Dropped Frames problem while shooting RAW 5D iii

[choobysnacks]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to start off by mentioning how fantastic of a job ML is. The results have far exceeded my original expectations! Every test shot i have performed have come out beautiful! However, i have notched a slight problem. When shooting for longer durations, anything over a minute, i notice that the continuous recording has some problems. When shooting for these long periods of times, i see that several .R00, .R01 etc files have also been made. But when shooting for shorter durations, these files are not made. I have noticed that when shooting this long, the video almost seems that it is broken up into chunks. (which i can understand because this is quite stressful on the CPU) but how ever many .RXX files are made, is the same number of blank frames that have been created in my clip. The clip starts off by playing smoothly until a minute goes by and there is a blank frame and same for the next 30 or so seconds/minute. so my question is, what is causing this? If i cut out the blank frame in my timeline will i run into timing issues for music videos? Meaning will the duration be thrown off causing the footage to slightly come off beat with the sound track? or is it just a simple blank frame caused by those .Rxx files when recording longer durations? However, this may not be too big of an issue because i can always cut to B-Roll or another take. Plenty of work arounds, but i am just curious why this is happening.

Camera: 5D mark iii
Card: Lexar 1066x 64GB
resolution: 1920x872 (continuos works fine at full HD. but i like this aspect ratio. it is not due to the cads write limitations)
MLRawViewer used to transcode into prores. Should i use a different transcode application? ( i like the ability to create prores files and add the Slog-2 LUT)

Thank you!

[DeafEyeJedi]

You on Mac or PC?

[choobysnacks]

I am on mac.

[DeafEyeJedi]

Ever try MLVFS? Cr2hdr-r?

Also Check out Cinelog-C from @Andy600.

[choobysnacks]

I have not. I will be sure to give them a shot. Does my problem sound like it is the transcode process that is causing these blank frames? Meaning, that these blank frames do not usually occur? Also, I would like to have a flat profile to work with in post. Do these other applications allow me to go to prores while applying a flat (slog) lut? Or will my workflow be dng where I'll have to take it into resolve to apply the black magic flat lut?

Thank you for your help!

[budafilms]

My opinion is you have problems in your CF card.
I had two lexar and now two computer bay 1000x and I never have problems with the last ones.

You can check how fast work your card in the ML menu > TEST Card

and check your camera settings > Global Draw OFF > Hacks ON > Focus Sharp everything that could cause a problem...

[choobysnacks]

That's strange because I have never had the camera stop recording in raw due to dropped frames. My only concern are those .Rxx files that are created when the duration is longer than a minute or so. It's awfully ironic that two of those files have been generated while at the same time there are two blank frames.. That's why it leads me to think that maybe it's MLViewer that can be causing this. However, as I mentioned above, I wonder if those frames can be cut out without affecting the timing of the clip..?

I will have to check my settings later to varify how it is set up.

[dmilligan]

What exactly do you mean by "blank frame"? If you convert to DNG, is there a DNG(s) missing in the sequence or is there a DNG(s) output that is just black/white/noise/pink/etc? Also, please try a different converter(s) to eliminate the possibility that it is just a bug in MLRawViewer.

[choobysnacks]

I will try a different converter. I have not checked in a dng sequence. So far I have just been exporting to prores. As I was reviewing some clips a noticed that there was a weird flicker in the clip. After taking a closer look I realized that there was a black frame placed randomly in the clip. There were two of these black frames. I am assuming that these two frames have been generated by the two .rxx files that were also created associated with this raw file. The black frame happened lightly every 30-45 seconds into the clip.

[DeafEyeJedi]

Which firmware MLRV are you using?

[choobysnacks]

The "Black frame" is present in the dng files as well. However, i have download Raw2Dng converter, and for some reason the converter does not work when i use this file. It gives back an error every time i click and drag the .RAW file into the GUI. The weird part is that Raw2Dng does NOT give back an error when i use a shorter duration clip.. For some reason, it seems that these .Rxx files are what is causing the problem. I don't know why, but these files are only generated when the clip is of a longer duration. However, when i film a clip only of a few seconds, these files are not generated. I have attached a grab that shows these files. (ignore the .MRX file, because that is the file generated from MLRawViewer for some reason.) The .Rxx file are generated from magic lantern.

[choobysnacks]

Which firmware MLRV are you using?

I just downloaded it, i am using 1.3.3. is there a later version?

[dmilligan]

There's nothing wrong about the .RXX files, they are supposed to be there and they are not causing the issue. There is a 4GB file size limit (due to technical limitations of FAT32), so we have to split stuff into separate files when reaching this limit. ML does this automatically.

What is the exact size in bytes of your files? If it is not an exact multiple of 1920 * 872 * 14 / 8 = 2929920 (with the exception of the last .RXX file, which might be slightly larger because of the footer), then there might be a problem with ML, otherwise it's probably just a bug in the converter.

It gives back an error every time i click and drag the .RAW file into the GUI.

What is the error? (raw2dng doesn't have a GUI, and it needs all the files, not just the .RAW file)

Unless you need the extra performance of the RAW format, I would suggest using MLV instead (use mlv_rec.mo instead of raw_rec.mo). It is a much more robust file format that supports metadata and sound, and makes issues like these less likely to happen and easier to diagnose/fix.

[DeafEyeJedi]

@dmilligan's correct. Perhaps set your card to exFAT from your mac.

Try using a later version of MLRV (1.4.3) because I've seen black frames happened to me before with ProRes files spitted out from earlier versions of MLRV.

However, did you say you were able to see black frames during playback of the original RAW file or no? (Please try using MLV instead) and most issues should go away.

[choobysnacks]

Try using a later version of MLRV (1.4.3) because I've seen black frames happened to me before with ProRes files spitted out from earlier versions of MLRV.

Version 1.4.3 resolved my issue. The black frames are no longer present in this version. Turns out it was just the converter after all.. Thank you very much!

However, I hear a lot of good things about MLV. Besides the advantage of sound, what am i benefiting by filming in this format? Are the file sizes smaller? I really like the dynamic range i am getting while shooting raw, will i still have that ability shooting in this format? I guess i have read up so much on RAW that i am not too familar with MLV.

Thank you both for your help! @dmilligan

[Walter Schulz]

MLV will definitely not have smaller file sizes compared to RAW video. Essentially it is just RAW + metadata + optional sound recording in cam: http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=7122.0