Tim J Durham

A shot was recorded in 60i accidentally. The rest of the footage was shot in 24p. What is recommended to

match this footage? This footage was shot on the SDX900 in dvcpro50.

 

Thanks,

Lloyd Handwerker

From http://www.nattress.com/Products/products.htm:

I've shot a movie in 24p, but I need to include some normal NTSC video B-Roll

If you are editing your 24p movie in a 24p (23.98fps) timeline then you can use the Standards Converter and it's G Film Converter plugin to convert your NTSC video to 24p. This will now integrate with the rest of the video on a 24p timeline.

However, if you shot 24p with normal 3:2 pulldown and are editing in a 29.97fps timeline, then you can use Film Effects and it's G Film plugin to make your video look like 24p but with 3:2 pulldown added.

I've used a couple Nattress filters and they work, but I've not tried this particular one. Good luck.

Greetings,

Sorry about the short notice but my friend has a 10 day documentary shoot scheduled for October 10-20 in Delhi (one day) then Hyderabad (8 days) and they are looking for an experienced sound man/woman. Pays$200 (USD) a day plus all in-country expenses which will include round trip air from Delhi to Hyderabad (or vice versa) meals, hotel, etc. Gear will be provided unless you'd prefer to use your own. Knowledge of Delhi and/or Hyderabad a plus.

E-mail me ASAP for details. Thanks.

i got a sony hdv cam and since yesterday my firewire port doesnt, i am tryng to import some dv footage on through final cut pro but the cam doesnt get regonize, and the same in imovie or even on a pc with windows movie maker, i already reset the cam but still it doesnt,

 

do somebody here got the same problem with there sony fx1, or is this weird

(sorry for my flat english i am from the netherlands)

 

thank u

One thing that frequently happens, if the computer is ON when you connect the firewire, it sends a small jolt of power that fries the firewire port in your camera. First, check to make sure your capture settings are correct. If they are, you may have a fried firewire port.

I am surprised there is not more response. Although the analog vs. digital debate is old, I was hoping to (and couldn't find much in archive) see a discussion on best possible, or best compromises, as it pertains to XL2. Anyone using analog with this camera or is everyone recording straight to the tape or through beachtec or 302 to the tape? Or through some converter (i.e M-Audio) to laptop? Is anyone using a Nagra with XL2? Thanks.

You 'expected' someone here to have used a Nagra with an XL-2?

All,

I'm going to be filming a football game this Saturday. It takes place at 6:00, so essentially, it will be at night under the stadium lights. I'll be shooting 500T and I have a milliframe controller for high speed photography. This is a first time for me, so I was wondering if any of you have filmed in a similar situation? What's been your experience? Any tips, or suggestions?

Best,

Brian Rose

From 6:00pm until the sun has set and it's completely dark, you are going to get a wide spectrum of color temp and intensity changes as the stadium lights begin to overpower the setting sunlight.

Thanks. I am getting some lavs. Do you think the quality of sound from the camera (with the 302) is reasonably okay compare to recorder? I would prefer not using a recorder to keep it simpler but how much do I sacrifice that way?

I'm no audio expert but I think it should be the same quality as a DAT in 16 bit 48kHz.

If you had some money and had XL2 and a shotgun on a boom, how would you record the sound? Buy Sound Devices 302 and older Nagra? Sound Devices and into the camera? DAT? Hard drive? M-Audio and laptop? If you were doing a feature, and had minimal crew, what would you use?

If I were doing it with a skeleton crew, I'd go with the SD302 into the camera. I'd also have a couple of Tram lav mics ($300.00ea.) and two wireless set-ups which can be rented cheaply.

But I'm a TV guy.

You can expose for the sky and turn up the pedestal until you can see the subject. It will get really milky but it can be easily fixed in post.

ash =o)

You should not have to mess with the ped. That camera has incredible dynamic range if you set it up properly.

I've done many outdoor shoots in all kinds of weather and it is very forgiving. If you expose for an overcast sky, there should be plenty of subject detail to work with.

Here is a statement that I want clarified as I am new to HD:

What's the major difference in the two formats and which is superior?

