Timecode on DSMC3

[vincent kardasik]

Hi,
Hope everyone had a nice Christmas.
The timecode resetting to "00:00" does not make my life easy on the 5 months project we're shooting right now.
On my Raptor (and my Komodo), I always have a Tentacle attached (through the EXT port which is not ideal as I sometimes need that port for other operation).
On the long term, I need to find a fix and figure out if my camera will always live with an external timecode generator.
Remaining TOD would be ideal to be honest... The way it works with DSMC2 would be great.
I read a post on the Komodo section but I have not seen anything official from Red on that subject.
Komodo is out from more than a year, no improvement on timecode, Raptor is out for a few months and I have the same issue...
Same thing, I may have missed a message or a beta firmware but does anyone know if at some point there will be improvement on TC with Raptor and / or Komodo ?

 

[Drew Baird]

I just want to second how important this is. It may seem dumb, but this is the reason I haven’t picked up a raptor yet. When I’m shooting smaller productions or lower budget docs on-body real estate is valuable and very limited on a camera this size. Attaching a lock-it or tentacle is just a big inconvenience when TOD could do good enough. We also use TC for organizing our footage in the NLE - not just audio sync. When multiple clips on the same card would start at 00:00:00 it causes multiple problems in our workflow.




Other than that this camera is amazing. Hopefully this can be worked out in a firmware update soon.

 

[Jeremey Shelton]

I cannot speak from experience on any timecode “drift” but I’m fairly certain there is already a TOD timecode option within the Red Control app where you can set each camera’s TC to TOD. Again, I’m not sure if this drifts over the course of a shoot day as I personally use Tentacles for any multi-cam shoots and I think (as of now) you have to reset the timecode to TOD via the app each time you power down / restart the camera.

I could be wrong but I think even with a firmware update you’d be hard pressed to have any in-body TC that would hold true / frame accurate through multiple days and power-cycles. From my experience with the Tentacles, even they like to re-sync every day and/or after powering down and they’re dedicated to that one, singular task of generating TC.

Hopefully I’m wrong because it would be nice; I’ve just always connected TC sync (via boxes or hardwiring) for multi-cam shoots regardless of the camera body.

 

[vincent kardasik]

We also use TC for organizing our footage in the NLE - not just audio sync. When multiple clips on the same card would start at 00:00:00 it causes multiple problems in our workflow.

Also the same issue for us.

I’m fairly certain there is already a TOD timecode option within the Red Control app where you can set each camera’s TC to TOD.

There's a TOD option on Raptor and Komodo. Problem is every time you turn off / on the camera, TC resets at 00:00 so you constantly have to scroll in the menu to find the "TOD" option and when it's a bit of a rush or during a battery change, that's not something you want to do... At least that's not something I want to do.

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

Also the same issue for us.



There's a TOD option on Raptor and Komodo. Problem is every time you turn off / on the camera, TC resets at 00:00 so you constantly have to scroll in the menu to find the "TOD" option and when it's a bit of a rush or during a battery change, that's not something you want to do... At least that's not something I want to do.

Same on my raptor too hope they fix this on next fw

 

[Russ Fill]

I have to say this is pretty ridiculous that a camera of this level lacks any sort of change battery continuous TC. I mean how much would that chip and capacitor have cost and taken to add to anywhere in this camera.
lok and any of the other camera companies that make a camera in this or even much less cost range and they have a TC that can hold with out a battery. And still not a mention from Red like hey we’re working on it or it’s coming just be patient.
Almost feels like someone forgot to put it in when designing the camera and now there is no way to add it to a board.
I wonder if the Raptor XL will have the same issue.??

 

[Andy Maser]

I could be wrong but I think even with a firmware update you’d be hard pressed to have any in-body TC that would hold true / frame accurate through multiple days and power-cycles. From my experience with the Tentacles, even they like to re-sync every day and/or after powering down and they’re dedicated to that one, singular task of generating TC.

Even if it drifted like 5 minutes from day to day it would still be usable in cases when you're not running multicam or dual system. Even a tentacle can manage that one. This 00:00:00 business is so bad it's comical...but not funny and actually really annoying (even for a single camera shoot). I want to hope that Red's on it, but the Komodo has been like that for a year now and nothing's changed.

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

Even if it drifted like 5 minutes from day to day it would still be usable in cases when you're not running multicam or dual system. Even a tentacle can manage that one. This 00:00:00 business is so bad it's comical...but not funny and actually really annoying (even for a single camera shoot). I want to hope that Red's on it, but the Komodo has been like that for a year now and nothing's changed.

wow really? i didnt know that was the issue with komodo too.

 

[Jeremey Shelton]

Even if it drifted like 5 minutes from day to day it would still be usable in cases when you're not running multicam or dual system.

That makes total sense. I guess we’ll see what they can do via firmware because it seems like quite a few people are asking for some sort of change - I guess almost anything would be better for your needs than a reset every time.

 

[Drew Baird]

I guess almost anything would be better for your needs than a reset every time.

This is the big thing. I don’t care about drift if we aren’t using an external clock. I just care about the reset with each brick swap. If this camera is capable of 600+ FPS with AF it should be able to count. Even if it counts semi-poorly.

 

[Marc Wielage]

I have to say this is pretty ridiculous that a camera of this level lacks any sort of change battery continuous TC. I mean how much would that chip and capacitor have cost and taken to add to anywhere in this camera.
lok and any of the other camera companies that make a camera in this or even much less cost range and they have a TC that can hold with out a battery.

I seem to recall Alexas and also the Sony F55 will reset to 00:00:00:00 after a speed change or a battery change/power down. We solved the problem by jam-syncing it all day long with a small attached external TC generator. With multiple cameras, we tell clients to go with external TC and genlock sync, so it's better-than-frame-accurate. Usually one jam to the box from the sound department will last about 6 hours with a TCXL generator (Ambient, Betso, Denecke, Tentatcle, etc.).

 

[vincent kardasik]

I spent the day shooting and having to "unplug" then "plug" again my tentacle because every time the camera is shutdown, TC resets to zero... Same on the Komodo...
This is not fun, at all...

 

[Andy Maser]

Update from RED:
"Yea, The camera supports TOD (time of day) but upon reboot, it resets to zero and needs to be “rejammed” to TOD. I see the issue.


There is no solution at this time, but I have heard this before from a client or two so my notes have been passed to engineering and I'm hoping for a solution in the future via firmware.

Keep your eyes out for new releases as they become available. No timelines yet!"


We shall see!