Digitizing Varicam to 1400/Final Cut Pro
by Bradley Kents
on
Sep 28, 2008 at 3:54:43 pm
We're digitizing Varicam 720/24p (23.98fps, system frequency 59.94) footage into FCP. We'll deliver on DVD, but we may also have a broadcast possibility.
In FCP, we're using the "Panasonic DVCPRO HD" Easy Set-Up with a "Rate" of 59.94 fps. Drop the clips into the timeline and the sequence settings report an editing timebase of 59.94. Clips look good, but we think that we're not exactly editing as we shot -- in 24p. But we think perhaps the advantage of this approach is that we have just brought the footage as shot by the Varicam into FCP -- all frames. We can output to 24 or 30 for broadcast. Right?
But we also wonder about an alternative. Use the same "Panasonic DVCPRO HD" Easy Set-Up, but change the "Rate" to "23.98fps" (or even have the deck do this?). This would save on storage and we wonder if it would give us our film-look in the sequenc?
So the question is are we defeating the purpose of shooting at 24p if we digitize at 59.94? And if we digitize at 23.98, are we limiting our output options, (i.e., broadcast)?
Re: Digitizing Varicam to 1400/Final Cut Pro by john sharaf on Sep 28, 2008 at 4:32:06 pm
The main advantage to bring in the footage at its native 24p is to save storage space. 24 is only 40% of 60, so you can imagine how much space you save. In the end you output to either 24 for film out or 60i for broadcast where the 3:2 pulldown is included.
