Every week, Frame.io Insider asks one of our expert contributors to share a tip, tool, or technique that they use all the time and couldn’t live without. This week, Charles Haine looks into best practice for syncing multiple cameras in DaVinci Resolve with Sync Bins.
Using Sync Bins for multiple cameras in DaVinci Resolve
Syncing multi-camera footage together has traditionally been something of a pain. (Premiere Pro users might check out Chris Tennant’s article on the topic.) You’d run a slate on set then have to manually sync up each clip in post production to create a multi-clip for faster editing. In recent years, timecode has become more affordable and easy to implement for a wide variety of productions, making it one of the fastest ways to work with multi-camera footage. Run matching timecode to all your cameras, and in post they stick together.
Generally this involves highlighting the clips you want to sync and clicking, at least. But Resolve has made it even faster with the creation of a sync bin. The sync bin—viewable in the “cut” page—automatically syncs video with timecode when you put video in that bin. Provided every camera has a unique filename, and matching timecode, Resolve syncs it all together for ultra fast multi camera editing.
Sync on set
On set, ensure that the timecode is matching between all the camera and audio devices. This can be incredibly easy using a recording device like a MixPre10 unit that “feeds” timecode over SDI, and Blackmagic cameras that “eat” timecode over SDI, making it a simple setup. You can also use tools from companies like Tentacle and Deity that allow you to coordinate your timecode in simple and affordable ways.
With your audio file and picture files now running the same timecode, you can drop them straight into the timecode bin. The bin takes that timecode, recognizes that it’s on multiple shots, and automatically turns it into a multi-clip ready for multi-camera editing.
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