Blog

Great article:

• http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/all-new-sony-ex1-picture-profile-for-cinematic-look/
  • “(These are) picture-settings that are tailored to my personal taste, with post-processing in mind. I’ve been able to use shots right out of the camera without the need for CC, but it does ask for contrast adjustment to taste.”
  • “…the matrix corrections in the first profile are to compensate for the green hue the IR filter casts, even after taken a white balance. I use the fluorescent light matrix, simply because it does exactly two things to the picture (and in measurements) that this specific camera demands; it remove the “green Sony hue” and it is the lowest-noise matrix. It shifts the colour balance towards red/magenta, removing the green hues and preventing your cast from looking terminally ill.”
  • “I use Cine 1 gamma almost exclusively because it’s clearly the most lownoise gamma. I sometimes use Cine 4 indoors with low / existing light. …adjust Gamma on a per-scene basis.”

I worried about and noticed in practice an effect where if I was using CINE gammas on the XDCAM-EX and exposed for faces at 70% (by zebras) then the gamma rolloff would result in “pasty-face” appearance.  It does …and did…  The solution for good looking faces is one of the following:

• Under-expose in shoot, raise in post.
• proper-expose in shoot, use standard gamma (not cine gamma), be careful not to let the face hit the knee (?) e.g. set knee to 90% or 95%.
•  take a given gamma curve (or even a flat standard one) and tweak it using gamma level & black-stretch adjustments etc. until it fits the scene.

(more…)

Someone noticed that XDCAM-EX footage imported to FCP appeared different as compared to Avid (AMA import).  Addressed in an Avid forum thread started May 2010, referring to FCP 6.06 and Avid 4.02: http://community.avid.com/forums/p/84153/473798.aspx

• What AMA gives is, is _exactly_ what the camera has captured. What FCP shows you, is a remapped image, most often with a gamma shift. 
  • (For Avid AMA imports, Avid settings for RGB or 601 etc. make no difference - it’s always as-recorded).
  • … imports (to FCP) will look different (to expected), because FCP/QT “corrects” the gamma when bringing in footage (even if you would not want that).
• Most people seem to agree that FCP works in 0-235, not 0-255, not 16-235. And without the option to leave things untouched. So if you import something into FCP, there’s no getting it back to the original levels anymore.

I guess I’d better do some experiments with ramps & scopes etc…

What happens when Sony XDCAM Transfer is used, within or without FCP, to import XDCAM footage (BPAV folders etc.)?  The following is my best guess at the moment, based on my experiences and web-searching.

• Logging is best done via ClipBrowser.  That updates the meta-info of this “master source”, which may then feed downstream to other formats (mxf?  mov?)
• The main function is to re-wrap to [.mov] files.
  • These may be FCP-specific
    • “.Mov’s containing XDCAM material are a very specific file, tailored for FCP. Even Premiere CS5 on a Mac doesn’t like them.” [http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/480547-ex-workflow-do-you-keep-bpav-files.html]
• Each time you start XDCAM Transfer, check the settings in Preferences, in particular for Import Location.
  • The Cache location can instead be an application-specific, project-independent location.
• To import to FCP:
  • Start XDCAM Transfer, by doing one of the following:
    • From FCP, do one of the following:
      • Menu: File > Import > Sony XDCAM
      • Browser: RtClk > Import > Sony XDCAM
        • Sadly, only ever imports to root of project, not to bin you right-clicked from…
    • From MacOS:
      • Start [XDCAM Transfer.app]
      • Optionally, in Preferences, tick [Open imported files with: Final Cut Pro]
  • Can mark-up selected clip(s) - e.g. OK/NG - affects all (selected) clips straight away (no ‘go’ button…).
• XDCAM Transfer is not just an application but a package, including File Access Mode (FAM) Driver (for XDCAM disks), FCP Import and Export plugins and FCP Sequence presets.
• It can import not only raw BPAV folders (etc) but also MXF-Sony (I tried it).
• There is a Fetch Metadata option, but I have yet to see it have any effect - because as far as I can see all the metadata is displayed anyway.  Possibly only useful for obscure situations e.g. if some data or thumbnails fail to appear http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/142/865859 or for a “clip or disc that contains modified essence marks” http://www.tapelessmadeeasy.com/2008/11/xdcam-transfer-update/
• Opinions are divided on whether or not to retain BPAV folders, but the balance is in favour of doing so [http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/480547-ex-workflow-do-you-keep-bpav-files.html]

