DVX100b Newbie Questions

[Ruby Gold]

I just got a 100b and did my first shoot with it yesterday--an interview. LOVE the camera, but have some questions I couldn't find answers to in the manual or Green's DVX Book, so I thought I'd try here. All input appreciated. First, the set-up:

 

The interview was with an African-American woman with medium dark skin. I did a basic 4-point lighting set-up using an Omni for my key, a small Rifa for the fill, a Pro light for my hairlight and a Tota to throw light on the background. There was some cloudy daylight coming through frosted windows very high up in the wall. I manually white balanced with a white card, set the zebras at 85% and used them as my guide for the iris setting, which was around 6.8. I used manual focus. I used an external lav mic connected to input 2. Mic Gain level at -50dB, Mic ALC off.

 

Questions:

1. After looking at the footage, it seems that the tighter I went with the zoom, the more "rich" the color appears. When I was wider, it looked a little bit washed out/overexposed, the color of the women's face became slightly yellowish--compared to the tighter shots. (see attached screenshot comparing tighter/wider shots with same camera settings).

 

2. Also, looking at the footage, it seems that when I went wider, I lost the sharpness of the focus ever so slightly. To set focus--I went in to Z99, focused and then pulled back out to however I wanted to frame the shot--does the focus not hold if you pull too far out? Do you need to re-set it for the different distance? How does this work?

 

3. No zebras, i.e. overexposure was registering, yet a couple of times the "ND filter 1/8" message popped on screen. What would cause this? Particularly if no overexposed areas are registering with the manual iris setting I chose based on zebras? Seemed very strange.

 

4. The woman looks good, but she has hot (shiny-looking) spots in places on her face that didn't show up as zebras when I was shooting, or just very, very minimally. I used face powder when I saw her looking shiny, but since the zebras weren't registering, I figured I was okay. Yet, in this footage, these spots look really shiny--a little blown out. If they were--why didn't the zebras show it? Could another issue be causing this problem? Any help here is greatly appreciated so I can correct for it in the next interview to be shot next week.

 

5. I set audio levels to hover around -12dB, occasionally going into one or two red squares. When I captured the footage, the audio seems very low. Of course, better too low than blown out, but I'd prefer a a stronger level. Suggestions?

 

6. Last but not least--should you set the Black Balance along with White Balance for each shoot?

 

Thanks so much for any and all help.

 

Ruby

[Daniel Sheehy]

Questions:

1. After looking at the footage, it seems that the tighter I went with the zoom, the more "rich" the color appears. When I was wider, it looked a little bit washed out/overexposed, the color of the women's face became slightly yellowish--compared to the tighter shots. (see attached screenshot comparing tighter/wider shots with same camera settings).

 

2. Also, looking at the footage, it seems that when I went wider, I lost the sharpness of the focus ever so slightly. To set focus--I went in to Z99, focused and then pulled back out to however I wanted to frame the shot--does the focus not hold if you pull too far out? Do you need to re-set it for the different distance? How does this work?

 

3. No zebras, i.e. overexposure was registering, yet a couple of times the "ND filter 1/8" message popped on screen. What would cause this? Particularly if no overexposed areas are registering with the manual iris setting I chose based on zebras? Seemed very strange.

 

I am more familiar with the dvx100a, but these symptoms you've described sound a lot like the camera was in auto mode... the shot looking softer as you widened out;

or the look of the shot changing as you zoomed.

Are you completely sure the camera wasn't in auto mode?

If I remember correctly, the camera only prompts you to change ND filters if the auto iris is engaged.

 

...what type of moniter were you reviewing the footage on?

 

6. Last but not least--should you set the Black Balance along with White Balance for each shoot?

 

No need to set it before every shoot, as the black level is unlikely to change very much between shoots...unlike the white balance.

[Ruby Gold]

Thanks for the response.

 

I'm sure that I wasn't in auto mode--it puts a little "A" in the display if you are. Don't think I was in auto iris mode either, but good thing for me to make absolutely sure of next time. And thanks for the response about black balancing.

 

Ruby

I am more familiar with the dvx100a, but these symptoms you've described sound a lot like the camera was in auto mode... the shot looking softer as you widened out;

or the look of the shot changing as you zoomed.

Are you completely sure the camera wasn't in auto mode?

If I remember correctly, the camera only prompts you to change ND filters if the auto iris is engaged.

 

...what type of moniter were you reviewing the footage on?

No need to set it before every shoot, as the black level is unlikely to change very much between shoots...unlike the white balance.