Martin Hong

How long does it run for?

Once i have tried, when i activated the phantom power in H4n the battery indicator dropped from full to one. It scared me so i had to plug the h4n to the AC adaptor using a chord extension... But i guess it doesnt last long if you try to run Phantom power on 2 AA batteries that has barely 3v of output. Now i have a small field mixer that runs on 2 9V batteries. Been using it for month over several projects, countless hours and still running on the same batteries. I've read the review on amazon someone has stated that the batteries have lasted 6 months of hard use. So i don't doubt it. Best thing for you is to get external phantom power that runs on 2 9v batteries or field mixer just like i did, they are not expensive.

Well, the thing is, the industry in China is known by copying other brand's products, as you can see they dont really have a good quality control or design. What they are aiming is having the lower cost and sell as much as possible. Hence quality = poor. I am talking about China's own brand here, i can ask if you have seen a good reliable brand with good reputation from China? Well i have never had faith in their products. Of course, you have to see the performance of this camera first.. But my first impression on this camera, is.. that.. well you know.

On their website they state the following:

LUT Support

Without the correct processing, Sony's S-LOG Gamma appears "flat," missing deep blacks or piercing highlights. While many DPs are accustomed to looking at such LOG encoded images, many producers and clients are not. For this reason, Sony Look-up-Tables (LUTs) convert S-LOG Gamma to conventional Rec. 709 video for real-time monitoring on the set and for offline recording onto SxS memory cards. When you add the CBK-RGB01 RGB and S-LOG output option (expected availability Fall 2011), you get four viewing LUTs.

Maybe you should try again

Selectable fps (Slow & Quick motion)

o 4Kx2K (4096 x 2160): up to 60 fps

o 4Kx1K (4096 x 1080): up to 120 fps

You can read more details on their preliminary brochure

http://pro.sony.co.nz/corporate/resources/en_AZ/images/ExperienceSony/Articles/F65_Camera_Cinema.pdf

BTW Brian, I think that's his full real name.. since he's from India...

In order to make the china balls to look right in bright daylight you need a very high output light source.. is gonna be a challenge.. But my question is.. why in bright daylight? I was imagining the scene shot during the sunset.... would look better and be easier for you to control.. just you will have little time to have everything done.

Just a question in order to learn,,,nothing against the filming.

 

Why is the hair/rim light green? Was that intentional or a product of artifacts?

Bad green screen key out.. I guess the main problem is that the green screen bounced back too much, can be seen on the first guitarist/lead singer. Gets worst on the girl, difficult to key out because she has curly hair (requires more details)

What was your post process?

If you know China's industry you wouldn't even bother to check on that camera

Be careful, that mattebox reminds me of an old topic, someone asked about a cheap mattebox and showed that one as the option. There was a review from a guy who bought it, the plastic is very cheap and low quality one. I wouldn't suggest you to buy that.

Hey Matt, thanks for the input, I will keep that in mind for the next time. We shot it yesterday and end up having a different solution, basically split the shot so we won't have to do the follow up.

In my opinion wasn't that bad the final result, did some color correction and grading, these are the results of the works in progress

The first 3 screen caps belongs to the last scene with the police at the crime scene, Day, interior. On the right side you can see the windows with green curtain, daylight shade, interior was lit with Tungsten, 4x60w tungsten lamp, one CFL 125w (effective output), with Rosco Frost as the key on both actors.

The last one belongs to the scene where the guy sneaked up into this women's house and got caught, was shot during day too. With the sunblind down, one key light of a 500w 6500K CFL, with CTO 1/4 and on the other side as fill with a 175w 6500K CFL also with 1/4 CTO. Camera balanced to tungsten then later color graded in that way. Initially I wanted it to be shot at night, so the scene would have some moonlight coming in through the blind and the place should look as if there was no light on. But due to a production problem we had to shoot it quick.....

I got more screen caps for now, just to have an idea of the final result, let me know what you guys think. The short is a crime thriller

The Canon price is $20K. For 1080P. A similar package price for Scarlet is about $13.5K for 5K stills and 4K motion. Canon sells you a different camera for a Canon mount and a PL mount. Scarlet (and EPIC) offers interchangeable mounts. Canon shoots RGB. Scarlet and EPIC REDCODE RAW.

 

You can choose to not like us (a trend here)... but you can't fault us for trying to deliver the most for the least... and for pushing the industry.

 

Jim

Jim, I will add a note here:

Canon also has announced that they are developing new line of DSLR Cinema Camera:

You can find the information on their official website (in Japanese), not much information is given, all we know is that it will be able to shoot 4k 24p Motion-jpeg footage on its 35mm sensor.

It looks like the 1Dx, which i presume that the future MSRP will be around there.

