Odyssey/Apollo firmware 2016.10

Dear Josh,

I assume that you are well aware of the following information, but in case you or others are not, I am listing it here.
And this detailed information may assist others.

1. Our Focus Assist is adjustable to provide various types of focus assist, to suit your personal preferences, and to suit the specific scene you are shooting.

To make these selections, you just press and hold the Focus button for 1/2 second or less, then a menu with options is presented.

2. For normal Peaking, you can set High, Medium and Low Sensitivity, and you can set a desired percentage for each level to suit your needs.

If the sensitivity is set to high, the Focus Assist can be overwhelming. But for other scenes, a high sensitivity may be needed.
I recommend that you start with High = 80%, Medium = 40% and Low = 20%.

And you can select a color. Thus, if you have a scene with lots of red, using a different color would be best.

3. In addition, you can select Edges Only.

This is great for rack focusing, as only the portions of the scene that are in focus are visible.
Using this setting you can very quickly achieve focus.

When Edges Only is selected, the items in focus will have a white edge.

Please try this option sometime, as it can be very useful in some very difficult situations.

For example, if one needs to focus at a specific spot on black carpet or other scene with very little detail.

With Edges Only on, as you focus, you will be able to see the items that are in focus, with everything else being invisible.

4. Another mode is our Revel mode.

This mode shows more that just the edges, but the entire image, while showing which portions of the image are in focus.

5. Please try our Focus Assist noise reduction, which can be selected if desired.
Under certain conditions this can be very helpful.

Josh, let's talk at your convenience, I would like to learn more about your feature request.

Seven One Nine --- Nine Three Zero --- One Three Seven Six (I am located in the United States)

Or you may call me via Skype: dan (dot) keaton1

I look forward to your call.

Respectfully,


Dan Keaton
Convergent Design
 
Dear Chris,

When recording in C500 4K H Raw (Half Raw, meaning Half Vertical Resolution), the Canon Raw Development Software is typically used to process the 4K H Raw data.

This software is available from Canon's website.

Typically, one selects one of the output formats available in this program, and the program then performs the conversion to a very useful format.

Respectfully,


Dan Keaton
Convergent Design

Thank you Dan... I appreciate the info... I have been shooting with 2k 12bit ProRes HQ, which looks fantastic... I look forward to trying out the Half Raw in the future.

Thank you Dan.

Best Regards,

Chris
 
Dear Chris,

When deciding the use Canon 4K H Raw, which we support at 120fps (119.88 fps), it is important to test first.

Attempt to duplicate the scenes that you will be shooting. By this, I mainly mean the motion that will be in the scene.

It is great to have this 4K H Raw high speed (120 fps) capability, but it is not ideally suited for all types of shooting.

For example, be especially careful if you want to shoot very high-speed action, such as NASCAR racing, or Formula One racing.

===========

This same advice applies to other modes of other cameras as well: Test First!

For example, when shooting in the FS5, FS700, FS7 with XDCA (all with Raw Enabled), one should realize that when shooting in 2K @ 240 fps, the minimum shutter speed will be 1/250th of a second, thus you will need more light than shooting in slower frame rates.

I hope this helps.

Respectfully,


Dan Keaton
Convergent Design
 
Hey Dan, will there be an replacement/update for 7Q+ in the NAB?

Dear SiSS,

Short Answer:

Replacement: No.

Firmware Update: Maybe. We are in the testing phase of a new firmware release for the Odyssey7, Odyssey7Q, Odysse7Q+ and Apollo.
If we complete all of the testing in time, then we will have it ready for NAB or maybe before.

============

Comprehensive Answer:

Replacement: No.

Here are some reasons why the answer is no.

The Odyssey7Q+ is an extremely capable on-camera monitor and recorder.

The images that the Odyssey and Apollo's produce are very accurate, detailed, and extremely clear. Using a great OLED panel instead of an LCD, plus having all of the proper electronics and firmware behind the panel, makes it a great monitor.

And the Odyssey7Q/Odyssey7Q+ has useful features that are hard to find in competitive devices.

In certain modes, the ability to record one video stream, while monitoring another is very useful.

For two camera shoots (in certain modes), you can be recording you own camera, while monitoring another camera, checking framing, focus, white balance, exposure and much more.

