HOLY DROPOUTS! FS100 Footage. Wow.
 

I used an FS100 (three actually) to shoot an event last night. We filled two of the FS100s with one camera and shot probably 30 or 40 P2 cards on three other cameras. The Camera with the FS was on a tripod and moved very slowly in a 20 or 30 degree arc. No jiggling or fast movement. I just converted the footage into FCP. I previewed maybe 30 seconds of footage and saw no less than 4 very noticable dropouts.

Could this be a problem with transfer over FW from the FS? I must say I'm not entirely pleased with initial results. I'd check the footage from the FS itself but after we downloaded the raw files and folders to a drive we had to wipe it for a shoot the next day. Wed then import footage to FCP from the downloaded files on a hard drive.

I can't imagine it's a cable problem because I've transfered hundreds of hours of footage in other formats over FW and never encountered this. Anyone else suffer this many dropouts?

I had the same problem as I reported here http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...t=68441&page=2 earlier today.

I hope the people from PANASONIC & FOCUS ENHANCEMENT have a quick answer.

as i already mentioned in that thread you quoted, i believe that there is a new firmware update to the fs-100, and it does address the dropout issue:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=68662

please let us know if that fixes the problem.

Ouch
 

I'll spare the world from my usual rant about this topic...

I've been getting calls about this very issue for 2 weeks now; seems the Focus firmware update doens't work 100% of the time, and it's not necessarily the fault of Focus.

However, there *might* be another hidden cause that has nothing to do with the firmware update: FW cables.

The market has been flooded recently with sub-standard FW cables, especially the 4-pin type. They have not been given proper shielding nor solid end-connectors, meaning the connection becomes intermittent even if only for a nano-second. We've seen this trend even from large, reputable manufacturers.

We know from main 1st tier distributors like Tech-Data that many companies have recently migrated the physical assembly of things like cables, power supplies, LED's, SiL backplanes for PM enclosures, I/O cards etc to China's 2nd tier plants rather than 1st tier in another cost saving move, which has caused QC to drop substantially.

How do you know if your FW cables are stable and strong? Without taking them to an electronics shop where they can put the cable on an O-scope and look for "leakage" or voltage dropouts it's a crap shoot.

The best thing to do for this Firestore issue, is that IF the firmware update doesn't solve the issue, try another FW cable and cross your fingers.

You should also be using Ferrite Cores if the cable is longer than 3 feet, just to rule out any strong RF that would be leaking into these sub-standard cables.

I can't confirm this yet, but places like www.fwdepot.com are still supposed to be carrying the high-end FW cables that are exteremly well built and NOT (yet) made my 2nd Tier China manufacturing, but you pay a premium for the best cable on the planet.

Hello Robert,

I've looked for the upgrade in the Focus site, but I can't find it. Do you have a direct link to it?

Thanks

http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/d...%20Updater.zip

FP

Check out www.granitedigital.com for very high quality firewire cables.
Built in ferrite cores, increased shielding, etc.
I use one with my HVX200 to Powerbook/FCP capture setup.
A little pricey but then who wants any weak links in the chain.

bad cables
 

i've used dozens of firewire cables for years and never had a problem but remember, moving data from one disk to a pc is different than streaming live video. the cable that shipped with my fs-100 was faulty. focus enhancements didn't diagnose this as a problem because they provided the cable but as soon as i replaced it, problems went away (i didn't have dropouts but constant firewire connection issues with the cam).

i bought a 3-pak of firewire cables from geeks.com that cost me a total of $2.99, then hacked the end of one cable up with wirecutters, bent it over at a 90 degree angle, and it has worked perfectly for months >knock on wood!<

no magnets, either... you can see pics of how hacked up it is here: http://www.codectest.com/productrevi...4-bracket.html

i think that part of my success is due to strapping the cable down to the xl1s handle, which prevents any movement at the cable connection junction to the camera... you should always have a strain relief on any kind of a connection like this.

if there is a weak link on the firestore, it's the battery... the only time that i've had any intermittent issues with the fs-4 has been when it's run with just it's own battery, and that was last year... when i upgrade to 2600 mah aa batteries i might just remove the fs-4 battery permanently.

Dan...

That's a heck of a rig you set up.

Does TSA give you much grief when they open your camera bag and is greeted by a stack of batteries and wires? Sure looks like a bomb! :-)

For the right-angle connector, you could try using hot glue and heat shrink to seal and further stabilize the joint.

I might end up doing something similar for my wireless receivers, FS100 and AA battery pack.

i'm so scared of taking that rig on the airplane that i've been turning down jobs from out of town, lol! i might get arrested at the airport.

i'd have to agree that something does need to be done to protect the joint... what you can't see very well in the photos is that all firewire plug ends are encased with a metal wrap/strain relief attached to the cable, and i was able to bend that up to hold the 90 degree angle.

the bend is actually greater than 90 degrees, because it's designed to lay the cable against the handle of the camera, so that there is no stress on the firewire port of the camera.

i've hiked that rig down the cliff to blacks beach in la jolla several times, into trestles, and all over the drag strip... the firewire hack was a silly experiment that just happened to work out really well, but i do carry a backup cable just in case.

double post! where did that come from.

Great. Thanks Focus.
 

Faulty cable. That's fantastic. Thanks Focus. My company bought three of these things and I just happened to use the one faulty cable in the batch? Now I have to try and isolate the cable. All the cables I used were stock cables from Focus.

And a firmware update is great but after flying to Atlantic City to shoot a live show, it's just a day late and a dollar short. Thanks again Focus.

It sure is great being on the cutting edge of technology.

This kind of blows.

Thanks for all the responses guys. I appreciate it.

100 Percent Faulty FS100!
 

I've tested all my FS100s and all the cables and it is definately the unit that is faulty. Two units seem to record well and one records dropouts. However, one of the units that records well will not talk to my camera. When I hit the camera's record button the round record indicator turns on but only for a flash. I have to engage the unit directly to record anything. The other two units works fine with camera control.

And I did update the unit's firmware. Still get dropouts.

Time to call my dealer.

Paul it is probably a wrong setting. I know that is was what happened to me.
I even spoke to Focus and they gave me the wrong setting. Most likely is the setting on the FS. You probably have the A setting to sync. I changed it to tapeless and it recorded about an hour straight before I ran out of disc space.

By the way I emailed you with a question I had sinse not many people have both the camera and the FS 100