And they have throw brand new cinema lenses too, and that's interesting.

I don't take side nor am fan of any company, just i am glad of the new choice that you have in the market. Definitely the Scarlet has become my favorite beside the canon DSLR cameras.

And it also appears that CANON is aiming the DSLR market with a concept 35mm 4K DSLR camera:

@Chris: There's a handle that can be unmounted. Of course you are not going to hold that camera by hand when you have a monster lens like that attached.

@Justin: That's what I thought, they never mentioned the color space or any compression spec, so far i haven't heard of that, also Red Scarlet just came out not long ago with an unbelievable price of $9,750 (body) only. Against the 20k that Canon offers. Uhmmmmm

Just not long ago Canon has announced their brand new Digital Cinema Camera: Cinema EOS C300

And apparently, RED has something to say too: the brand new Scarlet DSMC, even cheaper, comparing to C300's $20,000 price, Scarlet is starting $9,750, under 10,000, yeah you heard it right:

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/03/red-makes-the-scarlet-dsmc-official-5k-stills-and-4k-video-for/

It seems that I am gonna be able to use my Canon lenses to this beauty, and its getting cheaper every time...

I am still trying to find more technical specification for this camera, if you have any, please add them below in the comment section.

Canon announced the new camera: Canon Cinema EOS C300

equipped with Canon's DIGIC DV III image processor, a 9.84-megapixel sensor (8.29-megapixel effective) capable of Super 35 format, and your choice of 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 50 and 59.94fps recording at ISOs ranging from 320 all the way up to 20,000. Canon says it captures 1,000 horizontal lines of resolution. It's got two XLR inputs for audio and can shoot 160 minutes of video onto a 64GB CF card running a 50mbps bitrate at 1080p with 4:2:2 color sampling. Both PL and EF mount bodies are available, depending on whatever lens system you prefer. The system is full manual focus..

Source and further reading here:

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/3/2536454/canon-digital-cinema

What do you guys think??

Hiren, sorry forgot to mention that, I am using Canon 60D with CineStyle profile, with these prime lenses 35mm f2, 50mm f1.8, 90mm f2.8 (Macro 1:1) and another super zoom from Tamron which i think i wont use it that much due to the sharpness issue on this lens.

Phil,

We are gonna be shooting the whole day, so daylight scene will be done during day, and night during night.. Plus dont have enough equipment to the daylight simulation.

I am mainly using fluorescent and will be counting with some Gel that i have requested, if i recall correctly these are:

Daylight Conversion Filters (Amber)

Cinegel #3407: Roscosun CTO

Mired Shift +167 Converts 5500K daylight to 2900K. Preferred either for a warmer look or when daylight is over 6000K. Optically clear. (Transmission = 47%).

Cinegel #3410: Roscosun 1/8 CTO

Mired Shift +20 Converts 5500K daylight to 4900K. Used when a very slight warming correction is desired. Deep-dyed base. (Transmission = 92%).

Both used on a 6500K 105W CFL with 500W effective output, #3407 to convert it to tungsten 3200k and #3410 to convert it daylight 5500k, if i did the right math.

PLUS

Cinegel #3314: Tough 1/4 Minusgreen

Mired Shift N/A Reduces the green output from fluorescents and other discharge sources. Deep-dyed base. Equivalent to CC075 Magenta. (Transmission = 81%).

or

Cinegel #3318: Tough 1/8 Minusgreen

Mired Shift N/A Reduces green output from fluorescents and other discharge sources. Equivalent to CC035 Magenta. (Transmission = 89%).

to reduce the green spike from flourescents

Also will have some 4000K and 3200K CFL, will have to figure what to do with these... Combine with some tungsten lamps that will be seen in shot or as refill.

Maybe i should directly change the light sources that will be seen in shot and try to have less color shift?

Two quick things...

1. Ideally you want all your shots to be as quiet as possible. If dog barks, traffic, ect... come up on some shots and can't be resolved on set, the next step is getting clean recordings of the dog bark and traffic on set. Then add those elements into the quiet shots so that everything is consistent. Non-consistent audio is FAR more distracting than any noise you'll be adding in. (this is a common issue on sets without control over building HVAC, where it's on in some shots and off in others, so in editing the HVAC room needs to be applied to the shots were it was off for consistency).

 

2. Radio mics are going to fail at some point. Top end wireless fails less, but it's never fool proof. Try to always have wired solutions available on-set.

That's a great tip! I guess that's the only thing i can do, but that helps a lot to solve that problem

As for the radio interference, i wasn't using any wireless connection, the shotgun was mounted on the windshield, XLR to Mixer, mixer output to recorder, all via XLR, 3 in total, one short from Mic to shockmount pistols end to another XLR cable, to the mixer, then from the mixer output to the recorder. In somewhere i was picking up the radio interference...

