Matt Sandstrom

my experience is that when the camera is still deinterlacing in post looks much better, while if the camera's moving cineframe 25/30 looks better. this also fits my understanding of the theory of signal processing and compression behind it, so i'm fairly sure i'm right. there should be no difference in colors and such, and i haven't seen any of that either. for a feature i worked on recently (1st ad and 2nd unit dp) we shot interlaced because the post compnay told us to. usually i go with cineframe though becasue of the easier post production, often much more important than a very slight difference in image quality. /matt

i'd use some image enhancing settings still. the post company probably don't quite realize that since hdv is heavily compressed it's slightly harder to manipulate in post than even dv. some slight sharpness and the correct gamma curve before compression will help. same goes for gain. gaining hdv in post looks much much worse than in camera. if you don't need it to get an exposure though by all means don't use it. don't worry about missing functions. black stretch off is the default on the fx1, and the cinegamma is the same as type one on the z1. many/most small/cheap lcd monitors have a function to flip the image. that's what i'd use. make sure it supports 16:9 though. i don't think the sd output on the fx1 is letterboxed. as for my results the film's being offlined now, so it won't be until this winter that we'll start experimenting with the 35mm blow-up, but i'll try to post some full res hdv stills for you soon. /matt

hi, since the xdcam hd doesn't seem to record 25p but shoots progressive 1080p at various frame rates i was curious if it could perhaps shoot 25p and record it as 50i, like progressive dv cameras do... thanks, /matt

i've recently done the same and i'm yet to see the results. the advice i got and followed though was to shoot interlaced, cinegamma type 1, black stretch off, sharpness low (i used 4 i think. tried 0 on a short but it turned out a little soft. this is not the sharpest lens out there), skintone detail low, stabilizer soft, basically i used all "image enhancements" available but at their lowest settings. the most important advice was to always get exposure in the shadows. hdv gets noisy as hell when there's no light. to achieve this we gained 6db throughout. the uniform noise this created is far more pleasing than dancing dct artifacts. this is a slow camera and with the adapter it becomes even slower of course. you have to zoom in with most adapters, whch limits the f-stop, plus there are now two apertures stealing light, and more glass. lots and lots of light will be needed. i wouldn't worry about the sharpness though. /matt

interesting question. shooting sd with cineframe25 does indeed produce true progressive images with this camera. shooting hd and downconverting will most likely produce a slightly softer result since the image will be processed twice, while it will obviously still be progressive. please let us know if you shoot a test. i haven't and i don't have access to this camera right now. /matt

how was the monitor calibrated? using bars from the camera? if not there's always the chance of error whenever d/a conversion is going on. shouldn't be as much as several "stops" though. also how was the footage transferred to the computer? and how did you watch it? was that monitor also calibrated? make sure you always record bars on each tape and you can easily check for these things later. /matt

i think you worded it correctly and i think david answered it correctly too. as for your experiment, when you move your fist to the right you're seeing more of the side of it that's being lit by the window, while if it's in front of you you only see the side that's not lit. no magic. /matt

i just read the topic description and it says which lights to use *in* softbox. the answer to that is of course that it depends on the softbox. surely it was designed with some type of light source in mind? /matt

if there's one already built my suggestion would be to use that. ;-) or am i missing something? /matt

i own two single fluorescent fixtures, a couple of chinese lanterns, two clip-on ikea spotlights (with par bulbs), a 500w worklight with stand, a millions-of-candles-flashlight with home made chimera, one c-stand, two styrofoam boards with one silver side, and plenty of gels and blackwrap. i've shot several low budget videos using this kit only and when i've brought it along to bigger shoots where we've rented gear at least some of it has always been used. the fluroscents mainly, but also the flashlight. hope this gives you an idea of what you "need". /matt

there shouldn't be any flicker if you shoot video on video. there might be a thin bar but if you change the exposure time to 50/60 it shouldn't be visible. as for how to light it i like to hide fluorescent single fixtures in the scene if i want that kind of light. put them on dimmers and you can change the intensity when the scene changes on the screen. /matt

for sure. we're shooting 50i which makes things a lot easier. /matt

oh, we have shot tests obviously, but the actual feature has not been transferred yet, which i believe is what you were asking. ;-) the same company shot a feature like this last year and that's what's being transferred now, and i'm working on their next one that we're shooting this month and will premiere next fall. hopefully our project will benefit from things learned from the first one. /matt

doing both right now. i'll let you know in a couple of months. /matt

ok, here's from a guy more experienced in post production than cinematography, but whatever: is it the emulsion that doesn't pick up the detail or the scanner? if the latter maybe a two pass scan with a luma key would do the trick? and now that i think about it you could probably do the same while shooting to solve problem number one, especially if you're locked down. i did a fair amount of sky replacement on my last short which i shot in semi-overcast conditions on hdv with no lights, go figure. /matt

just stay away from just like heaven. horrible bluescreen rooftop scenes with bad 3d tracking and a depth of field effect that screams gaussian blur. pity on an otherwise great film. /matt

yes, but in my case it works fine on the exact same processor and architechture just clocked 200mhz higher. /matt

i know, you're right, but it doesn't do it in realtime on a 1ghz g4 either, but it works. i don't mind waiting 25% longer. once the file is "conformed" it's just a simple stream copy that shouldn't take any more processing power than a dv print to tape. my problem is not that it's slow, but that i get an alert box thrown in my face saying that i need a faster computer. let me decide that for myself thank you... ;-) /matt

if you use "cool white" fluorescents and tungsten film you'll get a cyan/green look. /matt

hi, i'm trying to use an 800mhz ibook g4 to output hdv to tape, but fcp tells me i need a 1ghz computer to use hdv. well, that makes sense for editing and effects, but surely print to tape isn't the heaviest part of hdv handling, especially if i don't mirror on desktop. after all dvhscap works just fine. so my guess is there's a line in "rt software enabler.txt" that will fix this for me, like the old enabler for g3 computers and the realtime jpeg at 75% hack? anybody tried that? /matt

wow, that's a fantastic reply. i can't believe i never thought of that. thanks. /matt

much more than that in my experience. half a stop under is still a lot, very often that's where i put my key. i've found that you can get an eyelight that's perfectly visible even if it doesn't give any exposure on the face at all, i.e. several stops under. /matt

true. a constrast viewing glass helps. /matt

i use my slr camera or a spot meter. make sure the image on the screen is "medium grey" or make an intelligent zone system guess. i light by eye and expose for the ambient light. /matt

well, i'd say for a neutral tonality you should shoot with the correct balance for your lighting. or as correct as possible if you're mixing light. i usually shoot black and white when i want black and white though. /matt