MZolomij

Doing a tabletop shoot with a rotating product shot-a watch. Looked at an EX1 and the shutter spooked me a bit although it was hard to tell without a true hi def monitor. Looked a bit "electonicy" in is progressive mode. Tested a JVC 250 SDI into a hi-def monitor and it looked fairly good at 720 60P...is it worth springing for a 900? Will be in a macro or very tight mode for the entire shoot.

I have been shooting table with the Sony XDHD 350. Typically, I will shoot at 30p. The camera represents colors well and has a good depth of field. While I was very skeptical of this camera at first and question the "Cinealta" sticker on the side... over time I have been very happy with the images. Some of that work can be seen at www.bdmp.tv

Good luck.

z

Hi there,

I am going to shoot on 24p digital and wanted to achieve this type of soft flat lighting for an interview. Would a Kino Flo achieve this or would i have to go for something different?

Much appreciated,

Ashley.

 

Hi,

I would look at a Kino Image 80 or you may want to think about bouncing a 2 or 5k into a 4x8 foamcore shoot that is over camera. My concern would be on your interview room - 2/5k will heat up a room in no time and make everyone uncomfortable. The Image 80 is a pretty big Kino and if it needs to go softer you can add a little diffusion... food for thought.

Good luck.

z

Here are some stills from a shoot I did 2 weeks ago. It's a short film of peom - "T'was The Night Before Christmas" for a DVD to accompany a children's book.

 

I shot it on the RED One (first time using that camera).

 

I'm really trying to work on lighting, so please tell me what you like, and what you don't like! We shot this over 3 nights, in a super cramped old Victorian mansion.

 

I quickly did a sloppy color correction and threw them online, so they're not perfect,.. yet.

 

Any suggestions, or compliments would mean alot! Thank you!

 

- Greg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Man, I think these are some really pretty shots. My only thoughts are the two kids' bedroom shots - the motivation of the light for the girls' rooms doesn't jibe (in agreement with previous post) and I think the boys in the foreground could have used a little hit of back light movitated by the night light. You should be very proud... these are great shots... food for thought.

z

I don't normally as for feedback, as I don't normally consider myself up to par with a good deal of you on here. But, I just finally recut my reel (and got it down to about 3 minutes). I wanted to know what you all thought of it. It's a work in progress, this being V4.0 before I pull out some shots (when i get footage back) for V4.1. So, yes, let me know!

 

 

 

http://blip.tv/file/get/Crimson238-AdrianS...oReelV40355.mov

 

Best,

~Adrian

I agree with the previous post - the third shot is a nice "in" to your reel. I don't think the music necessarily bothers me but I do think that the shot could be tightened up alot. Think of your reel, or montage, as the best of your best and then follow that montage with scenes from the movies. The montage is the tease... leave them wanting more. The scenes after hopefully satisfy that need and solidifies the deal.

I have no critique on the shots as they are all very accomplished, but I think that that music/cutting made the reel feel longer than it should've. That's just my opinion on it, but I would think that something a little more up-tempo would be a better choice?

Thanks for taking the time to look at the reel. I am a bit torn on the music and I will be adding some more footage from other projects. I feel this may help the pacing.

Thanks, again.

z

Hello all,

I have posted my DP reel at:

www.bdmp.tv

If you would like to post any critique, I would greatly appreciate it.

z

Perhaps the artifacts show up more in the midtones of the image, and by adding the fill light of the 40w light, you have more midtones in the image, and thus perceive the noise more.

 

With just a flashlight, you have far more contrast, and thus it hides a lot of the artifacts.

Could it be in the compression? Lighting up a scene will create more information to be compressed; where a scene lit with just a flashlight will not have as much information - less to compress. The blurring and blocky images you described really sound like a bad or poor quality compression tool. How does your image look played back from the camera or a deck? If there is the image issues that you describe then it could be a dirty head in your camera. If the image is fine on play back then I would think your problem would be in the compression.

Good luck.

z

How does the (XDCAM 330, 350) look when trying to achieve a 24p film (cinematic) look ( shooting in HD)?

 

Does it come off looking more like film or video? (when shooting the unit as a CineAlta product.)

 

Does it beat or match the film look of a DVX100 / HVX200?

If anyone has screen-grabs or footage of the camera shooting in CineAlta fashion I would love to see it.

I have been using the XDcam HD 350 for about five months and I do think that it is much better than the DVX100 (I have not used the HVX200). I have a tough time truly calling it a "CineAlta" but I think that it does a fairly shallow depth of field and takes some nice images. The overcranking is nice as well. If you work your DOF and go to a good post house - it will look filmic.

z

Tomorrow is day 7 of our 7 day shoot with two XDCAM HD F350s. We had almost no time to prep and experiment with the cameras so I've been trying to figure out an interesting ISO rating situation but haven't been able to crack it. I've been shooting with the gain settings at -3db as I've always done with the Varicam. But I've come up with an ISO rating of 80. Kinda low for HD shoot don't you think? There is virtually zero noise in the shadows compared to the same settings when shooting with Varicam.

 

I'm very pleased with the images I've been getting so I'm not necessarily complaining here since I've been able to get enough light going in the studio for this shoot. I'm just wondering why this camera has such a low rating compared to other HD cameras. Does anyone know anything about this? I haven't once had the luxury of having a DIT on any shoot so I don't really know for sure if there's something I'm missing/doing wrong or what not. Any information will help.

 

Oh, another thing: I've also been using the "CINE3" gamma setting. I love the look, although I'm completely in the dark as to the actual specs of this setting--I just know it looked the best. Does anyone have any information on the gamma settings for the F350? (STD, CINE1, CINE2, CINE3 and CINE4)

I've rated the camera at a 250asa @ 24fps.

