Jeff Regan

Simon, The footage that I shot at the Bonneville Salt Flats week before last looks very 16mm like. Watching this footage reminds me of a '60's documentary on 16. Having owned many top end Ikegami and Sony cameras, I have always been reticent about turning detail off. I've done it on the occassional green screen shoot, but not many other times. The DSR-450WS has over 1 million pixels vs. most other SD cameras(like the Panasonic SDX 900) with 520K. I believe this is the key factor in the natural, smooth, organic look of this camera. It has more resolution due to the chipset, not artificial enhancement. With film gamma, the latitude and gray scale are exemplary. I was shooting all kinds of contrasty scenes, lots of different textured whites, all kinds of clouds and of course miles of white salt and nothing was over exposed, all had a natural look, plenty of shadow detail, fleshtones looked perfect. I got the look I was hoping for and didn't need overhead silks or nets or reflectors or HMIs. Only problem I had was white shading error with the 2X extender. I'm used to auto shading and a separate extender lens file with my Sony BVP-550WS cameras, which the 450 doesn't have. I will just set up a separate lens file for 2X extender, but it's a hassle to remember to recall it everytime the extender is used. Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

I just returned from shooting the Bonneville Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Not a studio, but lots of white backgrounds. The settings I used with my DSR-450WS were: film gamma 1 hard clip 109.5 knee OFF detail OFF master black -4 master gain -3 These settings, plus colorimetry of your choice will ensure that there is no knee compression affecting skin tones, you will have detail in whites, blacks will be black, no detail artifacts. If the camera looks too soft, try using detail on low settings. I think the camera looks very natural with these settings. Do know that if you really overexpose white, it will go above 100 ire. Better to control the light than let the camera do knee compression, IMO. Make sure that you have manually tweaked white shading at the F-stop you anticipate shooting on an evenly lit white area at a focal length close to what you'll be using most often. If you can't do this, than at least make sure the scene file is set for the proper lens make and model. All that white in the background will show white shading error well. Best of luck, if you haven't already shot this commercial! Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

David, A live, switched event is not tape format driven. The most suitable cameras are those with CCU's and studio configurations, not camcorders. You will need to rent a fly pack with appropriate switcher(composite or component analog or SDI), monitoring and terminal equipment. Once that is in place, you can choose whatever tape format is suitable from a quality, post workflow and budget standpoint. If you will be mixing computer source, such as Power Point, or just want to make the most out of the projected image, I would recommend using a seamless switcher/scaler downstream of the fly pack SD switcher. A scaler allows the SD camera signals to be upconverted to computer and/or projection native scan rate for better quality, which is especially important for computer sources. Typically the house projection feed is a different cut than that which is sent to tape. For projection, you would tend to use less wide shots vs. what goes to DVD. Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

I have used Anton/Bauer Pro-Pacs for 25 years, although not Dionics, for my rental inventory. I now use Empire Scientific LiOn V-Mount batts. with Pro-Pacs available by request. The LiOn's last twice as long or more, weigh a fraction of a "brick" and compared to Anton/Bauer or IDX, cost a whole lot less, including the chargers. The only downside is that the 95ah smaller version is so lightweight that the cameras are front heavy, but the larger 130ah version, with moving the shoulder mount forward, has better balance. The V-mount system is pretty popular and the price points of the Empire Scientific batts. and chargers is great, a 95ah batt. is $149, 130ah is $229 and 2-position charger with large LCD display is $300. Anton/Bauer and IDX are much more expensive for batts. and chargers. Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

Josh, I chose to shoot both the regular lenses at F2.8 because the DVX 100A has an F2.4 max. F-stop, and while the Fujinon 15X8 has a F1.7 max F-stop, I don't normally shoot wide open due to portholing, softening, fringing, and light level fall off, plus the DVX-100A can't open beyond F2.4, so F2.8 seemed like a good compromise. The Zeiss Super Speeds are optimized to shoot at T1.3, so it made sense to shoot at that exposure, especially since the Pro 35 has approx. one and a half stops of light loss. I wish I could post the Pro 35 thumbnail. You can see it at www.dvxuser.com, under "Other Cameras", but you'll have to register. Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

Hi Michael, I agree with your observations. I remember when the Sony BVP-90 first came out in the early '90's. Clients and DP's used to the look of a BVP-70IS or BVP-7 thought the BVP-90's were soft. That was because the BVP-90 detail circuit worked at higher frequencies which made the enhancement more thin and subtle. Sony actually had to come out with a new detail board that worked like the older enhancement circuits, I remember having both boards for my BVP-90. I hate the look of over enhanced video cameras, but many equate artificial enhancement with resolution and real detail. On the DSR-450WS, the artifacts that I saw do not go away with detail turned off, just like you said. They become more subtle in some instances, but they are there. What I like about the 450 is that it is the first SD camera I have ever owned that still has adequate natural detail and sharpness with detail off. The majority of the artifacts that I see, and only on certain kinds of scenes, are related to progressive modes, not interlace, but these progressive artifacts were not present on the Panasonic cameras. Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

Hi Peter, I've used Tiffin Pro-Mist and Black Pro-Mist filters for years, 1/8 to 1/4 would be a subtle amount of diffusion. I also like Tiffin Soft FX and Diffusion FX filters in the lowest grades. I used to shoot a lot with very shear nets behind the lens, but this is not a subtle effect. I'm not sure if all of the artifacts I saw would be totally tamed by these diffusion filters, but they would help. I've got my filter inventory posted on my site and you're welcome to come by sometime and test filters until you drop! Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

