Panasonic 100 A

[SankarKrishna]

hi

 

I would like to know if it is possible to convert the picture that is shot using panasonic 100A DV camera to feature film fomat (movie - 35mm or cinemascope) format? If it is possible what are the steps involved and how will be the quality of the converted product? Can you please email me also at skrishnaswamy@ercot.com

 

thanks

 

Krishna

[David Mullen ASC]

You would take it to a company that specializes in transferring digital to film.

 

The main thing with the DVX100A is to edit in 24P by removing the pulldown, not editing it as 60i NTSC (or in the case of the PAL version, editing it as 25P instead of 50i although that is less critical since there are no pulldown issues.)

 

Also, shoot in 16x9 or compose 4x3 for cropping to 1.85. 16x9 is the same thing as 1.78 : 1, which is close enough to 1.85 : 1. You'd transfer a 1.78 : 1 image to 35mm with a hard matte (since 35mm is 4x3) and the projector would trim this to 1.85 with the projection mask.

 

Or if you want CinemaScope, you'd have to compose 16x9 or 4x3 for cropping to 2.39 : 1 -- but this could entail a big loss of resolution especially if you don't use an anamophic adaptor to at least get a 16x9 recording.

[J Costantini]

So, David,

if i put a tape on the LCD to mask to 1.85:1 ratio and shoot it this way, will I be OK?

I can shoot if full frame 4:3, I dont need to st the camera to shoot 16x9, right?

 

if so, will the 1.85:1 frame that I saw on the LCD be exactly the same on the film copy?

 

Have you ever watched a transfer from the Panasonic dvx100? How is it like?

 

thanks a lot

[Riku Naskali]

if i put a tape on the LCD to mask to 1.85:1 ratio and shoot it this way, will I be OK?

I can shoot if full frame 4:3, I dont need to st the camera to shoot 16x9, right?

 

if so, will the 1.85:1 frame that I saw on the LCD be exactly the same on the film copy?

Hi, I though I'd try to give my 2 cents on this. Even though I propably don't have the slightest knowledge of the subject compared to David....

 

You should be ok with masking the screen. It's just for your compositions, so if you are really good at guessing the masking, you don't even need the tape. I've been shooting like this for widescreen finish lately, and it isn't as hard as it sounds. But certainly mask, if you can do it *accurately*. I'd also suggest masking with something transparent, so you can still see what will be under the matte.

 

I think it should be exactly the same, IF:

 

1. you have masked it spot on

2. and the lcd shows everything that goes into the tape

 

When I'm shooting like this, I tend to compose my shots just a little bit wider than usual. But I guess if you are good enough, you don't need any "safety net".

 

Some people say you get a little bit more resolution when doing the masking in camera because it's done before dv compression. I wouldn't mind about that though, and doing the matte in camera could cause some problems when printing to film? And you can't adjust the framing afterwards, which I assume you can do when masking it later on? Also, the in camera 16:9 isn't the same as 1.85:1, as David explained B)

[David Mullen ASC]

Remember that standard 35mm is basically 4x3 -- it's the projector mask that crops this to 1.85 : 1.

 

If you shoot with a true 16x9 standard def camera (1.78 : 1), the company transferring the image would unsqueeze it and transfer it to 35mm 1.37 Academy with a 1.78 : 1 hard matte. The 1.85 : 1 projector mask would trim the 1.78 : 1 image a little, hiding the hard matte (1.85 and 1.78 are very close).

 

If you shoot 4x3 full-frame video and compose for cropping to 1.85, then the 4x3 image would be transferred to 35mm 1.37 Academy with no hard mattes and then the projector mask would crop this to 1.85.

 

The advantages of shooting with a true 16x9 CCD camera or using anamorphic attachments to squeeze a 16x9 image onto the 4x3 CCD is that you are wasting less pixel resolution compared to cropping 4x3 to 1.85 / 16x9.

 

What I suggest is drawing an accurate 1.85 : 1 rectangle on your computer, slightly inside of a 4x3 rectangle, centered vertically, printing off this drawing, and shooting this as a framing chart for post work. I'd also use this guide to mask off your LCD screen using clear tape. Or you can switch the camera to 16x9 letterbox mode, use that as a guide for tape, and then switch back to 4x3 mode.