The major difference is between progressive (720p) and interlace (1080i or 1080f) capture. Do a search. There must be 10,000 posts arguing back and forth ad nauseum, ad infinitum. Not just here, but all over the internet. Better yet, go look at the output of both cameras and decide for yourself. There is no substitute for seeing it with your own eyes.

In the USA it might be a MUCH harder pitch between the 900-3 and the 750, as the US 750 only does 30p, the euro 750 does 25p and we are shooting for cinematic release all the time with it at 25, in the USA 30p wouldn´t be an option for this.

We have a HDW-730 which is switchable between NTSC and PAL. Is that not the case with the 750?

Information will be available at the LA office in time, but no large scale event such as this is currently planned. You can always make an appointment to check out the device, but if you want the in depth seminar you may want to book that ticket.

Mitch,

Is the Movietube really 10x better than the Red Rock Micro M2? The price differential would seem to suggest it is.

Some great films I've seen recently, not necessarily for the cinematography so much as emotional impact:

"The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan" by Phil Grabsky:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398801/

"Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus" by Andrew Douglas:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389361/

"In This World" by Michael Winterbottom. Not really a doc but plays like one and shot like one:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310154/

"Pripyat" by Nikolaus Geyrhalter:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0194278/

There was another called "Land Beneath the Clouds- a Murder in Yunnan" or something like that. It was a Nat. Geographic presentation I saw a few years ago and it was amazing. Now I can't find any trace of it.

Anybody else see this? It would've aired in 1997 or 1998. I'd love to get a copy if I could find it.

I'd like anyone's input for a mixer...$600-$1200, at least 3 channels, quality above all else.

I've been looking at Shure and Wendt. I'll be using a Sennheiser 416 with Canare cables, so I would like to get something decent.

Thanks in advance.

I work with a guy that uses this and swears by it (rarely AT it):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...egoryNavigation

I have a quick question: I have just been hired to do a docu style interview for a magazine. They want to shoot a 2 camera setup with 2 HVX's. I have never used the camera before. I have only used DVX-100's. Also, let me preface this by saying I am NOT a cinematographer...I wouldn't even consider myself a videographer. I am a shooter. There is a difference!

 

What I want to know is this...Having never used the camera before, what type of package should I suggest? Is 2 cams, sticks, 4 mics (recording audio in camera) 2 mixers (do I really need them?) and a very minimal lighting kit. Is that sufficient? Also, because of P2 cards being used, I should hire 2 pa's to serve as Camera Assitants/Loaders to dump the P2 cards.

 

Sorry for the newb question!

Hi,

I do these set-ups frequently so the one thing I'd suggest FIRST is to arrange a very large room for the shoot. Producers never think of that in advance.

Second, for a sit-down interview, I'd suggest you have a Firestore FS-100 for each camera so you don't have to stop every few minutes to swap out P2 cards (which shakes the camera and requires an extra person):

http://www.focusinfo.com/solutions/catalog.asp?id=150

Third, hire a sound guy with a stereo mixer like an FP-33 so you can send both mics to each camera independently.

Fourth, take daylight matched flo lights so you can take advantage of windows for fill if possible. Kinos or Lowel Caselites.

I think it is trickier then you might think. The set up on the camera determines a lot of the sensitivity of the camera. One setup might have a stop equal to 20 ire while with another setup it might be more or less. Also a when you add gamma correction and clipping to blacks and whites the correlation gets even more convoluted. The best thing to do is test you camera with a light meter.

It would be tricky. If you are in a totally dark room, opening the iris may produce no change in IRE. If you are shooting the sun, the lens closed down to f16 may already be at 100 IRE and any wider apertures may be clipped at 105 or whatever. I think it would be tough to come up with any useable formula as the situations would fall along some dificult to define point between those two extremes.

'Agitropic' is one of these new words formed from old ones that is floating about at the moment, its perhaps indecent of someone with my my spelling ability to try and use it. Its essentialy a word regarding a piece of work, be it a film, play that is made to 'agitate' or stir-up thought - polemical even. I remember the word being used a lot a few years ago when I worked at an arts-centre that was showing Tim Robbin's Embedded (Actually at the time somebody vandalised an outside wall, graffiting "Robbins is a traiter and all Brits are gay" lukily someone else had to scrub it off)

I think the word you're looking for is 'agitprop'- a combination of agitation and propaganda. Michael Moore is often accused of producing agitprop, but strong opinions are the domain of documentarians.

