Jonathan Bryant

Where are you shooting your feature? What is it about? Did you budget for other people besides the dp?

David, How does black pantyhose differ from say a Black Pro Mist filter? My boss has used panty hose alot between the lens and camera though it always gets strange looks.

I wonder if the CMOS chip will be better than the 3ccds on the fx1 in terms of latitude. I thought about a camera design with different sized pixels that could capture images closer to films dynamic range and then Fuji unleashed the Super CCD. http://www.fujifilmsupport.com/faq/tech/sccd/ Why can't they bring that into the video world?

Some people say that with the Varicam when you record 24fps you are only using 40mbps as opposed to using 100mbps for 60fps. It is also known that the 24fps 19mbps HDV 720 compression is more efficient than the 25mbps 1080i HDV codec for obvious reasons. So besides being descreet frames of video how much better is the 40 mbps codec for the hdx200 or varicam at 720p and 24fps over the more efficient 19mbps 720p 24fps HDV codec?

I have a upcoming project shooting exercises in a gym full of mirrors. What are some creative ways I can light it with tungsten lights and corrective gels? Also without getting the lights or the three cameras in the shot. If it turns out to have a ceiling tiles it have clamps to clamp some lights to the ceiling.

I have a shot where we are towing a car. What is the easiest way to film someone through a windshield and get a good exposure. We will have a wideshot of the car as well as closeups. I like to have alittle reflection of the trees going by but still be able to see the talent clearly. In the past I have used a circular polarizer, put a reflector fabric in the talents lap for the moving wideshot. Closeups we did still with a black panel to keep from having glare on the wideshield and I kicked in light from one side using a 1k tungsten light with diffused daylight correction gel and a 500 watt light bounced off a reflector as fill on the other side and added a hard 500 watt backlight. Any tips will be gladly appreciated.

The dv500 is a great camera for the money. And the fujinon lens that comes with it will be better than the xl1s electronic lens. BUT that particular fujinon is at the bottom of the barrel when comes to 1/2inch lens. You can pick up a better canon lens on ebay for about $300 that will make a huge difference in depth of field,sharpness, and light sensitivity. I would also go into the menu of the camera turn the master black level up a few notchs. And turn the gamma down one step , and then you may want to turn the color matrix off when shooting under tungsten lights because when it overpowers the reds and oranges. I would also check into some type of film look plugin like dvfilm to take away the interlaced look. Good Luck. With the color matrix off it has more accurate color but sometimes could use more color so in post you can always add alittle more saturation and it will look perfect.

What stocks were used on Sex in the City? To me that series is the best example of 16mm potential. I have read on Kodaks website that they used 500asa stocks but that is hard to believe. I have come from the television arena and am new to film. I assume that a big part of the great look was great lighting and a good transfer. What is the cleanest tungsten stock that will come close to the look of 35mm on video. Or is the transfer more important?

I am from the world of using Betacams and Sony dsr500's with real lens instead of the cameras like the Sony PD150 with its servo focus from hell and its electronic iris that doesn't have a gradual change. I haven't used the dvx100 though I understand it has numbers in the vf that tell you where you are focused at. How does the HVX and DVX lens work?

The VX2100 and Pd170 are basically the same camera ccd and lens wise. Both have great low light capability but don't focus in manual mode easily. The Panasonic DVX100 has a better lens with numbers to help you know where you are in focal range. Add 24p film frame rate with adjustable gamma (makes the video have a more film like contrast) I think that might be the best camera for you and you can pick up one used for around $2000. The sonys have better low light for doc work but for a feature you need to budget at least 3 descent lights. Lights will make the biggest difference on your interiors. Get a reflector to fill in shadows on your outside shots. And finally the DVX has better audio too. You have the professional xlr mic inputs where the VX2100 has the consumer 1/8" jacks that are famous for noise. Go for the DVX100! http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?50...ftbd.1@.3bb40c6

We have a shoot this Friday where we have to get alot of shots of people talking inside a silver VW Bug. How should we light it? On the last shoot we had no power so we had to put a black fabric over the hood to keep the light down and cut out reflections on the windshield. We used a gold reflector to bounce light through the right window as if the sun was on that side. The actress on the left side had such pale skin we had to block light from coming in on her face so that she wasn't blooming compared to the tanned skined actor on the right. We put tinted film over the rear window, used a circular polarizer to cut down on reflections from the silver hood, and I turned the gamma setting down on our sony dsr 500. It was a clear sky day so needless to say this was hard. I guess if money were no object when we do it again I would bring a power generator, rent a HMI to light through the right window, and buy a gradiant nuetral density filter. Any thoughts?

I have a shoot tommorow and I purchased a used sony pvm-5041q monitor thinking that it was a 16:9 switchable and then I find out that there are 2 varations of that model number one with a 16:9 switch and one without. SO is ther anyway that I can set the DSR500 to output letterbox 16:9 on a 4:3 monitor?

Yes I have the stock screw on k3 lens and am curious what other reasonable lens I could buy? I think you can buy a pentax 35mm lens and use it on my K3. But I am not sure since I understand there are 2 different lens mounts for the k3. Where can I find Zeiss glass to use on my k3? I thought I was real limited on lens options for the k3, so this is news to me that I can have a Zeiss on my k3, sweet! Good to know the DSR500 still holds its own. Besides less depth of field how does it far compared to the 2 new sony hdv cameras? I have seen them at shows but have no real world experience with them. From what I understand it has a better lens but still electronic, poor low light performance, and motion artifacts. So what is the best way to give the DSR500 a progressive look? Is DVFILM the best plugin? From what I understand it makes it somewhat progressive but without softing the image. Anyone had a experience with that?

I know everyone is saying not another one of those camera a vs camera b posts again. But I do corporate videos,and local commercials. If money were no object I would buy a sdx900 ,varicam,song 900,or shoot on 35mm. Right now I have access to a sony dsr500, I own a betacam and a cheap k3 16mm camera. I like the DSR500's color and gamma curve but it still looks like video. The k3 I have is horrible soft in the viewfinder that it makes it impossible to focus correctly. I have become interested in the dvx because of 24p, its film gamma, and from what I understand the lens is not as electronic as the sony pd150. But I still have reservations because it is 1/3inch chips and has a fixed lens. Has anyone had experience with the dvfilm plugin that is supposed to make interlaced look more progressive in the moving parts of the frame but still stay sharp? How does the DSR500 with dvfilm processing compare to true 24p from the DVX?

On Friday I be assisting on a shoot for a major university where we will be filming cars and actors outside. We will shoot this on video with a Sony DSR-500 in widescreen. We are limited in time,power, and lighting kits made for the outdoors. We have every Lowel light there is probably with color correction gels, but no HMIs. But I am told tieing into the power is very unlikely. We usually use sheats on light stands to diffuse the light on people outside ,a reflector to fill, and sometimes a Lowel DP light with color correction filter extremly close to the subject. We have one photoflex lite panel with all the Translucent and White/Gold Fabrics to help out. From what I understand cars are almost like mirrors and that the most ideal light for them is a soft box overhead in a studio. I pretty sure we should use a circular polarizer on the car shots too. I have heard mirrors make good backlights outside for people. We also have a black pro mist filter to soften and lower the contrast of the image. What do you guys suggest if we don't get an overcast day?