velocity

DV8 Sniper & Sniper 16HD Auto-Sync Switching

Overview Switching between the 8mm and the 16mm units requires some additional set up since the 16mm unit has been upgrade to the auto-sync feature.   Both units still connect to Flag via a switch box behind Flag's monitor.  However, the audio connection (behind the Flag tower) needs to be manually reconfigured and some software settings need to be changed when switching between machines.

Video Connection

The physical video connection is changed at the switch box behind Flag's monitor.   (box orientation with the switch in the top half)  Switch to the Left for 8mm and to the Right for 16mm.

Audio Connection

The Blackmagic Intensity Pro capture card has a right audio in and a left audio in.  A 'Y' cable merges the left and right into one connection.  This connection (at the end of the 'Y') connects to either the 8mm or 16mm audio cable.  The 8mm cable has a yellow end and the cable is fatter than most.  The 16mm cable is the red & black end of a double cable (white & black end is not used).

BTW I tried connecting the two audio cables from the 8mm and 16mm using a Y to the other Y and this did work until the 16mm was upgraded to the auto-sync....now it will not work with both plugged in.  Eventually I need to replace the switch box with one that can handle audio and video and that will simplify the set up.

CineCap Velocity HD Switches

There are two settings that must be changed when switching between the 16mm unit and the 8mm unit or vice-versa.  Both setting are on the "settings" tab and in the "Capture Settings" box.

1) capture device - configure button:

8mm:  Video format must be:  HD1080 29.97PsF 8-bit 4:2:2

16mm:  Video format must be:  HD1080 30PsF 8-bit 4:2:2

2) auto-sync box:

8mm:  Must be UNCHECKED

16mm:  Must be CHECKED

Film Transfers - Negative Films

Overview: Negative films (both 8mm and 16mm) require white balancing otherwise the finished film can be off in colour. I also found that if the white balance is off not only the colour can be impacted but so can the clarity of the image. I had one film that I incorrectly white balanced and the film had a green milky look about it. The milky look cleared up once the film was correctly white balanced.

White Balance - How:

1) Set VelocityHD to process NEGATIVE. 2) Load the film into the scanner and cue it up to a "white" section at the start of the film. Usually the best section is a clear piece of film at the beginning. 3) Push the menu button on the camera. 4) Toggle to the white balance and push the toggle in. 5) Run an 10 or 20 second test. 6) Process the test clip and view it. 7) If okay, proceed to the next step, otherwise repeat steps 2 to 6 on a different clip. 8) Re-cue the film to the start and scan it. 9) At the end, don't forget to RESET to WHITE BALANCE ..... set to white balance using no film in the gate.

Note

Setting the white balance on the capture camera WILL stay set even if the camera is turned off.  What will NOT stay set is the exposure setting.  If the camera is turned off the exposure setting will have to be re-calibrated (set it using the same method as before)

More Reference:

Here's a link to moviestuff's instructions on negative exposure.

Film Transfers - Extreme Exposure

Overview Sometimes a film can have an extreme exposure.  For example I just had a 16mm film that was shot in B&W and the subject was highlighted by a "bright" light and the rest of the frame was black.....(you know, sort of like the interrogation under the bright light routine).

Problem:

Using the automatic settings caused the subject to blow out and the black to go gray and grainy.  Not good!

Test Solution:

When you have a film that you know is going to be difficult, test and process a small section so that you can view the result.

Solution:

In summary, the solution is to go manual on the camera exposure settings and/or the LED light source.

I tried using the LED light source and bringing the brightness down to just above off.   The processed film showed horizontal rolling lines in the black.   This is probably due to the LED's not working well at such a low level.  The blacks and contrast looked good though.

Next I tried setting the camera's exposure on manual and knocking it down to -3 of -6.  At the same time I also put the LED's on manual and turned them down a little.  It was a balancing act between the LED's and the exposure setting.  I tried not to turn the LED's too low to make sure i did not get the horizontal rolling lines....I just took the edge of the light.  I did a test section and viewed the results before doing the whole film.

Here's a link to moviestuff's instructions on manual exposure.

Film Scanned Output Files - What NLE's Support

Overview Many times people ask whether or not their NLE can support the film output AVI files.  Here's info on this topic.

Output File Format

With the latest version of CineCap Velocity HD ver 1.4 (Mar 2011) we have a couple of output options.

1)  We can output files using the Blackmagic Motion JPEG codec in an AVI wrapper.  The Motion JPEG codec is a very common codec used by many camera manufacturers.  This codec is compatible with both MAC and PC based systems.

2)  For a codec independent file format we can now generate sequenced image files.  One image is created for each frame of film and therefore this makes the "file" independent of any codec.

MAC Users

iMovie - according to wiki's comments regarding iMove 8 (released August 2007), ".....Motion JPEG encoded AVI files do appear to be recognized, this is the most common format used by digital cameras (click here to check the full article).  At this point of time I believe the latest version is iMovie 11.

I tested iMovie 3.03 on the Power MAC and the avi file does load with no problems.  One problem is that iMovie 3 and I believe 4 only support 4:3 aspect ratio.  Pretty sure that ver 6 supports widescreen 16:9.

Final Cut Pro - According to a customer (Brian Lye) back in mid 2011 using the film avi files in Final Cut Pro ..."the process is very easy.  So if you have customers with a similar inquiry the steps are: "

  • Bring the .avi footage into Compressor (program comes with Final Cut Pro package).
  • Put the settings for Apple ProRes 422 onto the file.
  • Hit Submit.
  • Voila!
  • It is easy to now edit within Final Cut.