chrisvankat Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Let me preface this post with the fact that I have been working on a small documentary piece and was hired to shoot video, stills, as well as capturing audio (yes, that is unfortunate). With our shoot requiring some international travel and thus a smaller footprint, I decided to leave behind our MOVi/C100 stabilization rig in favor of the much smaller DJI Osmo. Doing so allowed me to shoot with the Canon C300, but could also mix in a little stabilization when needed. My question going into the shoot was how practical would it be to do a walk and talk setup while still recording our subjects conversations? I knew that one of my shooting days would consist of me running up and down some unpaved roads and this, coupled with 90 degrees temperatures, wouldn’t allow me to shoot AND wear my SoundDevices 633 pack. So, I opted to risk it and leave my audio gear at the hotel for the day. In stepped the Osmo, paired with a set of Sennheiser lavs. With the attached RODE mic only picking up ambient audio, I broke out my lavs and connected via the 3.5mm mic jack. As a one man crew, this allowed me to shoot stabilized footage as well as picking up great sounding audio. Obviously, this wouldn’t be an option for a commercial shoot, even a traditional doc shoot, but with limited space and limited resources, you can be sure that I will be using this same set up on my next small shoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Salazar Posted March 8, 2016 Report Share Posted March 8, 2016 Parts list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisvankat Posted March 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2016 Hey Christopher, here is a list of our current setup: DJI Osmo Osmo Extension Arm Osmo Universal Mount Sennheiser G3 Lavs iPhone RODE Microphone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted March 8, 2016 Report Share Posted March 8, 2016 I've been researching this camera. Seems like a great tool for a shooter or OMB. My friend in upstate NY is a OMB who loves his. One question, could you run a dual system sync test w your 633 and Osmo and see how it holds up? You know shoot out a card on something that would show sync. Thanks for your review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Preston Posted March 8, 2016 Report Share Posted March 8, 2016 I am an Osmo owner and I have been doing testing for sound sync and quality. The Osmo X3 camera does not hold sync to an external source. It doesn't even hold sync to its internal source and it appears to drop samples as indicated by pops in the audio. It may be a hardware issue or it might be able to be fixed by software. Most people have internal audio about three frames ahead of picture and everything drifts over time. Also, the video autorestarts at the end of the 4GB limit, but there is a gap in coverage. I recently did a shoot with the X5 camera that is compatible with the Osmo and the X5 holds sync for at least 4 minutes based on syncing with the longest clip I recorded. The Osmo is a great tool, but it has serious limitations. Oh, it also has a fan that gives a Red a run for it's money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted March 8, 2016 Report Share Posted March 8, 2016 Good info Casey. No tool does it all. Still interested in it for the motion images.. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted March 8, 2016 Report Share Posted March 8, 2016 I'd make sure you had some sort of mic feeding the cam and get the RX off the rig and onto your belt or etc., hooked up to some kind of audio recorder (Zoom or whatever). Then you have a more mobile camera and way better audio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Preston Posted March 8, 2016 Report Share Posted March 8, 2016 I think the Osmo is a great tool, but I would suggest recording the audio externally and slating both the beginning and the end of the shot to check drift. You can run audio from the recorder into the Osmo, but the Osmo track itself will still not be synced with the video so it isn't of much use. Even with the audio problems, I don't think there is anything that currently competes with the Osmo for ease of use on stabilized tracking shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Salazar Posted March 9, 2016 Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 13 hours ago, chrisvankat said: Hey Christopher, here is a list of our current setup: DJI Osmo Osmo Extension Arm Osmo Universal Mount Sennheiser G3 Lavs iPhone RODE Microphone Thanks, you da' man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek H Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 Had a cameraman pull one of these out on a shoot the other day. I didn't look at it hard enough to realize it had a 3.5mm mic input. I had him shoot the timecode slate function on my Maxx. Footage looked like fun. Seemed like a situation where having a solid sound recording would prop up the workflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 Had a cameraman pull one of these out on a shoot the other day. I didn't look at it hard enough to realize it had a 3.5mm mic input. I had him shoot the timecode slate function on my Maxx. Footage looked like fun. Seemed like a situation where having a solid sound recording would prop up the workflow. They were playing with one in our PO today and had the little mic plugged into the front. I haven't looked up the specs on the mic Minijack yet, but I think we would only be using it for b roll anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VM Posted March 11, 2016 Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 I have tested it yesterday. We send audio via a Wisycom MPR30. Here is an extract here : http://leblogsonore.com/du-son-pur-la-camera-dj-osmo/ The first half of the video is the sound recorded on the (noisy) Osmo, then I switch to the SD633 sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Preston Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 The current firmware for the Osmo has apparently fixed most of the sound issues. Audio can now be used for syncing, the fan can be turned off, and internal audio may be useable if you don't mind cheap preamps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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