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Messages - Rick M

#1
Shoot Preparation / Re: Audio, ML, and T3i
September 12, 2013, 06:26:21 PM
I have the Rode VideoMic Pro, which has a +20 dB boost. I've also used the following settings with Sennheiser Lav mics directly into the camera; the key is that you need either a microphone with a very boosted signal (thus the +20 dB boost on my Rode, the Sennheisers went to +18 dB) or an audio mixer like 1% mentioned above. Otherwise, you just won't be able to get decent levels without any noise.

Settings:
Audio Override: On
Analog Gain: 0 dB
Mic Boost: Between 20 and 30 dB
AGC (Under the Digital Gain Section): Off
Left/Right Digital Gain: -8 (Not sure if this makes a difference, I think it might be the default, but it's what I have it set on)
Output Monitoring at 5 dB, Audio Meters ON, Headphone Monitoring ON, etc

The Mic Boost is the only one I have to change, based on my subject, how loud they're talking, etc.

If you monitor through the USB cable with adapters like I do, you will hear noise while monitoring. However, I've found that there will NOT be noise when you review the final footage. I highly recommend testing for yourself before using this set-up for real work.

Also, just as another random bit, this new shotgun mic came out a month or two ago, and didn't get much fanfare:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/966010-REG/shure_vp83f_condenser_shotgun_mic.html

I haven't used it personally, so can't vouch for how well it would work, but it looks like it has a pretty big boost for going into the camera, and also records a separate file to miniSD cards. Could be an interesting option, depending on your needs and how well it works.

And thank you to 1% for taking the time to answer my questions originally. Glad it's still providing some guidance for people.
#2
General Help Q&A / Re: Help Me
August 15, 2013, 02:47:36 AM
The thread for the 650D port is here:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=7473.0

You can check it out, but you'll see in the first post there that they don't have the audio functions working on it yet; if you read through the thread this might have changed, but usually they update the first post.

I will mention, since I use the audio controls with my Rode on my T3i, that if/when it starts working, I would use following settings so that you override the pre-amps inside the camera and get clean audio:

Override Setting: On
Analog Gain: 0 dB
Mic Boost: +20 dB, or however much is appropriate
In Digital Gain... section: (This is most important)
0 dB and AGC Off

Then you can turn headphone monitoring on as needed. I've noticed that I hear some noise in my headphones, but the recording itself doesn't have any.

I use the Rode Videomic Pro, which comes with a built in +20 dB that I can turn on. In my experience, it's absolutely essential to have the +20 dB, because you need the extra boost to help get good sound that can override the pre-amps and still be loud enough to use when you're done. I've also used some Sennheiser Lav mics before and done similar things on the microphone end in terms of boosting them to capture good audio.

#3
Duplicate Questions / Re: Magic Lantern 3D?
July 20, 2013, 06:10:57 AM
Guy in this thread (http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5553.0) has a somewhat workable solution for you. Might not be perfect, but it's probably the best you'll get at the moment.
#4
Third post in the FAQ available above this:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=2522.0

Success rate is 100%, unless you don't follow instructions.
#5
Awesome work; I don't have a 5DIII, so wont' be able to enjoy the cool stuff like this, but it's definitely a sign of progress that you guys are getting deeper into how the sensors are working and what not.

Random question that has to do with the sensor workings: On lower end models, would it be possible to reduce moire/anti-aliasing by modifying the sensor read outs or something similar? I know the 5DIII is typically moire/anti-aliasing free, but I'm not quite sure how or why that is. I know there's also the VAF filters available for lower end cameras, but still, with this type of manipulation I'm curious if there would be a way to reduce this common problem on lower end models.

Thanks for the awesome work you guys do and any time it takes to answer my question (which might be really foolish).
#6
Thanks for this guide! I noticed that topic the other day and tried to look over the last few pages to figure out what was going on, but with all those terms being thrown around, I was way lost. Might give this a try soon and see the difference.

