Project Frame Rate: This can be found by navigating to MENU > PROJECT > Project frame rate. Your options are 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, and 30 and they all represent playback rates. This should be set to your final deliverable’s frame rate. If your show is being broadcast n the States, it might be set to 29.97fps or 23.976 (to emulate a film look). If your show is going to be shown projected on film, you’ll want 24fps, and so on.

Sensor Frame Rate: This can be found by going through the Home Screen on the side of the camera and pressing the FPS Menu button on the top left. Here you’ll see the available Sensor fps list, with an option to create your own ranging from .750fps to 60.000fps. Think of this as your variable frame rate option. If your project is set to 24fps and your sensor is set to 24fps, then what you see is what you get and you’ll be able to record audio. However, if you wanted to shoot 60fps over 24fps for an over-cranked slow motion effect, you would keep your project at 24fps, but set your sensor for 60fps. At this point, your audio will be disabled.

Rec Out Frame Rate: This can be found by navigating to MENU > RECORDING > REC OUT> Frame rate. Your options are 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 48, 50, 59.94, and 60 and they all represent output signals to send to an external recording device. The only way to access frame rates of 48 or higher is by changing your HD-SDI Format to 422 1.5G Dual Link or 422 3G Single Link. You also have the option of using the REC OUT frame rate to set your sensor frame rate. Scroll down to “REC OUT fps sets sensor fps” in the REC OUT menu and turn the option on. This is a good option to have turned on if you’re recording both to an external device and the SxS cards, to make sure both recordings have the same frame rate.

Monitor Out Frame Rate: This can be found by navigating to MENU > MONITORING > MON OUT> Frame rate. Your options are 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 48, 50, 59.94, and 60 and they all represent output signals to send to a monitor.

An easy way to see where all your frame rates are set is by hitting the INFO button and choosing FPS INFO. You’ll see a list of all the places you can set a frame rate and what they’re currently set to. It’s really important to do this before shooting begins for the day. If you have ended up shooting the wrong frame rate, you can use Apple’s Cinema Tools conform function to change the frame rate to the appropriate one.

For the sake of this example, let’s say you made a scene file called TOMATO. You made this scene file on your camera, but you haven’t saved it anywhere. For now, it lies in your camera’s current settings, i.e. the ladle. But your friend wants to use your TOMATO soup. Well, how do you normally give soup to someone? You pour it into a bowl.

You’ll probably want to keep some TOMATO for yourself first. Go to your camera’s SCENE FILE menu and create the TOMATO name in slot one – that’s your bowl.

Next, write the scene file (this is you pouring the soup into your bowl).

Now your camera has a tasty bowl of TOMATO scene file.

Your friend gives you his SD card (a serving tray). Go to the CARD READ/WRITE menu and make a bowl for your friend in one of his empty slots, then pour the soup in by writing it.

Your friend has a nice looking CHOWDER scene file that you’d like, sitting on that SD card tray. Let’s grab a bowl of that. Choose the slot that the CHOWDER bowl lives in and read it.

This is you dunking your ladle into their bowl to scoop up the soup. Head back over to the SCENE FILE menu and create a bowl to pour your soup into on slot 2. Then write the file. Now you’ve served yourself some CHOWDER. Whatever soup was in your ladle last is the scene file you’re currently reading.

I hope this new way of thinking about scene files has cleared up all the confusion.

To upgrade your converter box, download the 1.6.1 Utility Software for Mac or Windows. After opening the utility, plug your converter into your computer using a USB cable and power it up. The utility will automatically upgrade your firmware if it’s not already at the current version.

