A few observations about timecode

A

ArtAldrich

Active member
Tried to use the timecode slave feature on a multi-camera shoot last week, using the video out jacks on the camera. It does sync the code, but drifts over time. It was as close as 1 frame initially, then drifts over a 6 hour period to maybe 30 frames.

Also noticed that the clock, when free-running, will drift over the course the shoot. For instance, I set the timecode to freerun time of day on the first day, and by the second day, the clock had drifted by 6 minutes.

Not necessarily problematic, but wondering if anyone else experience this?
 
It's a known issue with these and other Panasonic cameras. Basically a useless feature that would be nice if Panasonic had them working right, especially if they want to call these "professional".
 
Mike@AF said:
It's a known issue with these and other Panasonic cameras. Basically a useless feature that would be nice if Panasonic had them working right, especially if they want to call these "professional".
Click to expand...

Name any video camera that holds accurate sync over 8 hours.

jb
 
John Brawley said:
Name any video camera that holds accurate sync over 8 hours.

jb
Click to expand...

The one at the Greenwich Observatory? :-)

Seriously ... you need to sync periodically with any free-run device. We use a master Denecke SB-3 and
sync all our free runs at least every hour.

jeff
 
I have had a few multi-cam and dual system shoots with the AF100, and never had an issue with TC sync, some of them over long takes with external recorders thrown into the mix. I usually sync using a Denke TC slate that my mixer syncs off his sound devices 744T as the master clock (I assume... he hands me the slate all set up, and I sync everything on my end off it...), but I have also used the AF100 as the master to another AF100 as a slave. On each shoot, everything down to the slate, internal recording, and external recording of the video, and the dual system sound was all frame accurate. You have to constantly re-sync though when changing modes/batteries, but that is the same as most cameras. And you should make it a habit anyway for any camera as syncing only takes a second. I make sure to resync after changing batteries or turning on the camera, and switching between playback and records. It is a habit I have for all cameras. Even the RED always had to be re-synced after every battery changes or powering on as well as it would drift a bit otherwise, and I always re-synced it when changing modes or anything just to be safe.

I will say though, regarding TC and the AF100, that I find it mildly annoying to have to go through the menus to sync it, and can't at least dedicate a button for it.... that said, it only takes a second to pull it up, but is a mild annoyance. (on a side note, would love to see that in a firmware update)
 
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Also please keep in mind that when switching batteries and I think when switching between playback and camera modes the cameras will sync (the biggest reason why the HVX200's firewire sync was a joke since you could only sync in playback mode and had to switch to camera mode)

You should sync everytime you turn the camera off/on, switch batteries, after lunch, whenever you have a free moment.
 
jmarkham said:
The one at the Greenwich Observatory? :-)

Seriously ... you need to sync periodically with any free-run device. We use a master Denecke SB-3 and
sync all our free runs at least every hour.

jeff
Click to expand...

I wasn't talking about just specifically free run. You can't even slave it. I worked on a feature shot with the F3, and we genlocked and ran timecode to both cameras with no issues at all. Kept sync on both all the way through. You can't do that with the AF100. Genlock I can understand not having, but if Panasonic is going to allow you to send timecode to the camera then it should work in slave mode, otherwise it's pretty much useless to send timecode to the camera to begin with when it goes out of sync after only a few minutes.
 
That's not been my experience. The AF100's stayed in-sync for several hours. If they're drifting after a few minutes, then you should
have the unit serviced as it has a wobbly crystal. I agree that having a true TC line would be great .. and yes , it is annoying that
you have to manually sync. However, this is not at all unlike the HVX200/170 in that regard.

Perhaps a firmware update in the future could allow the unit to detect a TC line on the video and auto-sync.

jeff
 
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