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Looking for films shot on the Panavision HD900F


Mike Krumlauf

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Just looking for some films that used the HD900F before the genesis took over it's place at panavision.

 

I know Spy Kids 2 and 3 used it and Collateral used it in spots, any other good films I can check out? Back in the day you could just look up films by searching cameras on IMDb but they removed that feature ages ago.. bummer.

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Nah they still have it on IMDB for me... the desktop version.

 

Off the top of my head, Star Wars Episode 2. Episode 3 was the 950.

Also How High with Redman and Method Man was f900 as well. Some British comedy called Four Lions that all my idiot British friends like was shot on F900.

 

The New York Yankees were using F900 for in-house media coverage as recent as 2015.

 

Due to the fact television is still broadcasted in 1080, the F900 is still a valid workhorse for many.

https://shotonwhat.com/cameras/sony-hdw-f900-camera

Edited by Macks Fiiod
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"Technical Specs" Section will tell you what camera it was shot on like 75% of the time.

I understand that Macks but you said you can still search. Back in the day the camera or lens was hyperlinked which brought you to a page on IMDB that listed all the projects on their website that used that camera... you cant do this anymore.. if there is a way to still accomplish this, please let me know.

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I understand that Macks but you said you can still search. Back in the day the camera or lens was hyperlinked which brought you to a page on IMDB that listed all the projects on their website that used that camera... you cant do this anymore.. if there is a way to still accomplish this, please let me know.

I guess not? I linked you ShotOnWhat's F900 page so not sure why you'd need IMDB to do it.

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Just keep in mind that "The Quiet" was made for under 1-mil with a partial crew from UT Austin...

 

From the previews i've seen the image looks great! :) also excited to see the little BTS bit with you talking about shooting digital. Im a nerd what can i say.

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Sky Captain and the world of Tomorrow.

 

In the UK the HDC750 was more popular then the f900. It was about half the price but same quality its only limitation was it only shot 25p rather then 24p. Lots of films were shot 25p in Europe because it simiplified post a lot. E.g you could use Avid MC rather then more expensive Film composer. Workflows were a lot more restricted e.g progressive scan was only sort of supported and you had to deal PSF formats etc yuck... I don't miss interlace

 

Tristam Shandy: A cock and bull story was a good example of a film shot on 750.

Wolf Creek was 750

 

The 750 was also a bit shorter in length - so easier to shoot in tight spaces.

 

I think with good lenses your going to extract a nice image still out of the son HDCAM fleet. I would just avoid using tape - the 3:1:1 colour sampling, 8 bit 1440x1080 image and compression did limit your control in post. We tested HDCAM at C4 a bit when I worked there and moved up to HDCAM-SR pretty quickly. I did a green screen shoot on the 750 and even though the greenscreen was lit very carefully it was a nightmare to pull a clean key, even using Flame.

 

Prores HQ is mush better and probably cheaper to shoot - the tapes could get expensive.

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Some British comedy called Four Lions that all my idiot British friends like was shot on F900.

 

Four Lions is great

 

Your friends may be idiots, but if you call them idiots on a public forum they might not be your friends much longer.

 

Still, enjoying the work of Chris Morris is far from idiotic, the opposite in fact.

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Four Lions is great

 

Your friends may be idiots, but if you call them idiots on a public forum they might not be your friends much longer.

Nah I hope they see it, my friends need to learn a valuable lesson in being my friend!!

Edited by Macks Fiiod
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In terms of how I shoot. I've been getting (believe it or not) the cleanest looking footage by shooting HDCAM tape and then digitizing that into my mac pro as prores files using an AJA KiPro. These older cameras like the F900 or Varicam have issues with weird signal line noise around things like street lights and such. Even though you can get an 10bit signal from these cameras, doesnt mean they are that much better all around. I play it safe and shoot the way the camera was made to shoot and i work with what i have, more then okay for me. I dont do heavy color grades either, im one of those, get it in the camera kinda guys ;)

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Just keep in mind that "The Quiet" was made for under 1-mil with a partial crew from UT Austin...

 

Hey David, just finished watching "The Quiet" on DVD with my fiance. The film is hands down the BEST example of the HD900F i have ever seen. Beautiful beautiful work! I really hope I can find a 1080p copy of the film. Did you use any specific settings in the camera? The noise seemed really really clean and the sharpness was very close to film, did you just leave detail off?

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I’m trying to remember— back then I was turning off sharpness on my F900 movies but then I decided to turn it on at a very low level on my later ones, it seemed a tiny bit was OK. I used something on the lens too, I think it was a 1/8 ProMist? I might have posted a thread on it here when it was called “Dot” I think.

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Thanks for the info. Again, fantastic work. I honestly think this film looked better than the average stuff you see done on an alexa. goes to show its the artist not the camera in many situations.

 

I found another F900 film starring Paul Rudd called Diggers. I also know Me and you and everyone we know was shot on the 900 as well.

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So Mike, what happened to your love of the Varicam? I think it's superior to the f-900 :)

 

Hey Bruce, I still love the varicam, its a great camera, but, I will have to say the Sony F900, especially the panavision modified version is superior than the varicam. The /3 version allows you to input custom gamma tables that are identical if not a tad more sensitive than film rec.. idk, too each his own as i always say. I love the way the pana/sony camera deals with skin tones and color. I do miss in camera speed ramping on the varicam though.

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Hey Bruce, I still love the varicam, its a great camera, but, I will have to say the Sony F900, especially the panavision modified version is superior than the varicam. The /3 version allows you to input custom gamma tables that are identical if not a tad more sensitive than film rec.. idk, too each his own as i always say. I love the way the pana/sony camera deals with skin tones and color. I do miss in camera speed ramping on the varicam though.

I once did a test comparing the two cameras. The sony is 1080P and the Varicam is 720P and... it was nearly impossible to see the difference (for detail). Each camera records the same amount of data. I'm not sure the custom curves in the Sony still allowed access to the full dynamic range that the camera could see though. But, if you're shooting for (getting the look in camera), then I can see how the sony might be more desirable. For post color correction, the Varicam had the edge. I will say, if you've got a Panavision version, with the Panavision lens to go with it, the Panavision lenses were quite good. And they had the advantage of not having the distance scale shift with the ambient temperature as the Canon and Fuji lenses do.

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I once did a test comparing the two cameras. The sony is 1080P and the Varicam is 720P and... it was nearly impossible to see the difference (for detail). Each camera records the same amount of data. I'm not sure the custom curves in the Sony still allowed access to the full dynamic range that the camera could see though. But, if you're shooting for (getting the look in camera), then I can see how the sony might be more desirable. For post color correction, the Varicam had the edge. I will say, if you've got a Panavision version, with the Panavision lens to go with it, the Panavision lenses were quite good. And they had the advantage of not having the distance scale shift with the ambient temperature as the Canon and Fuji lenses do.

I def see a difference in detail and overall quality between the two cameras. I have the Panavision Body and viewfinder but I am using an Optex Cine HD Zoom, HJ9x5x5. The varicam is a beautiful camera and i had many fun years with it, but, once i got behind a 900 and did my tests with one, i was hooked. Like i said, to each his own. Both cameras offer great pictures in the right hands, after experiencing both, i like the 900 more.

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