No other monitor or monitor/recorder that we know of has more comprehensive LUT (Look Up Table) support. In addition to the professional preset LUT's that we provide, you can load up to around 139 of your own custom 3D LUT's, organize them into multiple folders, provide notations as to when and how you used the LUT's, plus much more.

An important feature is being able to apply the LUT, or not, as desired, individually, on each output: HD-SDI A, HD-SDI B, HDMI, the OLED Panel, and the Image Analysis Tools.

Combined with the accuracy of our OLED Panel, which can show shadow details properly, you can, on-set, apply the exact same LUT that you will be using in Post for your final images, thus you can make intelligent decisions about your images while you are shooting.

The Image Analysis Tools are top notch also. All of the following features are second to none:

Spot Meter
Waveform Monitor/RGB Parade
Zebras
False Color
Histogram
Color Vectorscope

For example, our Color Vectorscope, allows you to quickly and easily compare and color match four HD video cameras.
Just go into our Multi-Stream Monitoring mode, and you can monitor four HD cameras simultaneously without any extra-cost option. (If you wish to record two cameras, you need our Raw Bundle (which support Dual Recording of two HD cameras (in video mode, not Raw), or if you want to record up to four cameras, our Apollo Option is appropriate.

We support 17:9 as well as 16:9 monitoring.

We support Anamorphic Desqueeze with Center Crop Modes, (which we can output to external monitors, an important, but unique to the Odyssey, feature.

The Odyssey7Q/Odyssey7Q+ can record in HD and 2K, in Full Uncompressed, when you want extremely high quality images, with Zero Compression, Zero Artifacts, thus a 100% accurate recording of what came out of the camera, which can provide zero generational loss, no matter how many times you edit the footage.

In addition, we support Apple ProRes 4444 for 12-Bit RGB 444 recording in regular and XQ modes.

With extra-cost Options, you can support a wide-range of Raw capable cameras, in a wide variety of frame rates and resolutions, recording to either Raw or to Apple ProRes. This is our Raw Bundle.


Another great option is our Titan Option ($795 US Dollars) allows you to use 4K or UHD cameras, if they can output video, or the extremely popular Sony FS series of cameras, outputting 4K Raw, to extract three high quality HD Images. One can even move the HD Extraction Windows while recording.

Our Apollo Option adds the ability to record up to 4 HD cameras, or 2 4K/Ultra-HD cameras simultaneously.

In HD, one can switch between the cameras, using dissolves, if desired, and record the Live Switch Output as a fifth isolated channel. And one can record the switch points as an EDL (Edit Decision List) while recording a Quad-Split with Burned in Timecode as the fifth channel.

With our Apollo Option, you can create two simultaneous Master's (to two separate SSD's).

The Apollo Option allows one to align the audio and video of each channel, and align all four channels together, compensating for the different inherent latency in various cameras.

And the Apollo gracefully handles real-world events, such as when a battery dies during a multiple camera shoot, while maintaining perfect sync with the other camera when the battery is replaced.

And our units are housed in a very rugged cast magnesium case.

Our OLED Panel is protected by Gorilla Glass and a user replaceable screen protector.

I hope this helps.

We provide 24/7 support, so please feel free to call.
You can reach me directly at:

Seven one nine ---- nine three zero ---- one three seven six (I am in the United States).

Respectfully,


Dan Keaton
Convergent Design
 
Dear Chris,

When recording in C500 4K H Raw (Half Raw, meaning Half Vertical Resolution), the Canon Raw Development Software is typically used to process the 4K H Raw data.

This software is available from Canon's website.

Typically, one selects one of the output formats available in this program, and the program then performs the conversion to a very useful format.

Respectfully,


Dan Keaton
Convergent Design

Hey Dan,

I just wanted to get back to you and say thank you for the info! I appreciate it.

Best Regards,

Chris
 
Hi Dan, any news on S-log3 support for FS7 and FS5 users? I really need this to be supported , hope for the next firmware update.
 
Hi Dan, any news on S-log3 support for FS7 and FS5 users? I really need this to be supported , hope for the next firmware update.

Dear K0bayashi,

I have checked with our engineers, and it is very involved to get this right, matching what Sony does.

I am sorry, but at this time, I do not know if this will make it into our next release or not.

You request has been noted.

Respectfully,


Dan Keaton
 
Last edited:
Back
Top