varicam asa

[odin wadleigh]

Quick question: does anyone know the ASA of the panasonic varicam?

thanx...

[Evangelos Achillopoulos]

There are no quick answers to that question.

 

The answer is in that document read it and if you have more questions post it

 

Varicam FilmRec guide

[Jon Rosenbloom]

It's very fast. If you're scouting some available light locations, set your meter to 500 and you'll still have some leeway. For a medium close up, I keyed an actor w/ a foamcore softbox w/ two 150 watt bulbs, which went through a layer of muslin, and then a layer of 250. To the eye, there was almost nothing there; the Varicam, set at -3db, loved it.

[Mitch Gross]

A video camera react to light differently than film, so an ASA rating is not entirely accurate. That said, most people rate the Varicam around 640 asa and are comfortable on that comparative level.

[Evangelos Achillopoulos]

Mitch has gave a quick answer and he is right, on T2,8 lens DL 500% and Master gamma 0,45 the EI is 640?

 

This is a small piece of the above document (first post), it by any means, doesn?t resemble the level of understanding that someone gets by reading it.

 

Most of the people are working with the n.4 method, if someone wants to exploit the level of performance that this camera is capable of; it has to read it in full.

 

?So what can be done with material recorded using FILM REC? The original intention of the feature was that data might be handled like a film negative (or more precisely, positive). Either it is color corrected to be sent to a film out, or it can be color corrected tape to tape and optimized to be shown on another electronic medium, (just as is done in tele-cine). By delivering superior dynamic range at image capture FILM REC delivers the one-source-many-uses possibility previously unique to film. The following workflows have been used by VariCam productions using the FILM REC mode.

 

1. The DP sets up each shot adjusting the dynamic range, black stretch and other camera parameters until the light levels (determined by the cameras internal spot meter ?Y-GET? function) register where the DP?s experience tells him they should be. From here a special look up table for the Arri Laser is used, such that the scenes are accurately reproduced during a film out without any color correction. This would be a workflow similar to using color reversal, and has been successfully utilized in Japan. A look up table (LUT) created for this purpose can be obtained from Panasonic. Using a custom LUT, a film out was created that very closely approximated the density curves of 35mm print, derived from 35mm negative (see below).

 

2. Another operational mode, favored by some DPs in the USA (many of whom are unfamiliar with HD or video) is to simply treat FILM REC as a 640 ASA film stock (depending on how parameters are set 400 ASA or 800 ASA might be more appropriate), and light using a light-meter, as if film were being exposed. By shooting tests beforehand the DP can learn the highlight and shadow behavior (these tests would be necessary when approaching any new film stock). Color correction using a high-end, system proceeds as if it were a digital intermediary, having skipped the 2K scanning process. For any video deliverable, color correction would be approached similarly to tele-cine for a DVD or broadcast release.

 

3. Another approach would be to keep a waveform monitor on set, and light as if shooting for broadcast, getting maximum information within the full camera imager dynamic range and color correcting in post to match lighting scene to scene. The difference for FILM REC would be that normal exposure would be kept closer to the middle of the range.

 

4. Lastly, it is still possible to simply ignore the fact that the camera is recording a wider dynamic range than the monitor can show and simply use FILM REC to achieve a desired look. By exposing to the highlights the user has a way of shooting that can deliver superior highlight handling without making knee adjustments. This is similar to how Cine Gamma features are used on the standard definition cameras with Cine Gamma modes. A helpful item to keep in mind here is that video is like a film positive (not negative) so when in doubt you should close the iris a bit rather than opening it as would be wise when exposing film.?

 

We using a combination of 1 and 2 with unbelievable results, far superior than any Sony camera can achieve, results that are closer to Viper, when printed on film.

 

Regards,