Does this build have the audio monitoring for T3i that was added after the last stable version too? Or is this mode something where you can't do audio recording at the same time because it's too much information and stops recording?
#7
Alright, I managed to solve this myself, so for anyone in the future who might be searching for a solution on this, I'll give you what instruction/advice I can.

First of all, read these two articles; they will be your guides:

Learning Command Line: http://www.davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/command-line/

This one will teach you the basics of the Terminal and what not. It's good background info and will help if you run into problems that need solved.

Installing Wine: http://www.davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/#uninstall

This is an article that guides you through installing Wine. Follow it step by step. When you get to the 4th and 5th steps where you need to install AviSynth, use your knowledge of Command Line and the guide to help you use wine to install AviSynth.

Now, here is the part where these written guides will no longer do you much good.

1. Make sure you move the download of the user-friendly version into your "House"; this is the place that's named after your user, with all your default picture, documents, downloads folders, etc. Move them out of the folder you downloaded them from and directly into the House.

2. Open the "main.sh" file in TextEdit. Copy and paste the contents into the Terminal.

3. Now just follow the instructions in the PDF that is included in the download. Play back the movie in VirtualDub, and it will extract and merge all the frames.

If you run into problems while installing the various applications in the Install Wine article, try restarting your computer. I did this when I started getting a lot of messages that said error. And while I wasn't sure what the errors were for, restarting the computer solved these issues.

At one point, I also had to uninstall and reinstall XQuartz. I don't know why I had to, but the program wasn't opening due to some sort of error, and without that program nothing else works. So even after initially downloading it, I had to uninstall it, download it again, and reinstall it.

So yeah, complete the steps above, and follow Luke Neumann's tutorial from my original post, just remember that you have to put everything into your "House" folder, and then press play when VirtualDub opens.

Hope anyone else with this issue is able to figure it out, either on their own or with this set of instructions.
#8
Hello everyone,  I know most of you have moved on to solving a RAW workflow, but I'm back here on HDR trying to figure out how to get this to work on a Mac. I'm trying to use the "User-Friendly Script" here: http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/userguide#hdr_video

I'm an Adobe user, can't really afford GingerHDR, and tested out the Glogger Web Service. I had temporary access to a PC, and ran the user-friendly script on it; it gave awesome results, but unfortunately it was a very slow laptop and took nearly 8 hours to complete ONE shot. I compared the resulting frames to the .mp4 files produced by Glogger, and have found that the frames are of much higher quality and are closer to what I want.

So, I would like help setting up the User-Friendly Script on my Mac. The included PDF mentions setting it up in Wine, but gives no specifics, which really leaves me out in the wind! I Google searched and tried using this page (http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/HOWTO:_AviSynth_video_processing_with_WINE) to install AviSynth and VirtualDub. I had the VirtualDub program open on my computer.

From what I understand next, I took the text from the "main.sh" Shell script, and copied it into the Terminal. Below is what Terminal "said" back:

Richard-McClellands-MacBook-Pro:~ Rick$ #!/bin/bash
Richard-McClellands-MacBook-Pro:~ Rick$
Richard-McClellands-MacBook-Pro:~ Rick$ mkdir frames
mkdir: frames: File exists
Richard-McClellands-MacBook-Pro:~ Rick$ rm frames/*
rm: frames/*: No such file or directory
Richard-McClellands-MacBook-Pro:~ Rick$ rm RAW.MOV.ffindex
rm: RAW.MOV.ffindex: No such file or directory
Richard-McClellands-MacBook-Pro:~ Rick$ wine VirtualDub/VirtualDub.exe scripts\\hdr_split.avs
-bash: wine: command not found
Richard-McClellands-MacBook-Pro:~ Rick$ bash scripts/enfuse_all_frames.sh
bash: scripts/enfuse_all_frames.sh: No such file or directory
Richard-McClellands-MacBook-Pro:~ Rick$ wine VirtualDub/VirtualDub.exe /s scripts\\hdr_join.vcf
-bash: wine: command not found

So to be quite honest, at this point I'm at a loss. I don't quite understand the entire Wine process and how it all works. I've tried searching on here and on Google for more help on how to do this, but really figured it's about time to just ask the experts. If you guys could point me in the direction of a comprehensive resource, or give me some advice, I'd really appreciate it, as the footage looks quite good. I just don't feel like waiting 8 hours on one shot on the slow PC.

