily riding the tiger of HDSLR production for several weeks now, and as I predicted, the learning curve has a pronounced tilt. Triumphs over the limitations have been frequent however, and the light at the end of the tunnel may not be a train. Perhaps a Yugo with a headlight out, but not a train.
How I stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb: Cineform & Transcoding
What if I told you that you could improve the speed of your NLE by at least 8x and up to 16x for only $129. Think about what an 8x speed improvement in your post workflow would mean to your income. You’re going to save hours a week – gain back weeks every year.
The enemy is AVCHD (and .h264 in general). It’s a wonderful codec for what it can stuff into a tiny container. The deal with the devil comes when your NLE has to decode it on the fly for post. It’s really CPU intensive and a huge choke point for your system’s abilities.
Along comes Windows 7, multiple updates for Quicktime and AVCHD all in a short period. Now, Vegas 9 handles all of these well, but that means a very expensive upgrade.
I’ve decided to move to Premiere and the CS5 platform (more on that soon) but while waiting for that to actually ship to this end of the earth, I’m S.O.L. And I’m not paying to upgrade Vegas in the interim.
Playback of the files from my 550D on Vegas8 is hit or miss. It seems that every other week something gets lost and I get audio playback but no picture. Ahhhggg.
The solution – an intermediate codec. Or, for the rest of us, get my movies out of AVCHD and into something that works better for editing.
If you use FCP, you have ProRes (and Cineform’s Neo Scene outputs that with some advantages, so read on).
This leads me to trying the CineformHD codec.
My original intent was to get over the spotty support for AVCHD on my now aged NLE – and CineForm did that wonderfully. What I did not expect was just how FAST…I mean NASA test flight fast…the codec runs under Vegas like a V12 runs under the hood of an excessive German motor car. You don’t see it, but the performance is worthy of a Greek legend.
From Cineform.com:
“…camera formats are designed for recording, not editing. With Neo Scene you will convert your difficult-to-edit HDV, AVCHD, Canon 5D Mk II / 7D or T2i camera footage to CineForm AVI or MOV files and then benefit from the same theatrical quality and real-time editing performance as professionals.”
http://www.cineform.com/neoscene/features.php for the tech stuff
So how it works is you download their encoder (the cheapest being NeoScene @US$129.00) import a list of your footage, the encoder ‘transcodes’ or rewrites your footage into the Cineform codec, saving it to your hard drive as a new file. Your originals remain untouched for archive if you want.
What you get is file birthed for editing, color correction and compatibility among many programs.
The pioneering desktop HD production of “Dust To Glory” was cut several years ago on Adobe Premier Pro using this codec – before Dual Core chips! And it’s After Effects friendly (the kind of friendly I don’t want the kids to know about).
You get a jump from 4:2:0 to 10bit 4:2:2 in color space. This means way more room to move for color correction. And Magic Bullet thrives in this environment. The reduced load on the computer working with CineformHD means all my color correction is done in 32bit as well!
Before Cineform, my PC with Black Edition Quad Core AMD struggled to render in 32bit mode – basically incapable with AVCHD. Let’s be blunt, it crashed 99% of the time. With Cineform, no problems.
The real kicker is it runs so much faster I can preview Magic Bullet cc’d footage at 4-12 fps. What’s remarkable about that is we are talking about Magic Bullet Editors (the less efficient older version) with only a Nvidia9500 GPU in the box. Before Cineform I was getting 1 frame per 4-6 seconds. That’s right, it took 4-6 seconds to render a single frame for preview at full quality. Do the math!
All my effects run in real time on multiple layers at full quality in real time – something I had not seen since the last project I cut in DV (standard def).
If you cut on a laptop, you need Cineform. If you want stupidly fast renders of anything in any format, I think you owe it to yourself to try the demo.
And while we are on the demo subject, be very careful to install the version you want to tryl – NOT the player. The player is great for making sure you can play your newly transcoded files on any computer for free! And it means your friends don’t have to pay for NeoScene or any of the Cineform products to edit it. They can download the player for free, though I understand Premiere natively supports the format (others may too).
What you pay for is the encoder – the ability to get your footage out of the Hatchback and into the Nascar and run it round your hard drives.
Also, be sure to uninstall any other version before installing a new one. I tried to use Cineform last year and it never worked on my 64bit XP box – probably because I installed the player then the encoder, and I could never get it to work.