I finally got the chance to look at my Sony DSR-450WS next to a Panasonic SDX 900 and DVX 100A. I wanted to make scene files that emulated the colorimetry of the two Panny cameras. I also got a chance to test the P+S Technik Pro 35 lens adaptor and a Zeiss Super Speed prime. I used matching Fujinon 15X8 lenses on the 450 and 900, a MacBeth color chart, plus chips, resolution and a fleshtone chart. I put an overlay on a vectorscope to plot the "dots" in order to help match with the matrix on the 450. This was not a full-on camera comparison, I didn't rate the cameras sensitivity wise or do a real latitude comparison, as my priority was coming up with some camera emulation scene files. Here are some general observations: The 900 and 450 were very clean and quiet SN wise, the 100A was noisy. The base colorimetry with matrix on of the 450 and 900 are pretty similar, as both cameras are designed to ITU-709 worldwide colorimetry specs. There is an overall difference between the Sony and the two Panny's, the Sony being more to the warm/magenta vs. the Panny's with a more blue/green bias. I put the 900 into Scene 4 Filmlike mode and matched my 450 using the user matrix. I got pretty close, the 900 has good red saturation and very strong in the cyan spectrum. The DVX 100A was used in Scene File 5 mode, which is a 24P film like mode. It also had strong red saturation and VERY strong green saturation, more than I could add via the 450 matrix range. It was not as plus cyan as the 900 in Scene 4. Comparing exterior images between the three cameras of wide shots of homes/cars/foliage, the 450 looked the sharpest with detail off or on with all cameras having reduced detail for their film modes. This was confirmed with a resolution chart. The 450 had more shadow detail than the 100A with film gamma 1 using black gamma on in mid-high mode, even though the 100A gamma crossover was at 60IRE vs. 55IRE for the 450. On foliage, the 900 made all the leaves on a hedge one shade of green, whereas the 450 showed tonal differences, with some leaves being more yellow than others. The 100A, even with its strong green push, showed more shades of green on the same bush than the 900. Because the 450 has twice the pixel count of the Panny CCD's, it actually produced more artifacts in 24P mode on fine detail, such as window shutters, car grills, shingles. There was line twitter and moire that didn't show on the Panny's. The 450 resolves more detail than the NTSC format can deal with. On a fleshtone chart, the 100A made a pleasing, saturated rendition of the little girl's face, but the 450 showed more natural detail, such as freckles and tonality. After matching the 450 to the 100A using a MacBeth chart, then shooting the flesh chart, the 100A still looked more saturated, but with less detail and tonality. I had to boost R-G and B-G on the 450 matrix to get a similar fleshtone saturation, but that skewed the MacBeth color chart match. I found latitude in the highlights to be very similar for the 450 and 900, and the 100A was better than I expected, although it didn't have the shadow detail--it looked more contrasty and saturated, less subtle in gray scale gradiation. The 900 has the 4:2:2 color space advantage going for it over the other two cameras, the 100A is an amazing camera for the money, just too noisy compared to the super clean 2/3" cameras, the 450 has more natural resolution than any SD camera I've seen, but this causes artifacts on very fine detail--particularly when monitoring in composite. I didn't have enough time to really get to know the Panasonic cameras in enough different conditions, but I at least got an idea of what they are capable of. Finally, with my testing of the Pro 35 adaptor and 65mm Zeiss Super Speed, I found the system to be a good match for the DSR-450WS, as there is some slight softening of the image. The difference in depth of field is startling vs. a normal 2/3" video lens. Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

The thumb nail in the post above on the left is the DSR-450WS w/Fujinon 15X8, on the right is the DVX-100A, and I can't seem to post the 450 w/Pro 35 and prime due to forum bandwidth limitations. Jeff Regan

I did some tests to see the depth of field differences between a 1/3" CCD imager vs. a 2/3" CCD as well as a 2/3" with P+S Technik Pro 35 35mm adapter and 35mm cine prime lens. I used a Panasonic DVX 100A, Sony DSR-450WS with Fujinon 15X8 zoom lens and DSR-450WS with Pro 35 adaptor with Zeiss 65mm Super Speed T1.3 prime lens. The DVX 100A had a focal length of 20mm at F2.8, the DSR-450WS had a focal length of 30mm at F2.8 and the Zeiss prime was at T1.3. Below are the DVX-100 and DSR-450WS with standard lens...... Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

Peter, Why not just turn off Matrix? This will desaturate the entire image, dependent on Sony's default matrix settings. I have found this to be the fastest, easiest way to help match cameras of different models or FIT vs. IT CCDs. It won't be as precise as going into individual matrix adjustments, but it's where I'd start. Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

The way I've traditionally added saturation and warmth, especially to flesh tones, is to add value to red and blue gains or red and blue gamma(emphasis on red for warmth). With today's DSP cameras, they have global saturation control and/or matrix tables, the latter allowing much more precise control of individual colors vs. an overall saturation control. Black gamma or black stretch will tend to make the image less saturated but offer more shadow detail. Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com

I too would like to see a DSR-450WS forum and bought a 450 for my rental inventory a couple of months ago. (#68) I would like to thank Peter and Simon for their very useful information. I've been in video for over 25 years and am amazed at what the 450 does for the price. BTW, I just found out that Sony is offering a $3000 rebate on the 450! Too late for me. I guess they had to match Pansonic's price reduction on the SDX-900, or is it the other way around? I've owned a DSR-500WS since 2001 and find the camera to be good, but never really took it very seriously from a user interface standpoint, prefering my BVW-D600's and BVP-550WS user interfaces and better controllability. I'm sure the 450 will be my last SD camera investment, but most of my clients are corporate and there aren't a whole lot of HD distribution options currently, so HD isn't a burning issue with most of my clients. Anyway, thank you all for DSR-450 info, and I look forward to meeting Peter one of these days, since we're working in the same market. Jeff Regan Shooting Star Video www.ssv.com