(Photo credit: Evin Grant)

Did you ever wonder what creates permanently lit, or what we often refer to as “blown”, pixels in your CCD camera’s imager? Here’s the reason:

Charged-Coupled Devices (CCD’s) are made up of an array of millions of photodiodes, which turn light into voltage. Photodiodes have two leads coming from the bottom, a cathode and an anode. When a photon of energy strikes the diode, it excites an electron, creating a mobile electron and a positively charged electron hole. Holes move toward the anode, and electrons toward the cathode, producing a photocurrent. Because photodiodes use voltage to convey information, they can be susceptible to high-energy particles such as cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays are created in the upper atmosphere during a supernova. When a star collapses, the resulting explosion and shockwave ejects nuclei into the cosmos (made up of mostly hydrogen, helium, oxygen, carbon, neon, nitrogen, magnesium, silicon, iron, or sulfur). The electrons surrounding the nuclei become stripped away during their passage through space, and many of these nuclei have been accelerated during the supernova to near light speed. The typical energy of a cosmic ray is around 1 GeV (1,000,000,000 eV). To get an idea of how much energy that is, a stream of photons with a wavelength of 532 nm (green light) would have an energy of approximately 2.33 eV. So as you can tell, cosmic rays pack a lot of punch! And to bring this all back home – when that cosmic ray punches your photodiode, the energy stream is so great that the diode gets stuck, creating a permanently lit pixel.

Cosmic rays are affected by ambient galactic magnetic fields, including the magnetic field of the Earth. And when a cosmic ray collides with a molecule, mainly oxygen or nitrogen, within the Earth’s atmosphere, it creates a shower of new particles. This is why you’ll find more cosmic rays at higher altitudes, and ultimately why your camera is more susceptible to such an effect while traveling by airplane.

Most high-end CCD cameras include ways of masking lit pixels, including the black balance function. The black balance function includes an automatic pixel restoration function, which scans each CCD block looking for pixels above a certain acceptable noise level, and turns them off. Then the camera uses the voltage values of the surrounding pixels to fill in the gap left behind.

It is important to note one last fact: there is absolutely nothing one can do to prevent cosmic ray damage. Wrapping the camera in lead or any other substance will not provide protection, as the particles will simply pass right through. The best protection is to ship your equipment on the ground, rather than in the air.

Using film, this is done with an intervalometer, a device that controls the movement of the camera to expose one frame at a time with a given interval of pause time in between exposures. When using a video camera, the picture cache holds the frames to be recorded, and then lays them down to tape once the cache has filled. Using the picture cache reduces the wear on the tape mechanism and stock that would be caused by pulling and stopping the tape for every single frame. When using a solid state recording device, like Panasonic’s P2 cameras or Sony’s SxS cameras, the function works by laying each frame to the media when it happens, since there are no moving parts to contend with.

In the example, above we are using the Interval Mode on the Sony EX1 with EX Slow Shutter. The EX Slow Shutter creates a lot of blur in the image, which creates a nice effect when combined with time-lapse recording. Here were my settings:

PMW-EX1
Interval Rec: Setting: On
Interval Time: 1 sec
Number of Frames: 1
EX Slow Shutter: 32 Frames
Video Format: HQ 1080/30p

Some cameras include a total take time and total record time calculation, this function allows you to see how long your event can last before you run out of media, and how long your shot will be when played back. If you know that your sunset shot needs to be 8 seconds long, this is a great tool to help you adjust your interval time.

Here are examples of time-lapse settings for a few cameras:

HDX900
System Mode: 720-59.94P
Camera Mode: 60P
Interval Rec Mode: On
Rec Time: 00s01f
Pause Time: 00h00m00s29f

Result: 1 frame is recorded every half a second (if 60 frames is a full second, then 30 frames is half. If I record one frame and wait for 29 frames, added up, that makes 30 frames worth of time which has passed, with only one of those frames being recorded). At this setting, it will take 30 seconds to watch an event that took place over the course of an hour.

PDW-700
Cache/Intval Rec:  M.INT
Number of Frames: 1
Trigger Interval: 1 sec
Video Format: 1080/60i

Result: 1 frame is recorded with 1 second between each frame. At this setting it will take 1 minute to watch an event that took place over the course of an hour and a minute.