Greenscreen capabilities of HVX200 (DVCPRO HD)

[fiercecurry]

Hi,

I am getting ready to do some greenscreen with the HVX200, possibly.
The footage will need to match 35mm, and I am wondering if the HVX will hold up
and allow for good keying, provided the greenscreen is light properly.

The other option is the Varicam, however it is also DVCPRO HD, and I am not sure
what i will gain from that camera in this scenario, besides possibly a sharper image?

The end product will be a SD commericial, and the elements to be composited will
only take up 30% of the image. And of course they will be scaled down from HD res
to SD.

For color correction to match the telecined 35mm footage I will use Shake,
and for keying either After Effects or Shake.

I just need info on the capabilities of the 2 cameras (HVX200 vs Varicam) and the DVCPRO HD codec, regarding keying/compositing.

Any suggestions or past examples would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[Jim Arthurs]

I think you'll be pleased with the quality.

There are many great examples posted on this forum by fellow users, do a quick search with "green screen" or "blue screen". Here are a few links to some of my contributions in this area with the HVX...

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?p=586282#post586282

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=58926

http://www.imageshoppe.com/HVX_bluescreen2.html

As to the Varicam... I don't think you'll see much improvement in the area of keying, just some general camera pluses from the larger chips and better lenses. And even then, it's a draw when you factor in shooting 1080p with the HVX and just scaling down to 720p. While the native 1080 that the HVX produces is only close to full raster 1280 by 720 in actual rez, that in itself is better than Varicam recorded can ever be...

Regards,

Jim Arthurs

[filmstox]

I agree with Jim. I've been shooting a considerable amount of green screen with the HVX over the past few months and it has exceeded my expectations on all but one occasion.

The one shoot that produced less then ideal results was as much the fault of the production as it was a fault in the camera. I was hired to shoot on a prelit green screen on a borrowed stage at the last minute. When I showed up, the "green" screen was blue and the "prelit" was a couple of 2K zip lights for a 12x16 screen! Needless to say, the underlit screen on the noisiest chanel of the HVX was less than ideal. With a little roto work I was able to lift an acceptable matte but I was pretty pissed walking away from the shoot.

Everything else I've been shooting has been Chroma Green or Digi Green with ample light (either outdoors or an appropriate amount of kino) and the results have been fantastic. Mostly I've been shooting 1080 24P for downres to 720 24PN projects. Downresing to SD yields beautiful results and I agree that the VariCam will give you very little benifit over the HVX, certainly not enough benifit to warant the extra cost. The only thing I could see making the VariCam worth the money is if you are forced into a situation like I described above, where the extra 2 stops of exposure would be very helpful.

Happy shooting,
-filmstox

[fiercecurry]

thanks for the info guys.

Sounds like the HVX will be good enough for the job.