Time code with 35mm SLR still camera?

[Alexandru Petrescu]

Originally Posted by Steve House

Timecode capable recorders like the Tascam HDP2 or Sound Device "T" series have an internal timecode generator that will timestamp the start of the recorded sound file. Then the recorder during playback or the NLE on file import takes the timestamp and the sample rate and derives continuous timecode throughout the rest of the file. So recording audio with timecode is a piece of cake, just a matter of using the right recorder, but getting it to match when the stills are exposed is more of an issue.

So is there any software package (or option in a NLE) that can automatically align jpegs on one track with wav on another track, based on their respective timestamps? Any slideshow software?

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Alexandru Petrescu

So is there any software package (or option in a NLE) that can automatically align jpegs on one track with wav on another track, based on their respective timestamps? Any slideshow software?

The audio file produced by timecode recorders is a BWF (Broadcasr Wave Format) formatted wav file, similar to a conventional wav files but with additional information in the file header, including the recorder's timecode register at the first audio sample. Note that this is NOT the same thing as the conventional timestamp of the file creation date/time that we see in a disk directory listing. NLE's that are aware of BWF files are able to align the first sample's audio timecode to the the editing timeline during import. The kicker, though, is the still image file - I'm not aware of any NLEs that read its creation timestamp and use it to control placement on the timeline. And also note Marco was talking about using a wet-chemistry, film-based SLR. The exposure date/time if it could be recorded wouldn't be the file creation date timestamp when digitizing the film to jpegs anyway.

[Alexandru Petrescu]

Originally Posted by Steve House

The audio file produced by timecode recorders is a BWF (Broadcasr Wave Format) formatted wav file, similar to a conventional wav files but with additional information in the file header, including the recorder's timecode register at the first audio sample. Note that this is NOT the same thing as the conventional timestamp of the file creation date/time that we see in a disk directory listing. NLE's that are aware of BWF files are able to align the first sample's audio timecode to the the editing timeline during import. The kicker, though, is the still image file - I'm not aware of any NLEs that read its creation timestamp and use it to control placement on the timeline. And also note Marco was talking about using a wet-chemistry, film-based SLR. The exposure date/time if it could be recorded wouldn't be the file creation date timestamp when digitizing the film to jpegs anyway.

Oh I didn't get it being cellulose film instead of digital sensor pictures. Him saying 35mm made me think of "full-frame" digital format, not of film. I think it goes nowhere shooting analog, then scan these pictures only to arrive into a PC and then on HD-TV.

Shoot analog then project analog slides - maybe yes.

For that, we need to talk a projector that has a clock reader inside. What are the analog projectors' clock/time capabilities?

I've seen these kinds of analog slideshows and they're impressive but there's a human advancing the slides based on how s/he hears the played music. The music was not recorded from the scene, but some offline music. Still it was impressing.

Makes think of 1930's movie projections with a piano player behind the scenes trying to keep rhythm as the action unfolds :-)

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Alexandru Petrescu

Oh I didn't get it being cellulose film instead of digital sensor pictures. Him saying 35mm made me think of "full-frame" digital format, not of film. I think it goes nowhere shooting analog, then scan these pictures only to arrive into a PC and then on HD-TV.

Shoot analog then project analog slides - maybe yes.

For that, we need to talk a projector that has a clock reader inside. What are the analog projectors' clock/time capabilities?

I've seen these kinds of analog slideshows and they're impressive but there's a human advancing the slides based on how s/he hears the played music. The music was not recorded from the scene, but some offline music. Still it was impressing.

Makes think of 1930's movie projections with a piano player behind the scenes trying to keep rhythm as the action unfolds :-)

I don't know if they're still on the market or not but Kodak and several other manufacturers of slide projectors made models in the 60's and 70's that had a cue-tone input to trigger the slide advance. You'd record your audio track in mono on one channel of a stereo tape while placing tones bleeps on the other channel when you wanted the slide to change. For the show you'd connect the recorder's cue track output to the projector.

[Lawrence Spurgeon]

The EXIF data for any digital SLR will give you exactly when the photo was shot (fractional second). If you can clock you audio recording to the same digital clock (a laptop?) then you should be able to track the two together.