shooting tropical scenics with dvx100a ?

J

jamie2666

New member
Been reading the posts and watching the videos on here for the last month or so and I'm quite impressed, so impressed in fact that my dvx100a just was delivered today. I am, however, in some dire need of tips from other dvx100a users that have shot outdoors. All my career I have shot on betacam, for television and corporate video production. I leave for Belize in less then a week to shoot a tourism video for one of the islands so I bought the dvx100a because I am essential a "tourist" and "tourist" don't pack 25 pound d30 betacams with them. So that being said, this being a tropical destination with a lot of color, what are the best settings to use on the dvx100a to achieve the best looking shots ? I am thinking of sticking with 30fps, as I have no time to learn 24P shooting techniques before I leave, and frankly it scares me right now :) I do have the manual with it but I have found that in this field i have learned the most from other cameramen or directors, so any tips or tricks anyone has would be muchly appreciated.....and please correct me if I am wrong but the colors are going to look more vibrant on 30fps ? rather then 24P ?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can share their expertise with me, as usual I've left buying the camera to the last minute and really have limited time now to play around with it.

Cheers!
 
I think the color is going to be pretty close between the two. I would say shoot 24p, but shooting 30p is also a very viable option.

The best suggestion I can give you is to find a way to get Barry's book overnighted to you. This is probably the singlemost import fountain of info on the DVX and will help you in leaps and bounds.
 
>I have no time to learn 24P shooting techniques before I leave, and frankly it scares me right now

Dude, trust me, there is nothing to learn, you just do it! To the untrained eye, especially those who are used to "video", the only complaint likely is that the image might appear a little "smeary", but that is only a subjective impression of the 24p or film-style look. As for exposeure or editing or anything else, treat it like 30fps video. It is operationally the same.

For stuff like that I carry a bogen light weight tripod like this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...s&Q=&sku=272631&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

It's small for packing and unobtrusive, yet sturdy enough and has a decent fluid (like) head.

As for the colors, they should appear the same if it is 24p or 30p. I would use a polo filter if you want to make those colors nice and rich. If you know how to use a polo, then get a linear, otherwise use a circular.

Belieze huh? I'm jealous!
 
Like J wrote: A polarizing filter will be MUST!!

Tiffen is a good place to start (as a brand), then B+W, then Heliopan.

Get the best one you can aford, possibly a cheapo one as a back-up.

Oh, one more thing: get a polarizing filter.
 
Another good filter to get would be an ND grad. I use them a lot of my outdoor photography and they really help even out the detail between a hot sky and something like a jungle below.

Definately get a polarizer.
 
thanks everyone, I think the reason I shy away from the 24P is simply because of being stuck in "video" for years and years and years :) far too long, the one thing I have heard locally from guys with the dvx100 was issues with panning in 24P and a stutter, but like i said I haven't had enough time to play with the mode. But the first thing I did buy, even before the camera got here, was a polarizer cause I knew I shouldn't be without that.

The one thing though that got me to post was reading in the manual about all the internal settings for each scene, like the chroma, detail, gamma, etc, do you guys tweak those ? or just leave them in the factory set mode and fine tune in post, or as the saying I hate in this office goes " just fix it in post " . Anyways thanks again everyone, I think I just have this comfort zone because I've only shot with sony's, betacam and DVCAM. But like i said in my first post, I am just blown away by some of the clips posted up on this site as far as look goes, incredible. I think I'll shoot both 24P and 30fps down there, doesn't hurt to get both I decide later. And then promptly buy barrys book when I get back, seems like a must have tool for the dvx.

Thanks again!
 
That was beautiful Overland. Good luck Jaime. The scenery looks like it'll be doing most of your work for you, you'll do fine.
 
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