some more HPX500 footage

[xianchi]

Hey everybody!

As some of you know, I have been traveling around the state shooting for the state tourism office to create a B-Roll library for them. The shooting has been pretty much run and gun hitting up to 6 or more locations per day. Lots of driving...

This reel represents about 50 shooting days and I still have about 34 days left.

http://www.seanfrego.com/waLight/HL_FINALweb.mov

Enjoy!



Incase you are wondering...
Fuji XA17x7.6 2X, Miller 25, Solo sticks, Polarizer, simple

[weixiang623]

did you shoot it 60i?

[xianchi]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention.
1080p/30 mostly with some 720pn/30 for the slo-mo stuffs

[film842]

There's some very nice stuff there. Better than I thought the 500 was capable of. How did you set focus...did you use a monitor?

[jcoxshooter]

great footage. what jib are you using. very nice. give some of you settings if you dont mind.

[Seamus McFlannel]

The footage is absolutely gorgeous. Great, great stuff.

[xianchi]

Wow! !!!
Thanks everybody! It's nice to finally get some feedback. I think I should give some credit to my friends, House on a Hill who made the music. http://www.houseonahillband.com

In answer to the questions...
I recently got the panasonic BT-LH80W but it wasn't used on any of the shots in the reel. I had pretty good luck with just the stock EVF and LCD until I did a shoot at the Tacoma Glass Museum. I shot in the hot box there and I think the extreme temps knocked the back focus out of whack? so, everything shot after that was soft. I couldn't tell while shooting in the EVF but when I got home many of the shots the appeared to be in focus where actually quite soft.

The jib? It's my shoulder combined with a tad of Smooth Cam in FCP. It works great for taking the edge off of hand held stuff.

I didn't have much time before the project started, 1 day, and I wanted the footage to be fairly neutral so the settings are pretty basic.

-2 chroma
+2 vert detail
+2 horz detail
-7 master ped
-1 temp

[LuckyStudio 13]

Camera and you produced awesome result !! Your shoulder jib work is great !

[Derrick_SA]

the footage looks awesome, really liked it.

- Derrick

[sonic freak]

Some great images. But I have to disagree, the music was pretty bad in my opinion. They sounded like a garage jam band. Nothing special, your images however, were. That's why it didn't work for me. But really nice stuff. Great shoulder jib too..

[Spartacus]

Great, great imagery!

BTW, watched it with sound off, the music doesn´t connect at all with the images IMHO...

[xianchi]

Thanks for the comments everybody!! Funny about the music.

The lens is the Fujinon XA17x7.6 BERM 2x CAC

[sonic freak]

I just watched it again and the shot that blows me away is the one that has the waterfall and what looks like a mini par3 golf course. And then those people walk into the frame upper right. that just looks like a fake shot it's so perfect. Where is that?

Also, I don't want to bag on the band. I'm a musician myself. I'm sure they work hard and do their best, but I thought maybe some orchestral sounds might work better in your shots. But the editing to some of their ramp up dynamics are spot on. It's a fun montage to watch.

I'm considering getting a HPX-500, but also considering the Red Camera. I know they're totally different cameras, that's why i'm taking my time. Your stuff looks second to none though, I gotta say.

[dantewaters]

Great footage, and quiet inspiring you didn't do any color correction in post right?

[xianchi]

That putt putt shot is from Leavenworth WA, a bavarian themed town at the base of the Cascades. It was shot around noon, you know when the light is perfect for shooting... I mostly use the the tiny B&W EVF so I am often amazed when reviewing footage. The color reproduction and dynamic range allow you to get good results in almost any lighting condition... even shooting at high noon.

There are a couple of clips that I reset the white point on but other than that the footage is untouched straight from the camera. My settings are listed on the first page of this thread.

Last year when this project first presented itself I had the HVX200. In fact, the reel that got me the job was made up of HVX200 and XL1s footage. I had been drooling over the Red 1 for quite some time. If I had another 10k or so and there wasn't a waiting list I may have gone with the Red. I felt like the 200 was too noisy/not light sensitive enough for this project, even though I already had the gig. The HPX500 had just come out and I was lucky enough to find the last one available on the west coast.

Since then my 500 has been in just about every shooting condition, rain, snow, hot dry dusty desert, ocean sprayed beach, out the window of a Cesna. Last week I shot a time-lapse of fog filling the meadow I was in. Condensation kept forming on my filter so my wife was constantly cleaning it. The next day we were shooting in super dry desert conditions along the Columbia River. No problems... this camera is solid.

Thanks again for all the comments, they're very inspiring.

[griffin86]

Nice footage and use of the tools. I'd like to see more as this is done. Keep up the good work!

[Brad Neal]

Very nice work! The client must have been thrilled when you handed that stuff over.

And I have to say that I am continually impressed by the images created with that stock lens. I almost held out for a more expensive lens, but we purchased two 500's so the budget wasn't there for the big-boys. I have no regrets.

[Sumfun]

Nice footage. Good color, too. Looks like you got to do some fun things.

[Guy_Cochran]

Excellent work Sean. I can appreciate the smoothness of your tracking on that bird shot. Wow! Gotta love the Miller :)

Are you still out on this gig? I may have an offer for you to test out a few filters and a mattebox from Formatt.

You'll have to stop by the new studio so we can check out these clips on the 17" Panny via HD-SDI.

I have the new KATA glove here too if you want to check that out on an HPX. Protection baby!

[xianchi]

Yeah man! The Miller rocks! That Osprey shot was shot from a small boat on Lake Quinault.

