Is that why you "blacken" tape?

I had a small problem with capturing some footage that I shot on a Canon XL2. We were shooting indoors both up and downstairs (both places near electrical outlets) so I decided shoot using the A/C Adapter to conserve battery until we moved outside to shoot. But I noticed whenever we moved from one location to another and I had to unplug and re-plug in my adapter, when I began shooting again, all of my timecode would start backover at 00:00:00:00 (mind you, before I unplugged I did shot the camera off first). This turned out to be a true pain when I logged and captured my footage into FCP, but I just had to work through it.

I've read in different places where some videographers will "blacken" (I believe that's what it's called) their tape by setting there camera in a dark, quiet room and let it play for an hour so that the timecode is imprinted on the tape. Would doing this prevent my problem from happening again in the future? Or is there something more to my situation like, "Just don't use the damn A/C Adapter if you know you're going to move, idiot!"?

Steven Gladney



Sometimes the obvious is hidden in plain view.

This is the reason, so that your timecode doesn't restart at 00;00;00 and cause a mess during capturing (and possible RE capturing). It doesn't stop the timecode breaks, but not starting at 0;00;00 might be a good plus.

BUT...I am not a fan of that. I am a fan of recording for 5 seconds or so after you intend to stop, so that you can go back and review footage, then have it start recording in this buffer....therefore you get no TC breaks and no 00;00;00.

It was the power shutdown that caused this. Above a certain level - pro cameras "remember" timecode info between camera shutdowns.

A battery on the Cannon - and leaving it ON during the replug would solve this.

So would technique - yest blacking a tape would be the first part of an answer- but so would changing your technique a bit. On shot a, roll an extra 30 seconds or so - well past what you are SURE is your out point. Then rewind the tape about 10 seconds before tape stop.

This is a built in feature on many cameras called auto backspace. When you next record - it will pick up the TC and REGENERATE tc counting up from where you left off - with no tc break. A pre striped tape- (blacked) works the same way - it provides code so you can just trigger record and go - and the camera will see the code - matchit and start recording with the code - and no breaks.

Some cheaper cameras won't regenerate code - so you are stuck with never turning the power off as your best option.

If you DO wind up with multiple sections on a tape - great logging is your best defense. My reel numbers refer to reel and sub reel number. Each tc reset gets a new sub reel number. So the second section on reel 2 would be 02-002. That at least flags you to manually cue the tape to the right section before you do a batch capture.

HTH

Ian

Thanks Shane and Ian,

Good advise, both of you. Ian, really good suggestion about the reel and sub-reel numbering. Unfortunately, too late for this current project, but will definately keep in mind for the next.

As far as regenerating timecode, does anyone know for certain if the XL2 does this? I would figure so. I can test it tomorrow, though.

Steven Gladney



Sometimes the obvious is hidden in plain view.

> If you DO wind up with multiple sections on a tape - great logging is your
> best defense. My reel numbers refer to reel and sub reel number. Each tc
> reset gets a new sub reel number. So the second section on reel 2 would be
> 02-002. That at least flags you to manually cue the tape to the right section
> before you do a batch capture.

I'd suggest a different approach: If your normal reel-naming system is 001, 002, 003, then use 001-B for the second section of timecode, or 001-2. If you put the section number first ("02-001", then when capturing (especially if you're onlining, where all the reel numbers would be mashed together in one big capture) "02-001" will be alpha-numerically arranged to fall well after Reel 019.

Also, any tape with more than five or six timecodes that reset to 00:00:00:00 should be considered a lost cause and redubbed with non-identical, continuous timecode. You're not gonna want to deal with Reel 001-12 -- this reel system (which I also use) is entirely dependent on the operator knowing which timecode section is 1, which section is 2 -- and if you have a lot of timecode breaks, the system falls apart.

Not "blacken" just say "black". I need to "Black" tape is the verbal use of the term. ;-) Even better? "Black and Code" is the best way.

As far as introducing TC breaks, this really only happens with consumer cameras and non-seasoned cameramen. Pro cams and Pro DPs will rarely give you a tape with TC breaks. The reason why is discussed above: auto-backspace, etc.

If you are a newbie, and you shut down your cam or change batts, always roll some bars before shutting off so you can back into TC when you want to shoot again. Go to VTR mode, back up into the last shot and then PLAY. When you see 5 secs of bars go to PAUSE. Then go into CAM mode and you are set for creating continuous timecode even with the cheapest camcorders.

BTW, If you black and code tapes you can still introduce a TC break so it is not a fix-all. A pro DP would not ever spend time black and coding an entire cam source tape. Really, it's only done in post and only for an Edit to Tape function. What he/she would do is to Preset TC and roll 30 secs of bars and tone for every tape. The TC Preset would also serve as a tape number. Hour 1=tape 1 - Hour 2=tape 2, etc.

This is a built in feature on many cameras called auto backspace

Yup. If only the non-pros would leave this on! I loved my buddies TRV-900 as it never introduced breaks because of auto backspace.



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