TC breaks

D

dkphotos

Member
Hi all,

I shot a piece for the PBS series Frontline/World with a brand spankin' new 100a and the editor reports lots of one-second-or-less timecode breaks. It seems to be at camera on/off points on the tape. We also noticed quite a number of blips of mosaic noise.

I was shooting in Namibia, a very dry and dusty country. I'm wondering if dust is at least partially the culprit here.

The other variables I'm considering are poor tape stock (Sony Premiums), using 'preset' vs. 'regen' setting, and, finally, a malfunctioning camera. Everything was shot in SP, so that's not a factor.

Anyone care to weigh in?

Thanks,
Dan
 
Re: TC breaks

No. The camera will pick up whatever timecode's on the tape at the current tape position, and continue from there.

You might want to do an END SEARCH to make sure that the camera picks it up though; it's possible to lose continuous timecode and powering off/on seems like a good way to do it, so if you END SEARCH it should definitely pick up the timecode on the tape and continue from there.
 
Re: TC breaks

Thanks for your responses. Barry, are you talking about REGEN mode specifically, or will the camera also pick up timecode in PRESET mode?

I'm accustomed to the performance of the DSR500-class cams that very reliably keep continuous timecode regardless of on/off cycling or preset/regen mode. What I'm hearing, if I'm not mistaken, is that I need to be much more vigilant about monitoring timecode with this camera?

Is the best way to do that--assuming I don't always have time to do an end search--to get in the habit of keeping the camera powered on as long as possible?
 
Re: TC breaks

It picks up existing timecode in both modes.

As far as diligence, I don't really know, it doesn't seem like you have to pay that much extra effort to it... I rarely have timecode breaks, it seems to pick up the end code quite regularly. If you change tapes you'll probably have to do the end search, but for most uses I don't have to do end searching very often at all, and timecode doesn't break...
 
Re: TC breaks

That's what I would have expected. But, unfortunately, there are quite a few timecode jumps--small ones, usually less than a second.

Any theories?
 
Re: TC breaks

Everytime I see the title of this thread I think someone is talking about me. :o
 
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