I'm willing to start my scratch if need be, whatever is best at this point.

Thank you in advance!
#9
Shoot Preparation / Re: Audio, ML, and T3i
December 26, 2012, 06:21:53 PM
Ah, so just so I'm sure I have this straight, I can monitor audio via headphones, while keeping video preview on camera, using the chain of adapters from the video I linked above, or a cable like the one here: http://www.amazon.com/DSLR-550D-HOCF-Out-Headphone-Monitoring-Cable/dp/B008BMK3HE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356540721&sr=8-1&keywords=Sescom+DSLR-550D-HOCF+AV+Out+Headphone

The trick to doing this is that I have to use the Nightly Build of ML instead of 2.3, correct? I've seen this solution not work for others (they lose video preview) but I'm assuming that's because they were not using the nightly build?

If so, it seems like the nightly build would solve the issues I'm looking for. I see a list of archives here:
http://nanomad.magiclantern.fm/nightly/archive/

I know these builds have large disclaimers of being "less stable" than the official releases like 2.3; what I'm curious about is, are the older ones more likely to be stable, is there a date that's been found by other people looking for this feature to be an optimal for stability, etc? Does anyone else have experience with this feature?
#10
Shoot Preparation / Audio, ML, and T3i
December 26, 2012, 04:54:29 AM
Okay, I've spent the last hour or two exploring my options for capturing good audio with my t3i. I have a few questions and am hoping the more experienced users can answer.

One of the routes I'm considering is buying a Rode VideoMic Pro, and plugging directly into my camera. If I'm reading right, all I need to do then is turn off the AGC using Magic Lantern, and then turn down my in-camera preamp as well to eliminate more noise, which would be offset by the +20 dB provided for on the VideoMic Pro.

But then I also read that version 2.3 of Magic Lantern doesn't include Audio Controls for the t3i and that instead I would have to download a nightly build. Was looking for confirmation on this, and if so, where I can get the correct download of the nightly build. Also, if there is a separate way that these builds need to be installed, a link to that particular guide would also be useful.

One additional feature I was hoping to take advantage of was headphone monitoring, but it seems the t3i is lacking in this department. I found this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BnEtj5l3acs#!) where he uses a mini-usb to rca adapter included with the camera. The problem with this is that you then lose the on-camera monitor, which I do not want to happen. So I was wondering if anyone else had thought up a scheme where you could monitor audio through headphones on the t3i, while still keeping the on-camera lcd functioning.

I think that's about it for now. I'm looking to make the camera do run & gun fairly well, and I think the the Rode VideoMic Pro is the best way to get there because it eliminates the additional burden of external recorders. From what I've seen, it also works fairly well for small interviews, in place of lavaliers (still on a small budget at this stage), which is why I'm more interested in the internal monitoring. I've done some noise removal using Adobe Audition before and think I could do the same to eliminate any residual noise; I just want to make sure I've got the method of going about the settings on ML correct, as well as that it's possible for the t3i, and where I can get the correct ML build. In addition to that, I'd really like to know if anyone has a way to monitor audio levels via headphones.

Thank you all for the responses in advance! I apologize if this has been answered in-depth already elsewhere on the forum, I did a search which is how I found some of the stuff above, but it left me with a few questions. If there's a really good topic on it, feel free to point me there too. Just trying to make sure I get this all right before I go about implementing ML and getting various audio equipment.