'Rivers and Tides' by Thomas Riedelsheimer is a great looking doc. 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly' by Werner Herzog is another. The former was shot on 35mm and I suspect the latter as well. It can still be done. Errol Morris docs all have a great look. Check out 'The Gates of Heaven', shot back in the 70's and before he went to the more stylized approach.

Hi guys. Ive shot a few car ads and Im just recently wondering how you guys boost down the car's headlights. I usually put ND gels on top of it (cut exactly the shape of the headlights) but the problem is when the car needs to turn off the headlights then you can obviously see the nd gels on top of it.

I guess the only way is to boost down the voltage of the electricity or wattage of the bulb unless your not allowed to touch the car like that. Anyway, maybe any of you have suggestions or tricks on this. Thanks.

Most cars nowadays have lens housings which the bulb fits into. You can romove the entire lens housing, take the bulb out and pour some grey water-based wood stain in the lens housing, swish it around carefully so that it coats the entire front of the lens from the inside, then let it dry and put it back the way it was. You can't leave the headlights on for long as it will start smoking at some point. Test.

Then when you are done, repeat the same process with water to get the stain out and replace. Or if you have to (it's a brand new car), replace the lenses with new ones. They're about $250 each, atleast for a Toyota they are.

GAMMA control isn't under the engineering menu, it's a basic feature of the PAINT menu. Under PAINT, you have:

 

Flare correction

Gamma

Black Gamma

Knee

White Clip

Detail

Level Depend function of Detail

Skin Detail

User Matrix

Multi Matrix

Oops. You're quite right. I had the wrong camera in mind. Not only that, even if I HAD been right, it wouldn't have answered the question. Sweet.

I heading to the Sahara Desert in Sept. Shooting 35mm feature for 2 weeks and 4 weeks in a City. If any one has worked in similar conditions can you please let me know what you learned, what you brought with you. This can be anything from equipment to clothes, medicines, shoes. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

If you can get ahold of "Writing with Light", Vittorio Storaro goes into detail about how he shot the film "The Sheltering Sky" which was shot in Morocco and Mali among other hot, sandy places. Very interesting, as I recall.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0127979/

That's exactly what I wanted to do and tried, but I couldn't find, in CvpFileEditor, the menu

settings for the film gamma setting that I had. Do you know, by chance, how to pull that

menu settings, David?

Those adjustments can only be made in the engineering menus. You cannot set gammas and color matrix in the user menus unless you've mapped them there. You need to hold in the menu wheel while you power the camera up, then you will have access to ALL the menu settings. Be careful in there.

Please also keep my account alive. I haven't posted yet because I can usually find the answers I need already posted.

I wish I'd thought to call myself Chowski.

Does this new regime mean that all the Russian girls who posted looking for dates get to stay?

Also, I've found the shoulder mount of the camera was really uncomfortable. I haven't really looked into

if there is any product to compensate that pain on my shoulder, but I thought Sony could do a better

job on making it better, like Panasonic cameras are.

 

Nook Kim

 

Savannah, GA

Try a folded towel on your shoulder. It's more effective than any purpose-built pad I've seen.

In the side by side comparison of the Varicam and F900, the F900 was superior by far. Really no contest. It was uncannily similar to a 16mm vs 35mm comparison. HDCAM was just far sharper and the color "popped" a bit more. I'd use the Varicam in special situations where I'd need to do speed changes, just as if I had to use a Panastar or Arri in a film situation, but I wouldn't want to do an entire project with Varicam. But that's just me.

Who did the tests? Sony engineers?

I've noticed a lot of CNN footage nowadays is originating from Al Jazeera. Do they have a licensing deal, or is CNN merely ripping AJ off, claiming that it's news therefore public domain? If the former, are not CNN and AJ actually allied & on the same team (and that CNN is thereby also a terrist tool)? Or, if the latter, is CNN not engaging in video piracy?

It's the latter. They just record it off the air.