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Messages - benp

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Chronos User Discussion / Re: Workflow - Time
« on: May 28, 2019, 09:15:22 AM »
I've pre-ordered one of the 2.1 versions - color sensor and fully maxed out on all options.  Hooray!!!

I didn't add any accessories to my initial order, but I'm planning to add one of everything when the camera is ready to ship.  If anyone has thoughts on what accessories are 'must have' versus just occasionally handy, I'd appreciate your input.  Also, please pass along recommendations for any third-party bits that you find useful.

Quote
@Nikon1 if you dont find anyone/ anything else to mount these 2/3" Lenses on that Camera, then Contact me via PM, i will help you find a way,

I'll likely be reaching out to you (and anyone else with experience) for advice and options regarding adapting my inventory of lenses to the camera.  The Metabones x0.58 Speedbooster looks like a perfect addition for the new sensor.  It's getting the MFT part of the speedbooster to match up with the C-mount on the camera that I'm not sure about.

Does anyone know if the Blackmagic line of lens adapters (Nikon, Canon, PL for the Ursa Mini Pro can be put into service on the Chronos?  The adapting part of the process is beyond my understanding at this time.

For now, I'm working up a list of past, current, and potential clients who could use some high speed camera work.  I'm excited to get this camera and put it to use!

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Chronos User Discussion / Re: Introducing Chronos 2.1 HD!
« on: April 26, 2019, 07:22:08 AM »
I'm seeing the images.

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Chronos User Discussion / Re: Workflow - Time
« on: January 03, 2019, 10:36:18 PM »
Hmmm.... well... that clarifies the speed issue.  If I need faster turnaround from shot to shot, I'll probably just have to purchase a second camera.

The SSDs that I already have and use with my current camera set-ups are 240GB Intel SSD 520 Series.  I paid a small mint for them 5 years ago, but they're bullet proof and can handle recording uncompressed video streams all day.  <https://ark.intel.com/products/66250/Intel-SSD-520-Series-240GB-2-5in-SATA-6Gb-s-25nm-MLC->  I would expect them to work great with whatever the Chronos could throw at them.

Intel SSD 520 Series Technical Specifications:
Capacity: 240GB
Form Factor: 2.5 inch
Interface: SATA 6.0 Gb/s
Flash Memory Technology: Multi-level Cell (MLC)
Lithography Type: 25 nm
Sequential Read (up to): 550 MB/s
Sequential Write (up to): 520 MB/s
Random Read (8GB Span) (up to): 50000 IOPS
Random Write (8GB Span) (up to): 60000 IOPS
Latency - Read: 80 µs
Latency - Write: 85 µs

Oh... I just remembered that I also have a Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro Plus in a 4TB RAID 0 configuration.  The PCIe card has two eSATA ports and is mounted in a Thunderbolt2 expansion chassis.  I wonder if this could be used with the Chronos camera?

My interest in achieving a fast workflow is based on the expectations of the clients that I typically work with.  In the broadcast and ad agency circles that I serve, clients and Creative Directors get antsy over the time it takes just to swap batteries.  So for media offloads, I'll typically have dedicated staff with redundant stations constantly hot-swapping the media cards and dumping the raw footage to HDDs.  This allows the camera(s) to keep rolling with minimal down time.

Admittedly, the cameras I'm usually dealing with max out at 120fps to 240fps and record straight to the SSD, C-FAST, P2, etc.  And, I've never shot with or been on a shoot with a camera that does higher fps.  In short, I don't know what I don't know about high fps work.  The Chronos, I'm learning, requires a shift in my expectations... and I'm okay with that.

Perhaps I'm also foolhardy, but my intent was to go for the full package on the camera.  Color sensor.  Maxed RAM.  Standard Lens.  Max warranty.  From reading the forums, I already understand that the RAM can be user upgraded for about 1/3 the cost of purchasing that configuration.  And, the reviews on the standard lens aren't that great.  However, purchasing a fully upgraded and standard configuration system means that it has a baseline expectation of performance direct from the manufacturer that can be compared with other systems if/when troubleshooting and comparison is needed.  Warranty repair (unless you have a back-up camera) takes you completely out of the game.  Therefore, downtime is avoided at all costs - including paying more for a system configuration I may never need/use.

Lenses:  I already have a rather significant inventory of quality SLR/DSLR lenses - from older, manual Nikon primes, macros, & zooms (18mm f2.8 up to 1000mm) to newer Canon EF & EF L primes and zooms (down to f1.4) as well as a handful of f2.8 Minolta primes and zooms.  There are many adapter options already available for using these lenses (with a crop factor) on the Chronos.  I also have SD and HD Fuji & Canon 2/3" bayonet mount broadcast lenses.  And, I don't currently own any PL lenses.  I haven't read any discussions where success in adapting 2/3" and PL lenses to the Chronos has been achieved.  So, these are probably off the table as options.  Finally, I've seen some recommendations for C / CS mount lenses in other KronTalk forum threads and would likely expand my lens collection with some of these models whether or not my existing lenses will successfully adapt to the Chronos.  It's always nice to have a native fallback option in case my other lenses are needed elsewhere.

