De-coupling the HDX data stream.

[Shane Peel]

Hey Guys dunno if this is just wishfull thinking or something I have not discovered but is there any way of decoupling the two data streams in the HDX function? I imagine it's a total lock-up but I am interested to know as I am about to take the Epic Leap and one of the things I want to be able to do is shoot still and motion at the same time and by that I mean collect stills that are captured using the relevant stills settings and motion that is captured using the relevant correct setting. Maybe I am dreaming about something that Jim and boys can't do, maybe the Epic does it but I am not aware how. I imagine that if the rig is able to capture two images at the same time for the HDX function surely there is a way to break em so one is a still stream and the other a motion stream but they are recorded together. Right now it seems you can get a decent grab but not something that is as good as an actual still for stills sake and the reverse. Any clues??

 

[Eric Haase]

The Epic records 2 video tracks when you shoot HDRx. The second track , the "X" track is basically a shorter exposure than the "A" track. If you choose 2 stops then the exposure time of the X track is half the time of the A track. If you choose 3 stops then the exposure time is one fourth. Etc, etc.

In RecineX and almost all commonly used grading apps you can select to view JUST the A track or JUST the X track. The X track would be your stills track since the motion would be sharper due to the shorter exposure time. If you want to use the A track for video and the X for stills, you'll have to find a suitable exposure between the two. It's a compromise. Using the X track as your stills track you can pull stills by viewing ONLY the X track and following the workflow guide here:

http://www.red.com/learn/workflow/rcx-x-pro-motion-to-stills-workflow

I would tend to rate the camera a little slower- around 320-500 if pulling stills. As a still camera, it is considerably more noisy than any DSLR.

Eric