C300 Mark II Settings?

Matan Uziel · December 18, 2016

Hi all,

We are shooting interviews with 2 C300's Mark II and I need a very high quality. Not knowing the camera exactly, I wanted to know what do you think about the following?

4K recording

DCI Cinema 4096×2160 (or is 4K recording in UHD 3840×2160 enough?)

10-bit 4:2:2

Also, which frame rate is the best? 23.976, 24, 25 and 29.97? I don't understand?

Premiere supports many different file types, so I guess the native or raw file format doesn't matter?

We tend to shoot for about 8-10 hours, do you think we will past 5TB?

Usage is YouTube, TV's and Premieres. (Screenings)

Thank you all!

Michael Rodin · December 18, 2016

For a "very high quality" you need a gaffer with a decent G&E package. And, well, a DP who can shoot. It will matter much more than the resolution.

HD is usually enough for interviews, 4K (without some heavy diffusion) can be too much - do you really want to see every defect on interviewee's skin? I've even projected SD interviews (shot on an Ikegami camera with cine lenses) on big screen and they didn't look way too soft.

If there're no exact requirements for masters/deliverables, why not ask your DP about his preferred framerate?

Matan Uziel · December 18, 2016

Yes. I want to see every detail on their faces, this is the purpose of the project, allowing the viewers a closer observation and making extreme close-ups. Does anyone can come up with a preferred configuration?

Thank you!

Kenny N Suleimanagich · December 18, 2016

Do you need 4K? I just did a project on one. Here is how we shot:

2K 4:4:4 12-bit C-log 2 S-Gamut

It was roughly 2 GB/minute.

If you’re in the United States, 23.976 is the standard for digital cinema.

Shoot an X-Rite chart at the head of every setup, it will go a long way in post.

Edited December 18, 2016 by Kenny N Suleimanagich

Bruce Greene · December 18, 2016

Hi all,

We are shooting interviews with 2 C300's Mark II and I need a very high quality. Not knowing the camera exactly, I wanted to know what do you think about the following?

4K recording

DCI Cinema 4096×2160 (or is 4K recording in UHD 3840×2160 enough?)

10-bit 4:2:2

Also, which frame rate is the best? 23.976, 24, 25 and 29.97? I don't understand?

Premiere supports many different file types, so I guess the native or raw file format doesn't matter?

We tend to shoot for about 8-10 hours, do you think we will past 5TB?

Usage is YouTube, TV's and Premieres. (Screenings)

Thank you all!

If you are in the US, or plan to use the footage on US TV or world wide, shoot 23.976 fps. For Cinema you will convert that to 24.0 fps (world standard for DCI movies) for Europe TV you will convert to 25.0 fps by speeding up the file playback. For US TV broadcast, you will convert to 29.97 fps by adding pull down (duplicate frames).

If you shoot at 29.97, you will not get a smooth conversion to 24 fps US cinema, and you will not get a smooth conversion to 25fps Europe TV. If you shoot at 25fps, you will not get a smooth conversion to US TV. So 23.976 is the most universal frame rate for origination. I've been shooting Russian feature films for the cinema and we shoot 23.976 and convert to 24.0 for cinema release. (our US audio post house prefers 23.976 to 24.0)

I would shoot UHD 16:9 if your main delivery is to TV. It will be more than sharp enough for any cinema release. For youtube, whatever you like goes :)