Even if you plan on getting hooked up with the Mercury Engine and you have a quad i7 mobo and a raid that would scare ILM, getting 10bit 4:2:2 files out of your HDSLR will make the vital task of color correction far more powerful. And, anything that gives me an average 8x jump in speed (and a peak of 16x) for less than the price of a 2 year old video card…
Your caffeine intake will cut down, saving you another coupl of years before the bypass, your clients will think you have a super computer, and your pics will have a new color depth that even youTubers might notice. If they weren’t waiting for someone to get hit in the man bag. (Brad, you can substitute something less offensive there…like hackey sacks, ‘nards, wedding tackle…)
It’s all good.
PS – on my system, the transcoding process was so stupidly fast that I forget to mention it earlier.
Backup Solutions for Media Producers
It’s true for any industry, but especially computer users in the media production field- if you do not have a backup solution in place for your computer systems and all of your media assets, you are sitting on a ticking time bomb. It’s not a matter of IF, but of WHEN you will have a hard drive crash. Not having a backup solution in place as a media producer is like not changing the oil on your vehicle.- it is a virtual kiss of death. Stop and take 30 seconds to ponder on how many hours, DAYS in fact, that you have spent on recording, editing, chroma keying, post-production, rendering, etc. Now imagine, no really; right now, imagine the gut-wrenching feeling you would have if you sat down in your studio only to find that those media assets are missing or corrupted, or maybe it’s JUST the configuration settings of your most used apps. How would you finish that one project you are currently working on, not to mention reference any media assets for future projects? How many deadlines would you miss? How many potential clients would you lose while you are attempting to salvage your work environment? Again, the thought of losing your data in ANY field, such as a common office environment, is a sickening feeling. But it is exponentially worse as a producer in the media field due to the hours of time spent on media projects. I’m a very optimistic person, but I’m also a realist. I’m not trying to point out the worse case scenario. I’m pointing out the inevitable scenario. You MUST have a backup solution TODAY. Don’t put it off another day.
What needs to be backed up? What constitutes a real backup solution to protect your assets?
What to backup:
1. Main internal hard-drive – OS, apps, configurations, and typically your contacts and email.
2. Media assets – raw recordings, effects, plug-ins, project files, fully rendered video, etc. If you feel its important enough to keep on your external “media” hard drive, its important enough to backup.
The common rule of thumb is if you don’t have three copies, you don’t have a backup.
The first of the three copies of your data, of course, is your main hard drive(s) including external hard drives used for mass storage of media files used in projects and that must be readily available for those projects.
The second of the three copies is usually on site and can consist of either a separate external hard drive or DVD data discs and is used strictly for the purposes of backup storage. If you are a Mac user and you don’t have a 1 Tb external drive setup as your “Time Machine”, it’s time to drop $99 on the 1 Tb drive and turn on the Time Machine software included with Mac OS X. Within the first few months of owning my Macbook, due to some faulty non-Apple RAM, I crashed my internal hard drive. I literally purchased a 1 Tb hard drive and made a Time Machine backup the day before the crash. It saved my business from total failure. I got lucky. Don’t wait for some day. Do it today. This will allow you to put the OS, apps, configurations, etc. back into place as if nothing happened within hours or less of the crash and replacing or formatting your internal hard drive. Cheap hardware + free software = saved business. Don’t learn this lesson the hard way. Wisdom is learning from other people’s failures without having to experience the failure yourself.
To make a backup of your external drive(s) to your on site backup drive for Mac OS X, you can use software such as Carbon Copy Cloner . It is “free to use until you trust them” (a.k.a. freeware, please donate). For Windows users, try HDClone. The key to choosing a software package is to ensure that you can backup from one external drive to another, and have the ability to schedule those backups to run automatically. If you depend on your memory to manually backup your data, it won’t be done effectively if at all. Don’t trust yourself as part of your backup solution.
Having a second external copy (hard drive or DVD data disc) of your data on site will give you the ability to recover data back to your main hard drive(s) and restore your work environment to full functionality quickly.
