Syncing 2 cameras: Sony FX6 with Canon C300mk2

[Jason OHara]

I am filming a multi-day, 2-camera shoot - all in-studio interviews.

In the past I have simply operated both cameras independently, and sync’d in post, however I am wanting to sync the cameras properly - so have both cameras share identical timecode, and also – ideally, have the shutters on both cameras opening and closing at precisely the same moment when recording each individual frame, so that each frame from each camera will be a true sync. It would also be helpful if the the B-camera could slave entirely to the A-camera, so pressing the record button on the A-camera triggered both cameras into recording, however this isn’t necessary as their will be a second camera operator. I’m also hoping to achieve the above by connecting the 2 cameras directly vs. using expensive peripherals or “sync” devices, if possible.

I have never properly syn’d cameras  before, so please forgive my ignorance.  So far, I think I have gathered that timecode can be easily shared between the 2 cameras using a BNC cable.  As far as having the shutters in sync, I *think* this requires Genlock? I don’t know what this is exactly, so am looking for confirmation as to how I achieve all of the above via Genlock, or through other methods.  Please don’t feel the need to explain every detail to a newbie, simply outlining the basic method and pointing me to some more detailed information on YouTube or elsewhere would be much appreciated.

Any other workflow advice for syncing these two cameras is also appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Jon O'Brien]

Here's my "any other workflow advice." This method does do the syncing in post. I don't know about Genlock or syncing shutters yet, sorry.

I too hadn't synced two cameras in a multicam setup before but recently I had to do this and I didn't have all the required gear. But the final result turned out perfectly synced. Others will hopefully chime in soon to answer your specific questions regarding timecode, and I know you said you don't want to do the syncing in post, but I will explain what I did anyway.

I used a shotgun mic on the A camera (an FS7) to record the main audio and also made sure that the internal scratch audio mic on the B cam was recording and the gain was up high enough. Later in davinci resolve I used a function where davinci automatically syncs up the footage by looking at the waveforms of the separate audio tracks. No need in this situation to sync the cameras during the shoot. Even if I'd wanted to sync up the cameras during the shoot I wasn't able to as the gear wasn't set up for this by the rental house and there wasn't time to set it up. So this is a method that will work if you are in that type of situation.

The footage synced up perfectly and I was able to easily cut between the cameras in the edit.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Jon O'Brien

[Patrick Baldwin]

I am not setup for time code but I have filmed quite a few multicam theatre shows with up to four cameras and synced them up using the waveform method in FCPX. Most of them were 2 1/2 hours long and there was no audio drift either. I have had very occasionally to manually nudge one track to achieve perfect sync but that is pretty trivial to do. 

You don't need to make sure you have continuous takes either. NLE's synching capability can cope with gaps in takes easily. 

Having said all that I think something like Tentacle synchs kit will do what you are asking in terms of time code.