Lighting: I have plenty of lighting options including 18,000 watts of Tungsten, 1,000 watts of LED, and access to HMI fixtures.

At this point, what I probably need to do is find one of the Chronos cameras to borrow or rent that I can try out ... or see about an in-person demo.  I won't be able to attend NAB and visit the Kron Tech booth this year due to a prior commitment that week.  Worst case is that I table the decision until later.

Sigh... I would really like this to work.

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Chronos User Discussion / Re: Workflow - Time
« on: January 02, 2019, 05:30:21 PM »
First... wow.  I'm truly appreciative of the responses and information.

It's taken me a bit to wrap my head around the transfer time from the camera's RAM to external storage being based on frames transferred per second rather than MB/s.  LOL... I'm dense.  However it's calculated, the important thing is how fast the actual data can be transferred - which in turn determines how quickly you can work with a particular shot in an editing application and / or clear out the camera's RAM for additional shots.  The take away is... get the fastest external solution available.

The camera specs indicate that the SATA port is 'eSATA 3G.'  Unfortunately, the '3G' designation can either mean it is SATA II at 3Gbps or SATA III at 6Gbps.  I'll hopefully presume that the eSATA port operates under the latest standard.  The max spec transfer speed of eSATA III (6G) is 750MB/s.  Does the camera take full advantage of this transfer speed?  Or, is there a lower limit on the camera's eSATA port data rate?

It appears that most SSD's max out at around 500 to 550MB/s write speed.  Therefore, the bottleneck in transfer time is theoretically on the SSD.  After some research however, I'm curious if it's possible to purchase M.2 SSDs (PCIe/NVMe) with sequential write speeds of up to 1,900MB/s that can be adapted to a SATA III interface?  I've found enclosures to adapt these M.2 SSD's to USB3.1.  I can't seem to find one that'll connect via SATA.  IF it were possible to use M.2 SSD media, this would allow the camera to transfer data at it's maximum rate - which speeds up the overall workflow.

Cornflakes... would you share that photo of your lab set-up and the external SSD enclosure?

Thanks!

Ben

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Chronos User Discussion / Re: Workflow - Time
« on: December 24, 2018, 11:37:09 PM »
I have no problem getting a handful of SSDs or super fast SDXC cards for the camera if it'll minimize the transfer time.  Is your mount (SSD enclosure) powered by the eSATA port (eSATAp)?  Or, does the mount require external power to connect to a SSD?  If the bottleneck is with the transfer out of the camera, how much faster is the SSD option over, say, a SDXC card spec'd at 300MB/s?  SSDs are cheaper now than the 2000x SDXC cards, but there's less gear and bulk involved with internal cards versus an external SSD.

There's an eSATA SSD dock available on Amazon.  <http://a.co/d/cOeInnK> Is this similar to what you're talking about having in your lab set-up?

Presuming I'm working with RAW and mostly dealing with 'bullet time' shots, which would only be a second or so in length but at a super high frame rate, what is a ballpark time for transfer out of the camera?  1min?  5min?  20min?

And, how much storage space is required per second of video?  Is a 120GB SSD large enough?  I already have a handful of 240GB SSDs.  Would I need an external array available for offloading the files during a shoot?

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Chronos User Discussion / Workflow - Time
« on: December 22, 2018, 10:49:37 PM »
Hi everyone.  I've been following this amazing little camera since just before the Kickstarter campaign ended.  The product has come a long way (congrats to the development team) and I've appreciated all of the contributors posting information, samples, and helpful tips for the user community.

I’m getting much closer to adding this camera to my kit and there’s only one outstanding issue I’m grappling with - time.  I’ve read older posts that indicate some shots can take 30 minutes or longer to export from the camera.  During that period, you can’t do anything but twiddle your thumbs and wait.  Is this correct?  Is there a bottleneck in workflow caused by the camera?

I have an open request for high speed analysis of firearm functionality (custom builders & loaders).  My concern is the length of time it would take from when the video is shot to when it could be viewed.  And then, how quickly another take could be filmed.

I have fast computers (MacPro 12-core cylinder) and HDDs (Thunderbolt and SAS arrays) available which are racked and mobile for handling processing.  The wildcard for me is how much time in the workflow the camera will add.  Can anyone share their experience with this?

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