The third of the three copies needs to be off site. In the old days, that meant backing up to a tape drive and shipping the tapes off site to a climate controlled media storage facility equipped with fire suppression. But things have changed for the better in this wonderful age of technology in which we live. Thanks to the Internet, the age of “Cloud Computing” and readily available high-speed Internet connections, meeting the requirement for off site storage of one of your copies has become much easier than the older method of shipping tapes off site. Online backup comes in many flavors. Do a Google search for online backup and you’ll find plenty to choose from. The most commonly advertised online backup company is Carbonite. I personally tried them first because it was the first one I’d heard of due to the advertising. However, I chose not to go with their online backup service based on one major lack of a feature. Carbonite, although its not obvious on their website, does not backup external drives (hard drives, CD/DVD, USB “thumb” drives, etc.) This is huge requirement for implementing this backup solution. You must be able to backup all of your important data to an off site (online) storage regardless of whether its an internal hard drive or one of the many flavors of external storage as mentioned above. This led me to iDrive. This service allows you to back up any drive attached to your computer including mapped network drives and USB “thumb” drives. They have a “basic” free service plan that gives you up to 2GB of storage. This is obviously for trying out the service. You may be able to store your important internal hard drive information with 2GB, but it’s obviously not enough to backup your media assets. You can purchase 150Gb of storage for $49.50 per YEAR, or 500GB of storage for $149.50 per year. The iDrive software allows you to choose what specific folders or files you wish to backup and has a scheduler for automatic backups. It also can run in “incremental backup” mode which is constantly monitoring your drive(s) for files that change, and immediately sends the changed file(s) to the online backup servers. The iDrive service is available for Windows and Mac OS X.
Having an offsite backup gives you the ability to recover data back to your work environment after a catastrophic event such as a fire, flood, or hurricane.
Although not officially part of a backup plan, two solutions for keeping a quick copy of fairly small amounts of data that you may need to quickly retrieve from virtually any location is Dropbox and Evernote. Both are Internet based systems and allow you to quickly store and retrieve data from multiple devices.
Dropbox is for storing files (or sharing files with others) using simple drag and drop within the Finder (or Windows Explorer). Dropbox apps are also available for iPhone, iPad, Anroid, and soon on BlackBerry devices. See www.dropbox.com for details.
Evernote is for storing information (i.e. text, audio notes, small video notes, and photographs such as a business card). The text that you type as well as the text on photos is indexed and easily searchable at a later date. Notes within your Evernote account are accessible via the Evernote.com website or apps running on your Windows or Mac computer, iPhone, iPad, or other mobile devices. See www.Evernote.com for details.
Riding the Tiger- Part III
If you ride a tiger, you had better have a good reason for going to all the trouble.
Do NOT confuse ‘the film-look’ with making an actual film.
I’m gonna puke the next time I see duck ponds at dawn and cloud montages that clog the interweb listed as “Test Footage” or “Just bought 78 Mega Pixel camera, check out my tiny depth of field”.
Playing with yourself is called…uh, er…playing with yourself. No one wants to see that in public. It’s up there with slide shows. Remember slide shows in the 70s and 80s? I do, and I want those hours of my life back.
Stop posting your ‘film-look’ and make an actual film. You know, with actors, dialog, a score. Even if everyone dies in the end (like every blasted student movie I ever worked on).
Now that I’m shooting DSLR, I want an Epic or and Alexa (I’m not proud, give me either one) because I’m on that image quality kick.
So, some of the things that bother me are not going to get fixed without spending a LOT more money and time perfecting the rig and my skills.
But none of that matters a flying heap of [insert scatalogical reference here] if you don’t actually use your gear to make a film. Tell a story, or work with those who can, and make something. And make YouTube a better place for all of us. It’s too late for Vimeo, there are already too many out of focus trees in the wind cluttering up the server.
Review – Zunow WEX-075a Wide Angle Lens Adapter
Review
When I was approached by Scott Cantrell of Tapeworks Texas to review and assess the aspherical lens for the Sony PMW EX3 by Zunow, I was pleased to assist. Scott and indeed all the personnel at Tapeworks, offer a higher level of customer attention than any of our other vendors. This combined with their competitive pricing has made Tapeworks our first point of contact for equipment acquisition.
Now to the lens itself:
Basis of the test
As we have also been using the Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 wide-angle lens specifically designed for the EX3, it seemed this was the best comparison. If it were to compare favourably to a task-specific design then this would give video professionals the best assessment. The images were assembled on to a DVD, which is available at Tapeworks.
The images acquired were fractal for the most part with complex and varied texture and were shot in varying lighting conditions. In addition, the test sequences chosen varied from close (1 meter) to mountainous areas at a range of a mile or two. The full range of field of view and focus were captured.
Physical build
When I first opened the box for the Zunow I was struck by the fact that this is a very substantial piece of glass. It is well made and possesses a simple and robust bayonet locking method for direct connection to the standard 1/2” Fujinon lens for the PMW EX3. This is true example of the benefits of “keeping it simple”. Mounting did require the removal of the protective UV filter that was installed on the Fujinon lens. There is little doubt that this adapter would provide a long period of service.
