3D Shoot- genlock question

[A.J. Carter]

Hi guys,

We are shooting an 8 minute short using two REDs and a mirrior rig in 2 weeks but are having difficulty finding a genlock generator here in our humble town in Australia.

Question: Is there a way we can genlock the two red cameras without a genlock generator? Can we make one a slave and one a master without this device?

Excuse the non technical jargon, I am posting this on behalf of the DP tonight but will be passing on any info given!
Any help or feedback on locking two reds together would be greatly appreciated. Cheers! :)

[Stuart English]

Is there a way we can genlock two red cameras without a genlock generator?
Can we make one a slave and one a master without this device?

Master / Slave command and control can be established with a USB cable between the cameras, but to ensure the two shutters are in sync during capture and in post, you will need to provide a common external Genlock signal and SMPTE timecode signal.

So I'd recommend a pair of Ambient Lockits or equivalent...

[Corrado Silveri]

We use everyday an Aja GEN-10 for the try-level genlock sync.

[Cail Young]

Pair of lockits and a master clock or a gen10 is the way. Get in touch if you want some pointers on where to rent these things.

[Michael Lindsay]

I'm a little confused!

If two cameras are held in sync through the constant feed of Genlock why is TC relevant to this?

thanks

Michael L

[Stuart English]

Using Genlock makes sure that the shutter start times of the two cameras are in sync for each recorded frame.

Using external timecode makes sure the .R3D files recorded by the two cameras have the same timecode value for each recorded frame.

[gbalaji]

Hi guys,

We are shooting an 8 minute short using two REDs and a mirrior rig in 2 weeks but are having difficulty finding a genlock generator here in our humble town in Australia.

Question: Is there a way we can genlock the two red cameras without a genlock generator? Can we make one a slave and one a master without this device?

Excuse the non technical jargon, I am posting this on behalf of the DP tonight but will be passing on any info given!
Any help or feedback on locking two reds together would be greatly appreciated. Cheers! :)

Black Magic Sync Generator Mini Converter works very well for Genlock. Last week shot a 3D commercial using Two Red One and Sync Generator works perfectly for genlock. We only missed the Timecode part and anyway we managed using clapboard.

For Record - Start & Stop and other settings change in two cameras simultaneously, we used USB Cable based Master Slave. It works perfectly.

[Michael Lindsay]

Using Genlock makes sure that the shutter start times of the two cameras are in sync for each recorded frame.

Using external timecode makes sure the .R3D files recorded by the two cameras have the same timecode value for each recorded frame.

Thanks Stuart... it is as I have always understood it...

what confused me initially was the bellow statement (which I should have quoted in my post for clarity).


...but to ensure the two shutters are in sync during capture and in post, you will need to provide a common external Genlock signal and SMPTE timecode signal.

So to super clarify:

I take 2 identically set up red cameras and feed them a stable genlock with identical length cable. I then align them (through a beam splitter) to zero interocular. Will I see them to be in perfect sync? (obviously using a rig that allows for a upside down top camera)

thanks

Michael L

[Stuart English]

Yes, you should..

The image mirror effect can be corrected in the latest build though i.e. Build 30.3.1