Hi there, I'm shooting for the first time with the xdcam tomorrow.

 

I'd like your opinion on the settings I've found that I like after a day of testing.

 

I'll be shooting:

 

25P HD HQ

Cine4

Detail -44

Shutter 1/50

Black Gamma +51

MTX preset STD

What are your thoughts?

 

Thanks,

 

Kal Karman

Hello Kal,

It really depends on what you are shooting. Your settings sound fine but without knowing what you are shooting it is tough to make any suggestions.

Well I had my first shoot this weekend using a lighting kit. All I've ever done is use available light and didn't give it much thought. I did some practicing over the past few months with still life just to get a feel of how to actually paint a scene. I'm using a Canon HV20 to shoot and my lighting consists of 2 Smith Victor 600w and a Lowel Prolight 250w and of course a bunch of gels.

 

Here are some stills (from footage) of the shoot. Any and all critique and tips are welcome.

This was the first shot and the one I like the best. I got the exact look I was out to get.

 

On this one I completely forgot to put a bounce below them to get some light on them. :(

This was the 3rd choice of a location for this scene. The first location became unavailable because the person had to leave town and I didn't feel comfortable being there without her. The 2nd location became unavailable because the prior scene took longer than expected and the person went to bed! In this location we ran into a MAJOR snag, minimal power. Every outlet in the house was only 2 pronged and there was concern with the circuit breaker. The house has minimal power as more than one appliance trips the breaker. The breaker is located in another apartment and at 3am I don't think they would appreciate a knock on their door.

 

So the only thing we could do was use the lamps that were in the house. It was trying but fun at the same time trying to make it work.

 

The next two are of the same location. The first shot came out exactly how I wanted it but the 2nd one gave me some problems. I couldn't get the kitchen dark. The light was bouncing everywhere. So we decided to try and light everything!

 

And this last one was my first attempt at using a gobo(?) and going for a "moonlight shining through blinds look."

All your shots look nice. I think the "moon light" is way too blue. I feel as though moon light is a paler blue. The shots that you could use only practicals are great... just what you had to go through makes them great. Sometimes it's the journey and hindsight that makes things sweeter. Always remember - light is light. Whether it is the instruments in a new light kit or a $5 desk lamp - in essence they do the same thing. Don't get hung up on that it doesn't have Desisti stamped on the side just keep doing it with what is there in front of you.

Keep going!

z

Shoot, shoot, shoot on whatever you have - Super 8, VHS, your cellphone, SLR, webcam. The learning of what makes a frame is something you will only achieve by constantly looking at the world around you through a frame. Small, simple films for yourself will teach you as much as a 'proper' production.

Agreed! Find like-minded people and challange one another. Be daring, make mistakes (and learn from them), and just keep doing it!

I love Conrad Hall because he loved the happy accident and readily admits to it... sometimes I feel as though many DP's make everything their idea. It is all so organic to Conrad. He still inspires me to this day.

My favorite is "Searching for Bobby Fischer".

z

Hi, I'm student in master of arts in cinema program. I've shot several shorts in DVcam and HDV format. Now i want to shoot a low-budget feature movie. I don't want to shoot more short movies and it seems hard to get a budget for a feature, i'm no name and film industry depends on lots of silly stuff in here, Turkey. So my plan is to shoot a feature with very low budget but a creative, good script. If it comes out good i will have lots of opportunities.

 

So, my school has HDV cameras and lighting equipment is not bad. Also I'll shoot black&white and it will have a contrasty, maybe a noisy style. So do you think in that way, it can be screened on theathers. Or what problems I can have? I don't know much about blowing-up to 35mm. Also i know that if you shoot interlaced you have a little more resolution. But i'm not sure about interlaced, it can make it to look like very video style. Waiting for opinions...

 

Thanks,

Alper

I have read many of the comments of my peers and I think you have a bunch of great advice. I would like to add this:

Honor your vision and don't worry about blowing up to 35mm (unless you know that you have the money to do it) or if someone would invest in a black & white feature. If you want to shoot Black & White. Shoot Black & White. Don't worry about who is going to buy it. When you are a success, the money will be making more decisions than you may want. Now is the time to experiment and be daring.

Best of luck.

z

On a recent shoot, I got word back from the editor that there was audio drop out on the tape. I researched the net to find that there was a question of RF causing problems with audio. The only RF source near the shoot that was not normally there was a producer's Blackberry on vibrate. I tried a test using a cell phone and the Blackberry device. Cell phone caused no problem;Blackberry receiving a phonecall was no problem; Blackberry receiving an email caused an audio "pop" about four seconds before the device vibrated with the message. Just a note to other operators, the Blackberry devices have to be off.

Thanks,

Tracy

Dear Tracy,

I have run into a similar situation with the Sony 790. While shooting an interview and using a hardwire mic, I began to hear drop out and "electronic clicking." To make sure that I was correct in what I was hearng, I rolled the tape back and found that the noise was truly being laid to tape. I notified my Producer and we began to trouble shoot - switching xlr, then mic, then switching to wireless, then camera... the seemly random noise persisted. I was stumped. My Producer asked to hear the noise and immediate recognized it - she had previously hear the same thing when her cell phone was placed near her car radio. I was surprised that the cell phone was actually creating this noise inside the camera. We all shut our phones off (mine was on vibrate) and proceeded with the interview without incident. I investigated the occurance further with some Engineers and they told me that problem was casued by a cell phone going into roam.

Take care,

z

Hello all,

Any thoughts on the Sony XDHDcam? Has anyone used it?

Thanks for any input.

z