Phantom Flex time code
How to deal with the Time Code when you are shooting with a Phantom camera, I'm a lucky owner of a Phantom Flex4K and I'm very conscious about the TC issue, especially when you have to use the XML file to export a project from a software to another.
Phantom cameras are using the GPS as a standard clock, that's why during the camera setup the operator can choose from LOCAL or UTC. UTC of course is the Greenwich time, your local time it depends about your location. I live in Italy and I'm always one hour ahead UTC time.
The camera (as far as I know) must set on SMPTE time code, not IRIG, especially for media and production shooting.
So, let's say we are shooting a clips at some certain time of the day, one clip after another and finally the cinemag is full, time to change media. We give the Cinemag at the media manager for the transfer. At this moment, using the PCC (the software release by Vision Research) selecting the clip you want to transfer, there are different menu you can choose, one of them is "FRAME INFO". Just below the "frame info" menu there's a voice named TIME. Pressing the curtain menu you can see LOCAL, UTC or TIME CODE.
The camera provide a LTC Time Code embedded in the file, when you select the TC of course you suppose to choose the frame rate. That it.
Where's the trick? When we open DaVinci Resolve on the menu Camera RAW we need to select Phantom Cine, and at the voice Time code setting select SMPTE, in that case DaVinci will choose the LTC and not the UTC or LOCAL. I just have in front of me DaVinci Resolve and PCC, both open and I see the TIME CODE on PCC and DaVinciResolve are exactly the same, everything based on the frame rate you choose.
I know PremierePro has a lot of issues with metadata, so probably you need to make some test. Another thing you can do with the PCC is to change the TC on the clip you are saving, once again with Resolve I don't see any issue and the XML file have the SMPTE TC based on 25fps (or whatever you are using).
I hope this might help
Andrea
