Scott Goldberg

Trying to figure this out and maybe you guys can help: If I'm import let's say thirty 32 gig SD cards over a 1 year period of shooting, that's 960 gig's worth of media, MTS (AVCHD files) not to mention Final Cut Pro X events and Final Cut Pro X filters which also add to the events being bigger...   So my question is: What should my work flow be for doing feature?    I'm thinking of getting a few reliable external hard drives... maybe three 1 tb drives, or two 2 tb drives? For the typical FS700 or C100 r C300 user, what has your choice been and what do you find most reliable? Links are appreciated. I'll be editing on a 16 Gig RAM iMac desktop system.   And I've seen reviews on SeaGate drives and how they just die for some people and for others they are great. That's a concern of mine.   Obviously when doing their first feature, one wants to be sure to effectively edit, store media as well as have reliable hard drives. So those are my concerns with doing the feature. Shooting it on a FS700 so the media files are quite big.   ----   Second part of the question is:   Okay, so I will then have my media on my hard-drives. I'll open FCP X and import the files. Should I then save the FCP files on the timeline or on the external hard-drive?   A 90 minute feature with filters, color grading, titles, effects (I'm only use FCP X nothing else), music, transitions, is concerning to me and I want to be sure I do things right.   Feedback welcome.

Hello all, Been shooting my feature and here's what the "dilemma" is.   I've been editing the first segment with the folder of all 32 gig's (SD Card) in a folder with all of the needed information and MTS files. I've labeled my event in FCP X and am on my way to finishing up my first segment. This is all being done on my Mac Book Pro from 2010. No issues with my laptop, all is going well.   I'm soon going to be moving the event from the Mac Book Pro to a iMac and wanted to make sure that it's safe to do so. I've seen articles about transferring Events in FCP X and how it's fairly simple and easy to understand.   Now my question and what isn't known too well based off what I've read, is:   1) If I have the same media on my card, and upload it into the hard-drive and I export the Event onto that drive, do I then need to upload each individual clip again when in Media Import on FCP X, or will I not have to due to it being on my hard-drive which I have plugged in and uploaded all the footage to? Any confirmation on this is grateful, thanks.   My main concern is losing media while exporting the event.   Also, my other question is this:   2) I'd like to keep the clips minimized and as little as possible. I have 32 gig of footage on my SD card. If I delete un-needed footage on my card via my camera, will it effect the other footage? Let's say I have 500 clips, and I want to delete 400. Is that okay to do as far as it not messing up any of the other clips? I'd like to keep the space to a minimum on each hard-drive. I would still upload the 100 clips and Private folder and all contents obviously. Can anyone confirm that this is OK to do?   3) Hard-Drive. I'm really to purchase. I have an iMac so it had USB 3 capability and Thunderbolt as well. What are the best options for editing a feature and how many drives will I need (to chain link, especially if it's a feature length) or shall I buy two drives of the biggest file space that I can? I'm looking to buy two drives for around $250 each maybe?

So, I did a lot of uploads for certain clips a while ago doing test shoots and they are on my side bar for where my clips are in FCP X. If I delete them from the side bin, are they (the file and space they take up) out of the FCP program for good? I ask because I want them to be. I'm not sure if they're saved and taking up space in some area where I cannot see that it's taking up space in...can anyone confirm this?

I use it professionally for my movie, commercials and media in general. Good variety of filters, good color correction tools, very easy to use... I have watched a few tutorials and have learned a lot. I too was using FCP 7. I just feel it's much easier to use to Adobe Premiere. It all depends on your tastes. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGDbxqkG6qc   Thoughts? I own a FS700.   I'm looking into copter shots for my feature and have looked at the CineStar Ocotcopter?  

The whole purpose for me to not have so many files in my card was to make sure that when I put the files onto my external, it didn't fill up so much space. There were a lot of test shoots on the card and off the cusp, we started shooting and now have a full segment done and I'm happy about it and it's perfectly shot and lit and I had deleted the old test shoot clips and have just kept the clips of what I am doing to update. So I just didn't want to feel the excess baggage of all of the clips that were not going to be used...

