Patryk_Rebisz
Veteran
STILLS:
http://www.catchingthefever.com/film_stills.html
The first time around i got to play with this camera was just after it came out when i was getting ready to shoot a low budget feature. Back then i found the noise issue to be too much to handle so we settled on Varicam instead.
In mean time working on various productions i was "forced" to use HVX200 and started liking this camera more and more.
A month ago i started shooting yet another low budget feature where the production already owned HVX200 plus FireStore so it was the only option and format so rather then fighting with the windmills i accepted reality and set upon squeezing as much a possible from this little cam. So here you will find a few observations (shot at 720p straight into FireStore at 24p):
1. Noise IS there. There is just no way around it and you simply have to accept it. You can reason it that people would notice higher resolution over noise so instead of bitching start loving the idea that at such affordable price you can produce images of such high resolution.
2. Camera has spectacular latitude! I didn't do any scientific comparisons but even compared with DVX100 the camera falls off so beautifully. Often even with zebra set at 100 places that showed overexposure still managed to retain some color information. Wow, WOW! I mean you still have to be careful with lighting and carelessness will make video-y-looking image but if you are careful you can create such splendid images -- something between DVX100 and Varicam/CineAlta.
3. Compression is really incredibly mild. It was such pleasure not having to worry about colors being too oversaturated. At the same time you have to be careful to remember that you are STILL working with compressed format. In one of the scenes i was foolish enough to forget that and gelling the lights with full red which produced noticeable compression steepiness where red meets black.
4. I thought that focus with this camera is something of a myth: "Yeah sure you need to focus but don't have to be too exact." Thank God that my AC was so careful about taking the correct distance readings and pulling the focus or otherwise the footage would not be sharp. You need to use measuring tape to get the distance and use that distance as your reference -- the flipout screen (or even a small monitor) are useless with such high resolution.
So there you have it. Affordable HD!!!
http://www.catchingthefever.com/film_stills.html
The first time around i got to play with this camera was just after it came out when i was getting ready to shoot a low budget feature. Back then i found the noise issue to be too much to handle so we settled on Varicam instead.
In mean time working on various productions i was "forced" to use HVX200 and started liking this camera more and more.
A month ago i started shooting yet another low budget feature where the production already owned HVX200 plus FireStore so it was the only option and format so rather then fighting with the windmills i accepted reality and set upon squeezing as much a possible from this little cam. So here you will find a few observations (shot at 720p straight into FireStore at 24p):
1. Noise IS there. There is just no way around it and you simply have to accept it. You can reason it that people would notice higher resolution over noise so instead of bitching start loving the idea that at such affordable price you can produce images of such high resolution.
2. Camera has spectacular latitude! I didn't do any scientific comparisons but even compared with DVX100 the camera falls off so beautifully. Often even with zebra set at 100 places that showed overexposure still managed to retain some color information. Wow, WOW! I mean you still have to be careful with lighting and carelessness will make video-y-looking image but if you are careful you can create such splendid images -- something between DVX100 and Varicam/CineAlta.
3. Compression is really incredibly mild. It was such pleasure not having to worry about colors being too oversaturated. At the same time you have to be careful to remember that you are STILL working with compressed format. In one of the scenes i was foolish enough to forget that and gelling the lights with full red which produced noticeable compression steepiness where red meets black.
4. I thought that focus with this camera is something of a myth: "Yeah sure you need to focus but don't have to be too exact." Thank God that my AC was so careful about taking the correct distance readings and pulling the focus or otherwise the footage would not be sharp. You need to use measuring tape to get the distance and use that distance as your reference -- the flipout screen (or even a small monitor) are useless with such high resolution.
So there you have it. Affordable HD!!!
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