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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Arri Super 16mm to HDCAM...

Bastien Tribalat

Bastien Tribalat

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Hi there,
In... 3 months or so, I'll be shooting a 10 minutes short film as a cinema school project on an Arri SRII camera, so on 16mm film.
It's not a choice, it's part of the exercice. If i could choose something else, I woudl have a RED ONE already... ready to do the job^^

Anyway, last year we had a telecine to DVCAM... So it was really crappy, and it was the imposed projection format. Imagine... DVCAM on 27 feet screen...

So, my school this year decided to have telecine done on Digital Betacam... Which is good, ok, but I was wondering if HDCAM would'nt be better... Or at least possible ? 16mm to 1080p HDCAM ?
If yes, I have to show my chief that the VTR is cheaper than de Betacam VTR we'll have de rent. I found the Sony J-H3 which is inexpensive to rent. Great but... How I connect it to Final Cut Pro 7 now ? Does firewire work or do I need to use HD SDI ?
 
well I can almost guarantee that a HD-cam deck is more expensive than a digibeta deck to rent...

If you scan to SD (digibeta or what ever) - remember to have it scanned FHA - full height anamorphic - so you can create a 16.9 DVD.

Twice I have had material scanned 4.3 letter boxed...

if you have it "telecined" to HD cam - you might as well go for HD-CAM SR - so you get 4:4:4 full color resolution and less compression. you would connect the HD-CAM SR deck through 2 hd-sdi cabels (dual link) into a capture card (for instance black magic or AJA). Capture it as Prorez 4444 or prorez HQ. and that is basically it.
 
My school rents the Digibeta VTR for approx 300 euros/day, and the Sony J-H3 HDCAM VTR have found is at 120 euros/day.

Anyway, thanks for the wonderfull tip for the FHA. Last year we had it letterboxed...

And... By the way, a 2K telecine is doable with 16mm film ???

TO PETER : it might be blueray for projection BUT we'll have a 2K Digital Cinema Projector... Used for Avatar at a local theatre where there will be screenings of the film so I thing pluging the HDCAM VTR into it will make better results than a bluray... Or we can just bring a computer...

 
TO PETER : it might be blueray for projection BUT we'll have a 2K Digital Cinema Projector... Used for Avatar at a local theatre where there will be screenings of the film so I thing pluging the HDCAM VTR into it will make better results than a bluray... Or we can just bring a computer...


I think blue ray will look better than hd cam.
 
In that case, in what media will the laboratory deliver it ?
 
Bastien Tribalat said:
I found the Sony J-H3 which is inexpensive to rent. Great but... How I connect it to Final Cut Pro 7 now ? Does firewire work or do I need to use HD SDI ?
Click to expand...

I had and used J-H3 and it is certainly good value for money. FireWire works great for off line capture, but you need an additional card. HD-SDI works well and I had no issues with it. I used Black Magic card to capture HD-SDI. You also need a 9-pin deck control. You will need fast Raid array in your 'puter and lots of space, but it is all pretty well tried and proven work flow.

If you can shoot HDCAM, go for it. It is night and day comparison to all other choices you mentioned.
 
Exactly where in your post path do you want to use HDCAM?

J-H3 is just a player, not recorder.
 
I didn't notice that about the VTR.
In that case I'll use it only to transfer from tape to FCP.
 
Why not have the transfer done to file on hard drive in a HD codec your computer can support. Then you can output to any needed media when you are ready.

All the Best!
 
Pawel,

he is shooting s16mm, not HD.:)

the hdcam would be from the Lab after it is scanned and serve as his master tape.
.------

but seriously go for HDcam SR not Hdcam...

if you have it scanned to 2k you will prop. get it as DPX.

If the Lab can deliver 2k prorez 4444, or prorez HQ, then that will be the easiest for you.
 
The problem is that normally we are obliged to have it scanned to... DVCAM ! Yes, DVCAM wouwhoooou !!!.... So we asked for something better they gave Digital Betacam. And now I asked "in that case why not HDCAM ?"
They told it's OK only IF I find a salution that is not more expensive than the digital betacam.

Other "problem" : we work with Eclair (famous french laboratory) which is in Paris, and we are in Nice (near Cannes)... I'm a bit scared by sending hard drives by mail or something, even a tape to me it is scary. I don't want the footage to be lost anywhere !

For the 2K solution, if they deliver it in DPX I believe there's a way to transcode it into a ProRes file via Final Cut Pro.... no ?
 
In the UK a telecine to Digi-Beta costs the same as a telecine to DVCAM. To telecine to HD CAM costs about 10p more per foot for 16mm. I imagine it's pretty similar in France. This is where the extra cost will really add up if you have a whole class shooting 16mm.

If it's for an assignment, don't worry too much about it. Just enjoy the experience of shooting film.
 
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