Which is best?   Depends on the camera, scene and shot dynamics I guess.  The same point is queried at the following thread:

• http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/238593-steady-shot-smoothcam-both-what-2.html#post1551809

Some general advice from a computer-post-savvy author: definitely use the camera’s SteadyShot:

• http://www.gcvcc.com/March%202008%20%20Camera%20Techniques%20No2.pdf

Limitations of post

• Stabilization necessitates motion estimation and image reconstruction, which are extremely CPU-heavy, hence really slow to execute.
• Most stabilization apps (in post) can’t currently cope with motion-blurred edges or parallax effects (though both should be possible in principle, by deconvolution and 3D modelling both informed from multiple frames).
• For rolling-shutter-ed footage (e.g. CMOS sensors as in Sony Exmor as in Sony XDCAM-EX e.g. EX1 & EX3), there exist options to reduce the effect (don’t expect perfection, but may suffice):
  • Sony’s ClipBrowser 2.6 can remove this http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/467511-clipbrowser-takes-out-rolling-shutter.html.
  • Gunnar Thalin’s Deshaker plugin for VirtualDub can compensate for this.

My experiences:

• Stabilizing Tools:
  • Gunnar Thalin’s Deshaker works really well.  And it is multi-threaded, really speeds up the process.  The author says it is more intended for handheld pans etc. than fast-shaking shots from vehicles etc. (but has nevertheless seen good results in such situations).
    • The author says [http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1418923] to try “to stabilize only on the most distant parts in the frames, since the moving inwards-effect is less there”.  And “you should probably increase the value for [discard motion of blocks that move > X pixels in wrong direction]. That’s to allow the blocks to move “freely” a little, since Deshaker can’t handle the “moving inwards”-effect.
    • Possibly equally applicable to other smooth/stabilize/deshake tools ?
  • Boris’s Optical/Motion Stabilizer (in Boris Red 4.3.3 on XP) is only single-threaded and I find it slower, clunkier and less intuitive than Deshaker.  Has a Smooth mode, which is like the others here, as well as a Stabilize mode (try to keep frame static, no good for motion then).  The other tools can be configured to do the same thing.
  • Mercalli in Sony Vegas has no mode for 720p50 but otherwise is pretty good and very intuitive and configurable.
  • FCP’s SmoothCam Effect worked best for a challenging clip for wobbly-hand-held camera tracking close past an object (a Formula-1 car) hence huge degree of moving-inwards effect.  The default settings worked straight away.  The result quality was way above that of the other tools.  On the other hand sometimes it’s not the best (sorry, forgot the exact situation).
• Cameras & Shots:
  • Historically, using a TRV33 DV HandyCam indoors (hence low-light hence long shutter time):
    • Way back in the past, using a (now ancient) TRV33 DV handy-cam (which has huge sensor margin i.e. spare pixels), when I shot big zooms to lecture audience individuals (e.g. question-time) I had the camera’s steady-shot (digital, not mirror) enabled  and used Gunnar Thalin’s Deshaker (VirtualDub plugin) also.  The result was astoundingly steady.
    • The same arrangement worked OK with hand or shoulder mounted cam for walk-throughs past nearby objects (e.g. walls, people, furniture).
    • An attempt to do the same thing without steady-shot enabled on the camera resulted in seriously motion-blurred edges.
  • Now, using a Sony EX3:
    • With camera Steady-Shot set to Medium, hand-held pans and motion past nearby objects seem to acquire a positional instability, as if the camera feedback mechanism needs greater damping. Maybe the camera’s internal mirror “suspension” has to be tighter (than the TRV33 digital equivalent) because it lacks the generous pixels margin of the TRV33?  or maybe something to do with the mirror’s inertia?  Or (real-time-constrained) processing-power?
      • Experimentation is needed with the camera’s other SteadyShot modes (High, Low).
      • In the absence of more generous sensor pixel margins, I wish it could be loosened-up e.g. to allow black borders (to crop in post) so as to permit smoother rides overall.

