HPX 500 with Reflecmedia Chromakey

[Guy_Cochran]

The leader of our local Final Cut Pro users group recently picked up an HPX500 with Fujinon lens. He was gracious enough to loan it to me for 24 hours to shoot a quick podcast episode. For those of you who don't know me, I produce short product demo/tests on various digital video products. I wanted to share the end result with everyone. This footage was shot in my basement and edited on my dining room table with a MacBook Pro - really cool. I didn't have to run to the studio and use the AJA Kona and Quad Core. Although now I wouldn't actually mind getting the camera again and piping in direct to Kona via SDI and capturing using the ProRes codec in full 1920x1080. I'm sure the key will be even better then.
If you're interested in taking a look at the example, the video is now playing on Vimeo.com This was keyed in FCP 6 using the Mattenee software in automatic mode - drag and drop keying. http://vimeo.com/386172

[Brad Neal]

Nice work. Nice key work too.

Did you use presets for this job, or are did you use custom settings?

Really nice lighting.

-Brad

[Guy_Cochran]

Hi Brad,

Thanks. It isn't as perfect as I would like, I'd love to be a perfectionist on every gig, however ya just gotta get the job done in a certain time constraint. Nature of the beast. In this case, I would have liked to have had more time to experiment with the settings to get the "look" that I wanted. Under the time constraints I had, being the cameraman, talent, editor, producer, post production supervisor etc. like most of us, I was a little under the gun so to say. In fact, try setting up all the lights, then changing into your "fancy pants", shooting, ingesting, sweating, checking the key against the background, then jumping back in - whew. Anyhow, it is, what is. I asked the owner of the cam for the settings and he's getting back to me, I really hope the sharpness was dialed down, because the footage had some jaggies on the edges when blown up huge. I've seen way worse on broadcast, so this is damn good for what the price/vs performance. That is a 8x8 curtain with the walk on Basematte material. Good luck to everyone else who has a need for this same workflow. This is a good example of what can be achieved. I was amazed at the detail of a 2/3" chip for the price.

[earmarkcreative]

The end result looks great Guy. Is it possible for you to post a 2 minute full rez, unkeyed version (or half full rez) of this shoot. I've been shooting some green screen work with the JVC-HD250 and I'm curious to see how the HPX compares.

[Guy_Cochran]

You can download 7 seconds worth to test with here. (http://dvcreators.net/media/HPX500_CHROMAKEY.mov)
Yes, that's a fireplace in the top left corner. I really shot in my basement :)
I'm finding the shadows were a bit noisy. I'm wondering if the Gain was cranked up, I'm surpised I didn't see the noise on the Panasonic 17" SDI monitor. It's 1080 30p footage.
This is the 8'x8' Chromatte curtain from Reflecmedia with a sheet of the Basematte flooring. Each Basematte sheet is about 4.5' x 6.5'. I'm using one sheet.
Lighting is two Lowel Rifa lights. One on the left is 500W with 40 degree Egg Crate. Right side is a Rifa 44 softbox with a 250W bulb. Backlight is a Lowel Pro light with a 250W, dimmed down with a cheapy dimmer from Harbor Freight.

[earmarkcreative]

Thanks for posting the clip. The original does look a little noisy but the finished video on vimeo looks great.

Great job once again.

[Noel Evans]

THanks for posting Guy. Certainly something I am really trying to get my hands on to test for myself.

[Guy_Cochran]

THanks for posting Guy. Certainly something I am really trying to get my hands on to test for myself.

Looks like you're out of the US, you may be able to find a local dealer that will let you audition Reflecmedia. We allow people to test it out if they're serious.

Here are two hits off the Reflecmedia site for Tokyo http://reflecmedia.com/reseller/resellers.aspx?Region=7&Country=109

[Joseph Stunzi]

Guy... for some reason that video clip will not play on my mac. I have VLC and what not... what codec is it using?

[Guy_Cochran]

It's standard issue DVPROHD QuickTime. It may be best to download the file then view it in QT Player. The file size is 71MB full res 1280x1080, it may just be taking awhile to download. If using Firefox, try right clicking and choosing Save Link As.... or Download Linked File As... in Safari

[Joseph Stunzi]

still no luck... i've downloaded in safari and firefox. All i get is a white screen but audio works fine! I really wanted to see your studio!

[Guy_Cochran]

http://www.dvcreators.net/images/front_shot.jpg

[Noel Evans]

Guy I saw this in action today Interbee and with a HPX500 no less. Image was great, though it certainly is an expensiive solution, especially when you have some size requirements.

[Guy_Cochran]

Did they have it they have it hooked up to a live keyer for the demo? If so, I wonder if it was an HD model (http://ultimatte.com/UltimatteMain/Hardware.html).
That would look amazing to do a live composite full 1920x1080 from the HPX500.
I have the Ultimatte DV live keyer (http://ultimatte.com/UltimatteMain/dv%20Main.html), but it is SD only with S-Video and composite input. It's still nice to have on the set for pre vis though. Since I was shooting this myself, I actually ingested to my MacBook Pro and quickly found that I needed to keep within the boundaries of the curtain or the product would get clipped off!