Panasonic HVX200 for short film advice.

[xavier33]

Hello gentleman,


I am planing to shoot my first short on a Panasonic HVX200, I am looking for advise as far is approaching the film motion and look, camera settings as well. I had read articles about shooting 60! to later convert to 24p, is ti better than shooting straight 24p?. Also the HD format, can anyone post any experiences with 10801, 1080p, 720p and their frame rates?.


Thanks in advance. :thumbup:

[berlinfool]

It depends how you want to deliver it.
If you want the best flexibility during production choose 720 pn which will give you 40 min of recording time on a 16GB card and access to all frame rates. It's probably the most popular format among HVX owners. Great for DVD and Blue Ray.
If you want better quality, film look and the ability to transfer to film shoot in 1080 24p. You won't be able to use any other frame rates and the recording time on a 16GB card would be 16 min.
1080 30p is great for music video and commercials and for streaming video.
Don't shoot in 60i if you want film look.

[robmneilson]

Definitely shoot in 1080, and if you need to utilize other frame rates you're gonna have to do it in 720, but it won't be a huge deal if its only for a shot here and there.

Look up how to hack the frame rates for the HVX as well and go to town!

[David Jimerson]

Never shoot in 60i with intention to convert to 24p later (except for slomo, but that's a moot point with variable frame rates). I know that advice makes the rounds, but it's really, really bad advice given by people who have no idea what they're talking about.

[berlinfool]

It's alway best to do some tests before shooting.
Sit down with the director and discuss the scene file settings as well. They play an important role in the look of the end product.
Barry Green's book and DVDs are a fantastic source of information concerning scene files.

Definitely shoot in 1080, and if you need to utilize other frame rates you're gonna have to do it in 720, but it won't be a huge deal if its only for a shot here and there.

Only shoot in 1080p if you really, really need the quality. If you are only shooting for DVD, 720 is already overkill.
I noticed that the right lighting will do more for the quality of the picture than the actual resolution.
The HVX200 loves a lot of light.

[robmneilson]

720 is fine, but since alot of festivals are now projecting HDcam I'd go for the 1080 and have to deal with more storage space. Unless your shooting a doc and need to max out your P2 cards I dont understand why anyone would want to shoot at a lower resolution.

[David Jimerson]

Shooting 720 isn't "overkill" for SD. There's a lot more to it than just an array of pixels.

[berlinfool]

You're right David.
Bad choice of words. It works actually great for DVDs.
And it's a great format to shoot with the HVX.


don't understand why anyone would want to shoot at a lower resolution

When you have a low/no budget production, storage is still an issue. Especially if you have to work fast and own just one P2 card.

But yes, if storage doesn't matter 1080 is the superior choice.

[Filmbuff28]

Just make sure that if you do shoot 1080 and you are using a mac to shoot at 24pA (advanced) since the advanced format is supported by Final Cut but the regular 24p is not.

[xavier33]

Hello,

1080 24p will give me the best picture quality and motion? I do have 5T of storage, the editing part will be done on Avid Media Composer 3.0. By the way, I had test the 1080 24p recording of the JVC GY-HD100 and I was not satisfied, you have to be careful and not make sudden movements, because you get something like image trails.

[David Jimerson]

1080p will give you the highest spatial resolution and least compression.

[berlinfool]

If you use 24p there will be an effect called "strobing".
If you pan too fast, the image will stutter, because the image recording can't keep up with the movement. You have to make sure to move the camera slowly.
For example:
If you pan the HVX 90 degrees with zoom 47 (10mm) you will need to make the pan last 36 seconds to avoid strobing.
This issue also applies to the most expensive film cameras, since they're also recording 24 fps.

You can trick the viewer by following a moving object so the strobing applies only to the background.

In general it is better to compose your movie out of static and slow moving shots (in my opinion).