Looks great, sound was the problem though

Any computer with an i5 is almost certainly new enough and powerful enough to run Pro Tools, however still I wouldn't advice it. PT is honestly overkill for anyone not doing sound 100% of the time, and the audio tools in most video editing programs has been improved enough in recent years that a decent quality mix can be created in them.

 

Your gear will work fine, provided you have good technique. A $2000 mic with a Sound Devices mixer/recorder next to your gear will both sound the same if they're 10' away from the actor's mouth. Get the mic as close as physically possible with a boom op, in every single shot, and you can get pretty decent audio with your gear.

 

Now, on the "Hollywood" sound you refer to... honestly most mixes leave the dialog pretty clean in terms of processing. What most people actually hear and think is the "Hollywood quality mics" is actually 2 other factors...

1. Dialog editing - John Purcell wrote a book recently on this and it's fantastic. Smoothing out room tone shot to shot, removing tinny pops and creaks, ect... dialog editing is extremely tedious work removing 1,000 of tiny sounds you'd never think people notice, but once the work is done the dialog sounds 20 times better.

2. Everything else in the mix - when you add in the backgrounds, Foley, SFX, ect... and 50-200 tracks of other sounds adding depth to even the most boring seeming scenes, the audio just sounds more "real". It's hard to explain, but a well designed coffee shop scene can easily have 30-80 tracks of sounds BESIDES the dialog tracks. All those sounds are carefully balanced during the mix to shape the scene, but it's pretty rare to be in a mix and be frustrated by having too many sounds.

Alex, thanks for the input.

Thats what i thought of the sound mixing work, i imagine when you have the coffee shop scene usually there will be the background sound separated into several tracks, even sound source would have its own track, like coffee machine, plates, cups, people talking (several tracks), chairs moving, etc. If i am not wrong. I am now mixing a short, which takes place in a party, we shot it in silent, but the party was at a rooftop, can clearly hear the city, the traffic and some of them have the dog barking in the background. Plus at that night i had radio interference that i didn't know how to solve or whether where it came from (i think is the cheap XLR i bought).

I will post the short once we have it done. And will also check John Purcell's book if i can find it in somewhere.

Thanks!

If you are an active student, you can buy the Educational version of Avid for $295. You'll need a pretty stout computer but I suspect you're already there.

Is it too much for a Intel i5 Compaq Laptop? Not going to edit a full length feature of course, short films for start. I always edit on that laptop, holds up pretty well with the DSLR full HD footage, non offline editing

I am going to shoot short with different scenes, there's one in particular, taking place in a house during day. When a woman opens the door and the guys enter, you can see the woman in her back and the guy's face, background not too overexposed, then she closes the door both walks into a room (camera follows them with pan) Room lit with tungsten light, and the tungsten lamp can be clearly seen in the shot.

So how to solve this abrupt color temperature change from daylight (still not sure if there will be direct sunlight on the man or shade) to tungsten, also i might have exposure problem to solve. The lamp in shot surely wont have enough power to match outdoor's light.

Also there's a scene in a small room with tungsten light with the warm feeling, what would be the best: Set WB to tungsten then color correct a bit in post or, set the WB to a higher number to make the scene look warmer? or the last option is too risky?

And what do you guys do the most? White balance with color temperature setting on the camera or manual set with a 18% gray card?

Any advice or help will be appreciated!! Thanks!

I love the last scene where you can still see the stars during day. How did you achieve that?

Personally I've used Pro Tools & Adobe CS5. I prefer Pro Tools, mainly because I've used it for years and I'm most familiar with it.

I was just talking to my Avid professor today, thought Pro Tools was Apple's, but apparently Avid has bought it, he said its complicated for an amateur. I thought so, but i am willing to learn that. Also saw that there are different versions when i visit their website. Which one would be the best for my use? mixing dialogs and sounds for a film.

There's a great Foley page at: http://www.marblehead.net/foley/index.html .

Nice stuffs

I have also found a great site http://soundworkscollection.com

they got great videos and upcoming audio community

As far i am try to figure which DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) would be the best to start, I have seen them using Pro Tool, Cubase.. etc. I am not good at comparing these softwares

maybe add some warmness to the room, note that there isnt much color in that place, and everything looks dull.

Canon has announced the new camera, the new EOS-1D X, with a 18 megapixels Full frame sensor, dual Digic 5 Processors, which allows a continuous shooting up to 12 shots in RAW and 14 in JPEG format.

61 focus reference points

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLE3i2FLWEY

Of course, it records HD videos as well.

What you guys think? Even though this camera is more made for sport photographers, the dual digic 5 processors seem to become a new weapon, maybe more bit-rate for the video compression?

Available in March 2012