Final Question: So I deleted the files I don't need "in camera" and now I have files named 00012.MTS, 00013.MTS, etc til 00027.MTS then it goes to 00034.MTS, etc and so on. I have "protected" the shots that I'd like, does that help at all with remembering and keeping the file on the disc / exporting into FCP? Now since I don't have 00001, 00002, 00003, etc and so on all in a row, will this cause issues? And I completely understand about just having MTS files alone and not other folders being an issue. I am and would be including into a copy of the content on my external drive with the following: AVF_INFO and PRIVATE (I know to copy those, then to put those two folders in a titled folder of my choice). In those folders, lies the following: AVCHD folder, SONY folder, BDMV folder, CLIPINF, PLAYLIST, STREAM and in the STREAM folder there in lies the clips. Now since I've done the deleting of clips in camera and since they're all not one piled up after another as far as #'s being 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 all the way up to 100 clips, will there be issues?

What I'd like to do is put the folder contents of the 10 files into a folder on my hard-drive that says: Day One Shoot - Clips Final and not have 90 other clips like there are.... If I delete the MTS files by clicking and dragging to my trash folder on my Mac, and if the #'s are then 0001, 0003, 0008, 0009, will that mess up anything?

Hey all, so my question is: The SD card that records all of the files, I know that all of the content from the card needs to be transferred (folders, sub-folders, etc). With that said... I have a question on the following: Let's say I record 100 clips, and I like 10 of them. Can I delete the other 90 and not have it effect the storage and movement of those 10 clips that I want? As long as I put all of the media from the folders, including all folders, onto the hard-drive? I ask because I've been doing test shoots and some of the test shoots are not ones I want to keep since a lot of them were test shots. Any idea on this?

Which shutter speed would one use if they have S&Q slow motion in 1080 / 24 frames per second mode (instead of 30 frames per second)? I see there are a few shutter speeds to choose from when in the S&Q setting of the FS700 including, 1, 15, 30 and 60. Usually it's best to double the frame rate... would doing 24 fps at 60 make the visual not look right? Anyone have experience with shooting 24fps at 60 fps?  This confuses me because it's always the best bet to double your frame rate (not a must, but it's best to). I just want the footage to match the same frame rate as the rest of my project which is regular motion 24 fps at 48 shutter speed.

I'd be shooting 30 fps at 60 shutter in the S&Q setting. 

First Question: Will FCP X convert the 30fps to 24fps if FCP X is editing as a FCP timeline? Also, has anyone tried to slow down the visual slightly in FCP X and do they have any samples of it? I'm doing shots of a person walking up the street and shooting in 120 or 240 fps will alias some parts and I don't need extreme slow motion visuals for this shot, just half the speed of what I'm shooting (ie: 60 fps) Also, final question, does S&Q degrade the quality just like shooting Super Slow Motion does? I heard up to 60 fps, it will stay the same resolution as if shooting in 24 fps is this true?

  Is camera or in post?

I come from the DSLR world and hate noise, as I am sure a lot of you do as well..my question is, with the FS700, I've decided to shoot on non-PP mode. So I am using in image "out of the box" and I'm not doing PP because I have deadlines, etc and a feature to shoot and would rather go the safer route.   With that said, I'm curious on what everything thinks about and feels on shooting a little over-exposed (only slightly, maybe by a few stops and then bringing it down in post production through Final Cut Pro X color correction "exposure" settings? I ask because I did some tests on a cloudy day and it looks good. It might not be how everyone does it but I'm curious if anyone else does the same?   My main concern is noise. I'm shooting at 500 ISO and not going any more than 500 ISO.    My question is, will I lose a lot of aspects to the image if shooting a few exposures over and then bringing it down in post?   The positives of doing this is to have less noise in the darks.    The negatives might be you might lose some of the detail.   I'm curious on how other FS700 users go about this.   I suppose, I'm thinking more in the vein of how film stock would shoot a little over-exposed and then they would bring down the tone and saturation and exposure in the editing process...

Bought a 16 gig RAM iMac and have not yet downloaded FCP X on it, but am going to and my question is: If I upload a few sample footage and edit and fool around with filters, etc, is there any way to clean it all up? These are test shoots and I don't want the files sticking around or filling up any hard-drive memory.... Any thoughts on this and how to ensure that it doesn't do this, and if so, is it easy to delete the files? I don't have an external hard drive, etc yet but will this Spring. I'm doing test shoots now to just do some color grading tests, etc and then come next week I'm deleting all the footage and don't want it to eat up my space on my computer...