Due to the fact that it is aspherical and is meant to cover such a wide range, it is comparatively heavy. The Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 is lighter than the WEX-075a Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 combination, however this does not preclude its use as a field adapter. If it would be used for prolonged periods one may become a bit concerned about stresses to the lens mount on the camera. This is most likely not an issue as the most likely use of this adapter, and indeed its benefit, is that it can be mounted only when required. For those who feel the PMW-EX3 is too light and should feel more substantial, attach this adapter and you will have the weight your desire. As an aside, as we will frequently trek into very remote areas carrying significant amounts of gear (often in hostile circumstances) the light and agile capability of the EX3 is welcome. The WEX-075a is of course lighter than the Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 and much easier to place in backpacks, etc.
There is a distinct advantage to the approach of using a wide-angle adapter, as it does not involve the removal of the lens and therefore exposure to dust and the elements. There are several times in the past when this would have been a most welcome part of the kit. To prove the point, during the tests a few particles of dust inadvertently found their way on to the lens mount and are visible in shots of the sky. We left these particles in the final images to make the point.
The lens hood that comes with the WEX-075a is roughly the same size as the Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 as would be expected. Here again design simplicity was key with a straightforward slip on and tighten method of attachment being used. The lens caps are of the slip-on type but are adequately snug.
Considering the value and price point of this lens and its greatest potential use for the field, I would like to have seen a more protective case rather than the nylon pouch that is provided. For our purposes it will require more protection.
Image performance
A series of four tests were conducted to test the characteristics of the Zunow adapter against the Fujinon wide angle. Each test was conducted with no Neutral Density on the first test during which the full range of the zoom function would be employed and then a subsequent identical test with a neutral density of 2 set on the PMW-EX3.
A variety of image surfaces were chosen in four separate lighting conditions. Test Number Four was conducted with a strong backlit situation to attempt to force Chromatic aberration to be apparent.
In all tests the following characteristics were consistently observed:
The Zunow adapter provided a surprisingly sharp image especially when considering the large amount of glass being introduced into the image stream. In some cases it would rival the purpose-built Fujinon lens. On some images of relatively small objects in motion, the difference in clarity between the two lenses was difficult to distinguish (if at all).
Of course with a large aspherical adapter there is a tendency for distortion to form in the corners and depending on the degree of magnification, along the outer edges as well. While the Fujinon lens held the clear advantage in this regard, the images made with the Zunow were still useful and the distortion hardly noticeable when the images were not being “zoomed”. Corner distortion was also most apparent on those sections of the image, which were highly fractal.
As regards the equivalent focal lengths are concerned, the Fujinon actually allowed a wider angle of view whereas the Zunow enabled a closer focus when fully zoomed in to the subject.
A remarkable and distinct difference between the two lens arrangements was the narrower depth of field achieved by the Zunow adapter. It was in fact a most pleasant surprise, which yielded some above average images. This characteristic was naturally most noticeable when a narrow field of view was used and the Neutral density on the camera was set to 2. The bokeh is acceptable and perfectly usable for a video lens. It was certainly more dramatic than the Fujinon lens. Therefore this could be used in certain circumstances when the use of a 35mm adapter is not available.
There was a difference between the two lenses in regards to contrast and colour representation. The colour presented on the Fujinon was more vivid and the contrast more in keeping with the camera settings. The characteristics of the Zunow however were well within adjustment tolerances both on the camera settings as well as in post-production.
Chromatic aberration was only apparent in several conditions and only in the outer extremes of the image, as one would expect. It was however far better than was expected.
Summary
Some may feel that putting an adapter up against a dedicated design lens to be a bit unfair, however I would assume that at the price point, that would be the consideration most videographers would be making. Therefore I felt it was important to see if such an adapter could serve the professional to an acceptable standard. To me the answer is yes, under certain circumstances. Indeed as previously mentioned, it would be extremely handy in the field and can be quickly applied when needed. Certainly the unexpected benefit of a narrow depth of field provides a creative solution to many situations.
If one is aware of the potential shortfalls of using an adapter of this size, it can be of significant value. In our case it will not replace the Fujinon lens but is being seriously considered for inclusion in our field kit.
Well done Zunow.
Review Provided By:
Philip E Hewitt
Seventh Victory
P O Box 1123
Qunicy, CA 95971
(( Disclaimer – Powered Production was not paid to post this review nor did we conduct the tests of the equipment, TapeWorksTexas is a friend of ours, and is who we choose as our vendor in the Houston, Texas area.))
What is Editing?!
When the average viewer looks at video – they don’t think about the cuts, music selection, or graphics (or the lack there of). Unless there’s something wrong with the video – then everyone will notice it.