30fps, to 29.97.
 

Hey, guys. I have a few upcoming commercials, and tomorrow I'm delivering some test footage to the broadcast station. I just realized today, that my footage isn't 29.97.

I had the footage exported as just a self contained QT file on FCP. Then through compressor, I changed the frame-rate to 29.97... I THOUGHT that changed it, but I was wrong. I finally took the time to look at it. Can anybody give me a solution to this. It's so nice to have a place to dump my questions, complaints, and all kinds of other jazz onto complete strangers. Thanks, everyone!

30fps = 29.97. The numbering is just different. Change the numbering in your NLE.

Perrone, so that means I don't have to worry about changing anything in the timeline?

No, you need to change the TIME on the timeline, but the video itself doesn't change at all. 29.97 is a counting method that uses 30fps video as it's basis.

Google "drop frame" and you should find what I talking about. BUT, if you are delivering to a TV station, they will want the timeline to be in dropframe so that the timing comes out accurately.

Use Cinema Tools to Conform to 29.97.

Just open clip and then click conform to 29.97.

You can do batches of clips too. Do this before editing or after on exported .mov.

29.97 is different than 30, it is a slower frame rate.

Whoa, hang on. I forgot we were talking about a DSLR here and not a video camera. Does the 5D shoot 30 TRUE frames per second? No consumer based video cameras do so this is important if you will need audio sync.

Anyway, I'll defer to those more experienced with THIS particular camera.

Yes. It shoots 30.00, not 29.97. In general, the solution is to slow both the video and audio by 0.1% to avoid dropped frames and audio sync problems.

Thanks Jon. I hadn't even thought about this camera shooting a true 30p since we never see that in general video cameras.

I think I got it down now. Why the heck did Canon have this camera shoot 30fps? Is there an advantage to shooting true 30fps? It seems to me like it's just a giant headache.

Advantage is that it's simpler the way they've done it. PITA for the video based shooter. But honestly, it's no different than shooting real film, and having to do IVTC to get to 23.98 to sync up for video. Process is exactly the same.

You're the man, Perrone. Thanks for the insight. It's always cool to hear about that sort of stuff.

Nah dude... I'm just learning like everyone else here. I learn something every day on this forum from the REAL gurus.

Cineform NeoScene converts to 29.97, they have a trial for 7 days

As Olof already posted there is no need to buy any additional software. The OP is using FCP & will already have Cinema Tools as part of the whole Final Cut Studio. The Conform function is used to change frame rate. This works instantly as it just changes the frame rate in the file header there is no processing, conversion or rendering involved.

There are advantages that Cineform provides.... Cineform also corrects the gamma of
the footage and a Cineform intermediate file is much easier to edit..

if you step up to the higher end products of Cineform there are lots of great extras... like being able to edit the footage as if it were a RAW video footage... or upscaling if your mixing
the 5DMKII footage with Red footage....

Cineform has lots of value, just depends if you need the value.

Hi Nigel. So presumably that will put the video out of sync with any external audio recorded at the same shoot?

Richard

Good question Richard. I'd like to know this as well. I'm assuming if you're working in a 30fps timeline... slowdown the footage by .1 percent, then when it's converted to 29.97, it'l sync. That's just a theory. I'm sure someone will come along and have a solid answer.

Before you conform you should already have dropped that audio onto the timeline & synched it using the fabulous Pluraleyes plugin.

FCP automatically conforms between 30p and 29.97 if you drop one or the other into the opposite timeline with no rendering. No need to do anything external. If you need to deliver 29.97 just use that for your sequence settings when you edit.

If you are syncing external audio though you must start your project with a custom easy setup using a true 30p timebase as described on the pluraleyes blog here: 25 Hour Day: DSLR Dual-System Audio: The 99.9% Solution

If you start with that easy setup you can use either 30 or 29.97 in your sequences as needed and both video and separate audio will sync and conform properly without any need to do any retiming of audio or video.