On MacBook Pro, used Sony Clip Browser (ClipBrowser) to import footage from a Sony XDCAM-EX to Mac OS HFS+.  This machine had MacDrive installed, enabling Windows apps to directly access files on the HFS+ file system.  On same machine, under Boot Camp (BootCamp) and Windows 7, ran Sony Vegas NLE.   Successfully imported and used footage by both of the following methods:

• Sony Vegas’s Device Explorer [View > Device Explorer].
  • This took several minutes to import.
  • Importing resulted in copying the [.mp4] file (and other files) to the NTFS partition.
• Direct use of [.mp4] on the HFS+ partition.
  • No need to import as such, just constructed waveforms etc.
  • This completed in seconds.
  • Only downside is that it ewas unable to save the waveform files etc., due to my config of MacDrive (read-only), so it would have to do this every time I opened the project.
    • Have yet to try the same thing when MacDrive has config for full read/write access.

Using the ExpressCard slot for SxS cards (XDCAM-EX) in Mac OS, I noticed that sometimes they dpn’t appear to “seat” properly, removing and reinserting the card normally fixes this.  I wondered if it was just my machine, but I just read of a similar experience by others: [http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/144158-sxs-cards-mount-inconsistently.html].

On a MacBook Pro, official SxS card in ExpressCard slot is seen OK by Mac OS. However on same machine running Boot Camp Windows 7, it is not seen.SxS drivers have been installed in both cases (OS X & W7). For W7 I tried a couple of versions, including the one from SXS Drivers, stated as “Updated for Windows 7″. The webpage also says “This OS must be factory-installed”, so I wonder what special things they do at the factory!I see at an apple forum some comments (at [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2306364&tstart=0]) that “there is still no ExpressCard support in release 3.1 (of Boot Camp)” and “At the moment I’m aware of exactly zero Firewire ExpressCards that work in Windows 7 on Boot Camp”. Not familiar with this territory - maybe implies that the Sony drivers are not sufficient?Posted my problem at DvInfo: [http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/477958-mbp-boot-camp-w7-cant-see-sxs-osx-can.html].  Response confirms Apple not only do not support ExpressCard (EC) under Boot Camp on a MacBook Pro, they may never do so, given that the new model lacks any EC slot.

In a post at http://www.macvideo.tv/BLOGS/index.cfm?blogid=101658&entryid=3201452 Matt Davis links to Sony’s page offering the latest SxS driver which is compatible with Snow Leopard.  Also he points out is bugs/features, irritating rather than show-stopping.   There is also a driver for Windows, I’ll try it under Boot Camp.

• http://www.sony.ca/promedia/drivers.htm

The following has a FAQ about it:

• http://www.sony.ca/promedia/support.htm

The XDCAM Transfer plugin allows FCP to easily ingest footage in the format generated by XDCAM-EX cameras such as the EX3.   Unlike FCP6, where it was also advised to load a “FAM Driver” (as a separate plugin), this is not appropriate for FCP7 (explained below)

From the ReadMe phase of the ‘Install XDCAM Transfer’ installer dialog:

XDCAM FAM driver and tool.
Mount Professional Discs in XDCAM devices connected by FAM (i.LINK) in the Finder.
Note: The XDCAM FAM driver and tool are not compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and are not installed.
•    XDCAM Transfer main application.
Preview clips from XDCAM and import your selected material as QuickTime movies. XDCAM Transfer supports the PDW-U1 XDCAM Drive unit and Professional Memory Cards recorded with the PMW-EX1 camcorder.
•    Sony XDCAM Import and Export plug-ins for Final Cut Pro.
Initiate transfers from XDCAM directly into a Final Cut Pro project and render your Final Cut Pro sequence directly onto a connected XDCAM disc.
•    Final Cut Pro XDCAM presets.
Configure your sequence and export settings to be compatible with XDCAM. The XDCAM HD422 presets replace those installed by Final Cut Pro 6.0.3.
•    XDCAM Transfer User Guide.
Found in the Documentation folder of this disk image and also available from the Help menu of the XDCAM Transfer application after installing the software.