AF100 Clock stability

J

jmarkham

Well-known member
We picked up a second AF100 (yea yea .. I know I said we wouldn't .. but I've changed my mind about this camera vs. the 5D :-) ) ..

I'm happy to report that the clock stability of this camera (after TC sync) is remarkably good.
Syncing up to our TC lines the AF100's both stayed frame accurate over an 8 hour
period ( we had them on directs from the charger ). This is way better than our old 200's.
Card swaps and mode switches would hiccup the 200's .. no worries with the AF100.

Of course, if you're on battery .. you must re-sync after swap.

Pretty impressive .. I'm really happy to have a stable clock system. You can kind of make the
DSLR/SMPTE system work .. but it's way harder. And "run-and-gun" DSLR? . forget it with
timecode.

jeff
 
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mcgeedigital said:
I too am impressed with that feature on our dual af-100s.
Click to expand...

Master->Slave is really cool .. but .. the fact that you can sync with a TC line loop makes the AF100 totally
usable in virtually any multi-camera environment. It's a big deal. You just have to get one of those ridiculously
expensive $2.99 BNC female to RCA male adapters to make it happen. The question a production crew is
going to ask is if the AF100 free-run is accurate enough .. my answer is an unqualified "yes."

jeff
 
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this is great news for me as i'll be doing sound for a dual af100 shoot here soon and was about to inquire about its timecode sync. i'll be using an sb-3 as the master that will be plugged into my sound devices 552 after cameras are synced.
 
I love the TC stability with my AF100, and it stayed accurate to our slate over a whole shoot, though I did out of habit always re-jam with the slate after changing modes, batteries, or powering on/off. The one thing I REALLY want is for them to make it so I can set it so I can just push the TC button to sync without going into the menu, as I know just having it do it automatically like the TC port on the RED is not possible, but going through the menu is kinda a PITA. Otherwise, found the TC to work great, and with a simple RCA to BNC adaptor, was able to sync it with everything else on set in seconds and had no issues
 
Shooter said:
What made you change your mind?
Click to expand...

Experience with the camera mostly :-) .. I also mated some glass to the 4/3
sensor that I'm happy with. I have messed with the settings of the AF100
to the point where I'm getting stuff I like seeing. I'm getting some super 16mm
glass machined and I hope to put them into action soon... that will probably
tip the scale to the AF100.

We knew how to squeeze a lot out of the 5D's ... we're still on the learning
curve with the AF100.

One thing I can say is that AF100 is a joy to use multi-camera where the 5D is
a massive PITA...

jeff
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences Jeff!

Are you using something like an Ambient or Denecke TC generator (or even a Horita) for master clocking/tc?
 
I know you were asking Jeff, but the shoot I used mine with external TC, we were using a Denecke TC Generator and Smart Slate.
 
jmarkham said:
Hey Oliver .. tried Master Slate into a SB-3 yet?
jeff
Click to expand...

Jeff, I don't know. The set-up is my sound guys, he sets up everything and hands me the slate, and I sync whatever camera off it. I am not sure about the specifics of the rest of his system, or what he is using as his generator. I will find out though.
 
Who put those sound guys in charge of time anyway? :-) Movie Slate is an iPhone/iPad app that basically does what the Deneke ( and other digital
slates ) do .. but .. it costs $20 (plus your iPad ) .. + another $50 if you get the TC sync option (which is a must IMHO ). With the TC sync option, one
can sync to an LTC line (with the right -22db attenuator cable) . It can also generate an LTC signal out the headphone output of the iPhone or iPad. It will
also sync (over WiFi or Bluetooth) to other Movie Slates running on other i* devices.

Movie Slate is not anywhere near as stable as the Deneke slate .. and will require re-sync'ing periodically .. so, it would not be "broadcast" approved.
But, it's super sweet at the end of the day to email the XML log and slurp it into FCP. If your iDevice has GPS, then the GPS info can be saved
along with the log info .. along with pictures and notes. It's pretty sweet. You can also switch apps and the free-run on MovieSlate continues to go.

There is one enemy of Movie Slate... and that is the Sun :-)

Anyway, if you ever lose the sound guy, Movie Slate is a very inexpensive way to go to get a sync'able digital slate (with a bunch of other features).

jeff
 
jmarkham said:
Who put those sound guys in charge of time anyway? :-) Movie Slate is an iPhone/iPad app that basically does what the Deneke ( and other digital
slates ) do .. but .. it costs $20 (plus your iPad ) .. + another $50 if you get the TC sync option (which is a must IMHO ). With the TC sync option, one
can sync to an LTC line (with the right -22db attenuator cable) . It can also generate an LTC signal out the headphone output of the iPhone or iPad. It will
also sync (over WiFi or Bluetooth) to other Movie Slates running on other i* devices.

Movie Slate is not anywhere near as stable as the Deneke slate .. and will require re-sync'ing periodically .. so, it would not be "broadcast" approved.
But, it's super sweet at the end of the day to email the XML log and slurp it into FCP. If your iDevice has GPS, then the GPS info can be saved
along with the log info .. along with pictures and notes. It's pretty sweet. You can also switch apps and the free-run on MovieSlate continues to go.

There is one enemy of Movie Slate... and that is the Sun :-)

Anyway, if you ever lose the sound guy, Movie Slate is a very inexpensive way to go to get a sync'able digital slate (with a bunch of other features).

jeff
Click to expand...

Soundguy owns the smart slate, and everything other than the camera that usees TC, so he gets to be in charge of it, lol... I only really end up using TC when I am running dual system sound when I have over two channels I want to record... (ie, seperate channels for the handheld, boom, shootgun, and lavs for outdoor interviews in NYC, etc...), and for some multicam shoots (concerts I cheat and use pluraleyes)... but yea, I have not had a need yet to really deal with TC beyond syncing up my camera to whatever system on site....

I have heard about the ipad slate, did not know it could send out TC... I am definatly interested in trying that out if I ever have an iPad on set (I am waiting on one that has a USB port I can use for offloading untill I buy one). Does it work with the iPhone? If so I may try it on that to see how it works. It could become my macro slate, lol
 
yea, it works fine on the iPhone. It's a little small for the cameras to see .. but, it "claps" and you can set all the
shot scenes and stuff on it .. so you get a good shot log out of it. The LTC works fine too .. i find disabling the
iPhone sleep keeps it a lot more stable .. but it shortens battery life.

jeff
 
don't know if i explicitly mentioned this .. but the Denecke SB-3 jam syncs to Movie Slate either by iPhone or iPad.
 
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