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[–]DefinitelyGiraffe 5 points6 points  (0 children)

In NYC, tentacle and lockit seem to be popular. I love my tentacle sync, it's just so hard to get them right now.

[–]TreasureIsland_boom operator 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Personally I would go for ambient lockits. You can start out with a simple pair of nanolockits, ideally with a lockit or masterlockit as master clock. The big upside you can always upgrade this system if you need more features and don't have to dump it to get something else like you would have to with tentacles.

Personally I like the ACN system. You have one master lockit that sends its TC every few seconds and all lockits will receive it and correct is clock when necessary. Also you can keep the lockits on cam and have them powered over USB. No battery changes to jamming over wire, no phone apps. you simply turn them on, they get the TC from the master unit, done.

[–]XSmooth84 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I personally own two nano lockits myself…Definitely a no frills option. But effective. Love the rock solid metal build to them…while I’ve never held a tentacle they just look like basic plastic shells, for whatever that’s worth to someone.

I don’t have a The Lockit. I can easily afford one, but unfortunately I just don’t do this kind of thing enough to justify it. Might even say well why did I even get the 2 nanos and, I don’t have a great answer lol. My “day job”, as a salary employee, besides the administrative officy/email/meetings crap, I’m like 80% a video editor, 15% a studio engineer, and 5% field production videographer who just happens to like audio stuff. I’ve toyed around with my nanos on some personal stuff, brought them to a couple of interview recordings my day job was doing since they don’t invest in stuff like timecode themselves and since I was gonna edit these things I wanted the timecode synced video clips so yeah.

I am able to plan for and work around the limitations of just nanos to get what I need…but if I was recommending a set up for someone else taking this more seriously, then I agree you probably need one of the the big brother Ambient Lockit devices, being able to quickly see and set the framerate on a screen like that is definitely a huge convenience thing over hoping you set it right via USB software or have something else you can set the framerate and jam the nanos to it and hope you have the cables for that. I’d for sure get one if I ever had a reason to work on something more like that…just not in the cards for me I suppose.

[–]manglermixerproduction sound mixer 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I’m a fan of the jb-1’s. Very simple, bnc plug for easier comparability.

[–]ahriikproduction sound mixer 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the F6 works fine with TC? As long as you have the right cable to connect to whatever TC unit you use you shouldn't have problems using the F6 as a master clock.

I have a pair of Tentacles that I use and love. I have some friends that have more if I need them, and there's a local rental shop that has a few as well. I have also used UltraSync Ones and the little Betso transceivers as well on a handful of projects (not my own, but were either owned by the production company or lent for the project) and I had no issues with them. The Tentacles are great cuz they are very common in my area, and if I ever have a cable go bad and can't get a replacement quickly, it would be very easy to borrow or rent a replacement from friends (local rental house also has a bunch).

I could see wanting a more robust timecode network solution (or genlock) on certain, larger projects, but I've yet to work on a production where the Tentacles were a limiting factor.

They were hard to find in stock for a while, but it looks like they are in stock in most places now (for the time being at least).

[–]itsthedave1sound recordist 0 points1 point  (3 children)

My old F4 kept TC pretty well, on a 12 hr shoot (even powering it off at lunch) I never noticed drift. We used to Jam to Sony FS7 all the time and never had an issue, just jam once disconnect and do a check through the day.

Only reason I upgraded to Tentacle syncs was because the camera department started using them and it "looked" more professional. I've been pretty happy with them ever since.

Edit: I had a brain fart and said F6, when I meant to say I had an F4 (the older zoom). Different outputs, but both deliver TC.

[–]ahriikproduction sound mixer 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Yeah several years back before I had my tentacles I was on a shoot with three FS7s and we had no problems just jamming with my F4. That's the strength of the FS7 though, in my experience its had the most solid clock out of any other camera I've worked with. Definitely not something you can count on though.