I am still out when the weather doesn't suck. They want all sunny shots... I hoping to to be mostly wrapped by the end of the month.

Does that mean I have the old Kata Glove? Or is it the CG-12?

I would love to check out some footage on the 17" and try out some mattebox/filter action. I'll bring my cam so you can check out the Zacuto rig I just got. I think you'll like it! I'll PM you to arrange something.

I really appreciate all the comments. It's nice to finally get some feedback... I had been a "All I can see are the mistakes" bubble for the last year.

Thanks everybody!!!

[pranic]

Having lived here for 8 years, I'm always amazed at the possibilities for beauty in Washington State. You captured some of the best moving imagery I've seen in video. Excellent work!


I had been a "All I can see are the mistakes" bubble for the last year

I know what that's like. Every time I shoot the footage that I edit, I'm overly critical, when both clients and the people I share my work with can't see any of the issues I feel bad about.

Thanks for sharing!

[Guy_Cochran]

Let me know when you're passing through up north in our neck of the woods. I have a demo Miller Pro Jib (http://www.miller.com.au/products.cfm?sectid=20&subsec=2020&productID=47) that I'll let you take for a spin on your next adventure. Works great with the HPX500!

http://www.miller.com.au/Images/ProductImages/Large/PI-711-01.jpg

[xianchi]

That looks like a good time!! Never used a Jib before should be fun!!

Looks like rain for us all next week so I might have a chance to come visit.

[walnutcrunch]

That is some beautiful footage. A couple of quick questions for you...

I also have the miller 25. I've been out doing the same type of shooting as you, but north, wayyyy north, I noticed when zoomed and especially with the extender. The camera was reading my pulse pretty well and for rock solid I had to take my hands off the tripod. Is that my twitchy self or pretty common.

Also what kind of polarizer did you use? Matte box or screw on like we have?
I noticed some significant colour changes with the polarizer that didn't seem to affect you. I'd white balance with it on, but still. It seems not going beyond ND2 with the polarizer on helped regularize the colour. What was your experience?

[xianchi]

Thanks walnutcrunch. Vancouver isn't waaaaaaay north but it does make Seattle seem like some backwater berg. I love the diversity there...

Anyway, yeah I get the shakes but I think that is normal without image stabilization. I rented a Sacthler DV20 for my HVX200 one time. It was a beast of a tripod but even with just the stock lens on the 200, when zoomed all the way in you get those shakes from handling the bar or camera. I just cut that part out when I can.

There is a shot in my WA reel towards the end of thousands of shorebirds flying by... I was using the 2x and shooting from a wooden boardwalk full of people. Whenever someone moved the image shakes. If you watch that clip carefully you can see what I mean. Otherwise, when I use the 2x I am usually zooming out and trim the very first part to get rid of the shake. Also, the SmoothCam filter does a great job of getting rid of unwanted camera movement. Just takes the edge off. SmoothCam wouldn't work on that shorebird though... to much movement. I pulled my hair out for awhile then decided it was fine.

I have had 2 different CirPols.. Hoya and B+W never saw a color shift with either of them. They were both in the $200-$250 range... ND1-ND4 no change. I just got a matte box and Schneider 4x4 filters and can't really tell the difference.

[walnutcrunch]

By wayyy north I mean shooting in Gwaii Haanas in the Queen Charlotte Islands.

I'm using a Formatt Crown circular polarizer. It's mostly good but I do get strange results at times. Setting exposure can be difficult. Of course it could all be user error.

I seem to remember something about ND filters and the polarizer combining to offset the balance with the amount of IR hitting the sensor and thus causing colour problems. Could be a bunch of hooey though. Personally I have no way to explain why sometimes big vistas with the polarizer knock my socks off, and other times the colour is just funny.

Shooting the forest/ocean stuff like you were I found light temp was anywhere from 6.3K, sometimes 6.8K to the usual 5.6K. It seemed getting a 5.6K was the best bet at all times.

[xianchi]

That is waaaaay north and WOW! That looks amazing!!!

I would love to see some footage and if you ever need a another shooter let me know!!

Every outdoor shot in that reel was shot at 5.6 -1temp ... I leave my WB "A preset" at 5.6 and manage to leave it that way... most of the time.

I know other people use 70% or 95% Zebras, I leave mine at 100% and on all the time. I find it is easy to judge exposure that way. Don't know why the polarizer would make color or exposure issues... Maybe you can track down another one for comparison?

[wilsonhvx]

wow! that looked really really good. Not to insult the State of Washington Tourism Bureau, but when I was in Seattle this summer, I saw their "Visit Washington" reel and this blew it away by far!

BTW- Have you ever gone down to Canon Beach, directly west of Portland?

[Blemange3000]

Xianchi,

Did you use an SD or HD lens for this? If it was an SD lens, where is the horrible chromatic aberration we keep hearing about from the camera stores? I didn't see any kind of CA, banding, or other artifacts they warn us about. Do you own an HD lens, and does it make a dramatic difference in quality?

Good images; very nice shot setups.

[xianchi]

I'm going to have to check out that "Visit Washington" reel to see what you are saying... I haven't been down to Canon beach or any part of the Oregon coast but I have heard that it is amazing down there. Here in Washington the coast is hit and miss...

The lens I am shooting with is the kit lens... Fuji XA17x7.6 2X which is a low end HD lens. I would look into some of the SD lenses now, if I was in the market to start over. People have been posting some really nice results with older Canon SD lenses.