I'm heaving considering just using the PP Off set up. I am curious about the dynamic range and how much less of a dynamic range it has when off compared to using Cinegammas? Also, sharpness is default at 0 correct? The PP Off is basically where everything is neutral? Is this correct? Also, pros and cons of shooting with PP Off? Wanted to get your thoughts? If there's really no heavy or huge difference in sharpness and quality, I'm going to shoot PP Off. I myself am shooting, editing it, not much grading if at all, so maybe PP's just aren't something I should mess with, especially with not knowing much about PP's, especially if done wrong, will make matters worse.

  Good points...I meant when the PP's sre off and you use no PP settings...I'm curious on what the cons are of using that as far as over-all shooting....

What is the Dyanmic Range without using any PP's compared to using them? I have not been able to find any information on the net regarding this.

I'm curious on: 1) Who has shot footage straight out of the box, meaning using the factory setting to shoot? And do you shoot default setting? 2) Any of your own or any factory setting clips via YouTube or Vimeo that you can link here? 3) What are the pro's and con's of shooting straight out of the box compared to PP? Or is it more personal choice? If personal choice, I'm going to leave the PP settings for a future project down the road, not for my feature which I have limited time until shooting starts. (I'm not color grading, maybe lowering saturation slightly and bringing black downs a tiny, tiny bit - other than that, no color grading, only filters via FCP X like "cool tones", etc) I use most shallow depth of field lenses for my visuals so the "video look" isn't too much of a concern for me. My main concern is noise, artifacts, aliasing and lack of dynamic range. And random question: The default video settings have how many stops of Dynamic Range built it? Does it not matter if not color grading?

"A lot of people make the mistake of thinking low ISO means low noise. Low ISO means the noise starts showing up further into the shadows, but if your image is darker because you are using a too low an ISO, it will still have more noise. In most cases with cameras with hardware gain like the FS700, for example if you use 1stop higher ISO, your whole signal will be boosted by one stop and your noise might start showing up half a stop higher in the shadows, but that means you may have brought 1/2 a stop of your shadows out of the noise. This is a bit of a simplistic description, but you get the idea. The actual tradeoff will depend on the design of the sensor, but for hardware gain (up to a certain point, and some other cameras use software gain past that point) increasing ISO will usually give you less noise for the same scene, right up to the point when its too high an exposure and you have to stop increasing ISO to save your highlights. Really high ISOs are noisier because they are used to shoot scenes with very low lighting. Noise is worst when you have too little light or when you underexpose your images, but those are not the same thing, since you can have too little light, but you will only make the situation worse by shooting at a very low exposure by setting too low of an ISO value. This is why we have ISO/gain..."   ----   I saw that posting on a board and it raised some questions....   Let's say I'm shooting on a cloudy day (exteriors only) and I put my ISO from 500 up lets say 1000, and I put the ND filters down, will I have less noise than if I shoot with the 500 ISO? Thoughts?

I'm doing a feature next week and I'm thinking of using the stock image/profile of the camera and not using any PP's because I don't do much color grading and I'm getting frustrated with having not much knowledge of the PP's to where I don't want to mess up my image. So my question is does anyone else shoot not using PP's and what are the pros and cons of doing so? I'm not going to even attempt for this feature to delve into the Picture Profiles with such limited time and practice. I didn't buy the camera for the PP use and I've come from the world of DSLRs to where there were no PP's on it. Any help is appreciated on keeping the artifacts, noise, etc down to a minimum? Or is it basically what it is, as far as the settings, etc? Things I am not changing: ISO, keeping it at 500, not going above what the lowest is. Using color temperature to get the color I want (either blue-ish or warmish colors) Thoughts?

I'm not familiar with LUT....can you explain more? You learn something new everyday I suppose!    I'll be using FCP X.

Question about flat profiles in the PP settings in FS700? I'm using the nLog v1.1 and I love the flatness of it. What are the pros and cons of shooting on a flat profile if not doing extremely heavy color grading? Will the flat profile ensure less noise than let's say if I use other ones that are less flat in image? Can anyone confirm this? I'd be using nLog v1.1 mostly on cloudy/overcast days and I know that usually the less light, the more dark colors can be noisy and muddy. 

To all of those who own an FS700. A few days ago I was able to change my color temperature by clicking the icon next to the A/B and Preset section on the side. Now when I switch to all three, the white balance or color temperature will not change... Anyone else have this issue and how can I resolve it?   Update:   Fixed. 

Aside from the obvious, of using a umbrella when shooting in the rain, and aside from flower cap hoods, are there any suggested products or things to use over the lens and filter that extends out that will reduce the chance or rain or snow from landing onto the lens filter?