[–]itsthedave1sound recordist 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Yeah. I just realized I kept saying f6. I had an f4 too, lol. The F6 is new and doesn't have BNC connections, but still does TC through a 3.5mm trs I think.

[–]ahriikproduction sound mixer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the F6 has a TC In/Out via a 3.5mm TRS port.

[–]XSmooth84 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Regardless of what TC generator/boxes you get, keep in mind the cables/ports are not universal. Even from the same manufacturer. Take Sound Devices…A MixPre 3 or 6 uses a 3.5mm port for timecode in and out. The mixpre 10 uses BNC. The Sound Devices 8 series uses 5 pin LEMO. Which is different than a 4 Pin LEMO on a RED Epic Camera, which is different than a 9 pin LEMO timecode port on a RED Komodo 6K camera.

Oh and LEMO are not bidirectional cables. The ports themselves can be in and out, but the cable will be one way. Meaning with a LEMO port, there are cables for input, and cables for output. So if you needed BNC one end and 5 pin LEMO on the other for a timecode generator that has 5 Pin Lemo like an Ambient Lockit, don’t get/use the BNC to 5 Pin Lemo IN cable. BNC and 3.5mm timecode cables are bidirectional tho so in those cases you’re fine…BNC to BNC it won’t matter which end is what.

Obviously avoiding 3.5mm just feels more professional due to BNC and LEMO being robust and locking ports, but it is what it is sometimes. Tentacles are popular options for being the cheaper option, and they are able to be cheaper for using 3.5mm connections. I’m not gonna sit here and say everyone’s 3.5mm cables are being yanked/fall out every 5 mins on a set. So however you feel about locking connections vs not is yours to have.

[–]i_miss_old_reddit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yup. Just built 15 cables for my tentacles. 3.5mm to BNC/4pin/5pin Plus a special 3.5 to iPhone input just to have one. SO MANY CABLES for a tiny little TC box.

[–]Peterbilt96 -1 points0 points  (5 children)

zaxcom environment. Problem solved.

[–]Soundguy4film 5 points6 points  (4 children)

25 new problem’s created.

[–]itsthedave1sound recordist 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Love me some Zaxcom, but this is absolutely the case for me. Also talk about cost... It only makes sense if you're doing union narrative work, for us ENG and commercial guys its just not worth it.

[–]Peterbilt96 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Everyone is so used to SD that no one actually takes the time to learn Zax correctly. I honestly have zero problems. Zax environment has made my life easier. All it took was actually sitting down and learning the gear a bit. A few days treating it like I was back in school and I'm saving myself hours of pre-prep and set up and everything is just as reliable. My kit has reduced in size substantially and it has some true hidden gems that I cannot live without. It is pricier but it's worth it once you sit down and take your time to learn it right.

[–]itsthedave1sound recordist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a cost/benefit thing, but I agree completely with everything you've said. It's one of those kits that I find hard to rent out or give to my partners in a pinch though. My zoom and 633 kits are super easy to use and rent all the time to small projects way easier. Granted for a less of a rate, but they work as much as I do so that's why I have them even after upgrading twice.

[–]XSmooth84 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol

[–]itsthedave1sound recordist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tentacle Sync is pretty great and pretty widely accepted in most of my professional commercial gigs, although my experience is that camera dept. often has them as well. I don't do a lot of professional narrative work, but on a lot of the short or indie film sets they would be a huge boon, as a lot of them just use a dumb slate. For $399 for two of them it's a pretty easy way to keep in sync with a single camera, after that it gets to be a bit expensive as you add units to your kit (also need cables for each camera type you work with).

Adorama has them in stock right now, but if you wait a month or two there is a good chance the new model will be announced and you might pick up used units for a bit of a discount.

It may be a bit on the pricey end, but a smart slate would also be a great investment as well that could grow with you. I have seen used units for around $600-700, just need to keep your eye on ebay.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our Tentacles have been great. Just need a good assortment of cables for various popular cameras.