matching AF100 native and Nanoflash footage

S

Sid W

Member
I have started a project with my AF100 with footage recorded in AVCHD 1080 30P editing in Final Cut Pro and transcoding (log and transfer) camera native files to ProRes (not ProRes HQ). I am taking delivery of a Nanoflash this week and plan to continue shooting the project with the AF100 but recording to the Nanoflash at 1080 30P Long-GOP 100Mbps bitrate to try to roughly match the existing transcoded ProRes clips in a FCP timeline. The Nanoflash higher bitrate original recording and 4:2:2 color space will make for much better post grading and final product. Does this makes sense in terms of the bitrate setting in the Nanoflash to match AF100 native recording. Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
We tested the AF100 when we got it recording to both SDXC cards and uncompressed SDI via Kona card, and to be honest we couldn't see a difference when playing back on a production monitor after a basic grade and a couple of filters applied. But then we are doing broadcast work, not shooting for the big screen. If we were shooting for the big screen we would more than likely change the size of the hammer we would be using.

All the Best!

Dave
 
Thanks Dave for your thoughts. In my limited experience I have noticed that the in-camera AVCHD AF100 4:2:0 files do not hold up in grading the way I'm use to with 4:2:2 footage. Very curious to see how the higher bitrate 4:2:2 Nanoflash material shot with the AF100 will perform in post.
 
I hope you'll report your findings. This has been concerning me. After years of shooting 4:2:2 I am very nervous about going backwards in the guise of moving forward.

I've ordered an AF100 for March (or now maybe April) but am holding off on the nano until I find out more about it.
 
I'd love to hear your results as well. I'm about to use HDSDI recording for the first time - I am using a Viper recording to a Flash XDR at the end of the month. I had no idea that you could get better images out of a camera than what was laid down to the internal media. Seems counter intuitive that the camera itself can't handle the recording as well as an aftermarket external recording device. Then again, it always baffles me when we have to use an external lock-it box to keep timecode consistent across multiple cameras.
 
Dear Friends,

Disclaimer: I am the Director of Sales and Marketing for Convergent Design, the nanoFlash and Flash XDR are our products.

And I am very technical.

The AF100, AF101, AF102, etc. record internally at 21 to 24 Mbps and do an excellent job recording the images.

However, it is certainly true that 4:2:2 is technically better in all cases than 4:2:0 as there is more chroma information preserved. Whether this added information will be visible to the viewer depends on many factors, including the monitor used.

The nanoFlash and Flash XDR can record in 4:2:2 and can record at very high bit-rates all of the way up to 280 Mbps.

Thus the nanoFlash and Flash XDR do offer the ability to record at higher quality.
 
Seems counter intuitive that the camera itself can't handle the recording as well as an aftermarket external recording device
Click to expand...
Why would it seem counterintuitive? An aftermarket external recorder can dedicate itself solely to the purpose of recording, and price itself as high as it needs to be, to do that job as well as it can be done. The internal recorder is developed as part of the overall system, and is limited by the overall price tag of the system.

It's like audio recording -- for many many many years it was a "given" that you didn't bother recording audio in-camera, as an external audio recorder was simply much superior. Now, while the internal audio recording on some camcorders has certainly caught up quite a bit, there's no camcorder that's going to be able to record the pristine audio that a Sound Devices 788T could.

Same thing with onboard video recording. Unless you're talking about AVC-Intra, there's no camera recording codec that can match what a Nano can do. AVC-Intra is the only super-duper mega-high-quality 10-bit 4:2:2 onboard camera codec. To get anywhere near that on a camcorder, you need an external recorder (whether an HPG20 or HPG24, a Nano, a Ki Pro, or Sony's external HDCAM-SR memory recorder unit, or something like that).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top