So I just got my XL2....

Rylan Zolinski

Rylan Zolinski

Well-known member
So far, everything I shoot looks like crap. Is the XL2's image always so soft looking? Any presets you'd like to share so I can try them out? I KNOW it's me that is making the footage look worse than home movies. But like I said, I just got the camera and I am testing out different settings and I was wondering if you can spare a few presets so I can try them out. Anything at this point will look better than what I have so far...
 
I was always happy with my footage with +3 or 4 colour gain and black set to press and/or master ped -2 or 3. This will increase your contrast and make for punchier colours. When you say "soft" what exactly do you mean? What sort of shots look soft? Backgrounds on wide shots will always look soft (in sd), but otherwise the xl2 is known for its sharp lens.

The most fun I had with the cam was zooming in 10 - 15 times and playing with shallow depth of field...

eg

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/showphoto.php/photo/2120/size/big/cat/500/ppuser/991

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/showphoto.php/photo/2108/cat/500/size/big/ppuser/991
 
When I mean soft, I mean the opposite of sharp. All of the footage that I shoot looks like this.

As for Dvinfo, I made an account on there and it will not let me log in anymore.
 
Morox said:
As for Dvinfo, I made an account on there and it will not let me log in anymore.
Click to expand...

DVinfo require you use your Real name for your account. Make sure you are signed up with a Real name.

- Mikko
 
I think I figured out the problem. I was using a craptastic program (Windows Movie Maker) to import my video from the camera. It seems as if the program completely butchers the video. I hooked up my camera to the t.v and it looked much, much better.
 
OMG...dont use WMM lol. The next book on Video Software or w/e should have a chapter on reasons not to use WMM. Its absolutely terrible, glad you found that was your problem.

-Kyle
 
Yeah, I was really worried for a second. Right now, I am using Adobe Premiere and it's a lot better than WMM. But anyhow, is there any other recommended programs out there?
 
So far, I am quite pleased with the XL2. My only gripe is that I can not seem to make anything have that cinema look. I know the DVX is very capable of this, but I can't seem to get the same feeling with the XL2. Any pointers? I have messed around with the settings and checked out a few custom presets but it always turns out looking quite plain.
 
I've got both the DVX & XL2 and let me tell you right now; you cannot match the DVX's film look with the XL2.
The XL2 seems to add some kind of motion blur when shooting in progressive mode which the DVX does not. This makes the progressive cadence still look somewhat videoey.
 
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beziermask said:
I've got both the DVX & XL2 and let me tell you right now; you cannot match the DVX's film look with the XL2.
The XL2 seems to add some kind of motion blur when shooting in progressive mode which the DVX does not. This makes the progressive cadence still look somewhat videoey.
Click to expand...

I feared this. I wanted this camera specifically for making independant films without getting a home-movie look and footage is looking nothing but that.
 
beziermask said:
I've got both the DVX & XL2 and let me tell you right now; you cannot match the DVX's film look with the XL2.
The XL2 seems to add some kind of motion blur when shooting in progressive mode which the DVX does not. This makes the progressive cadence still look somewhat videoey.
Click to expand...

Hi Beziermask. I'm guessing you are in PAL-land, because the default shutter speed in 25p mode on the XL2 is 1/25s for some strange reason. This is why you will see motion blur (it is 1/48s at 24p on the NTSC models). Try changing the shutter speed to 1/50s and see if you like it better.
 
Yes I thought it was a bit strange why the default shutter is 1/25, yet NTSC models were double the frame rate. Ultimately I need to match the cadence of my DVX because I use both cams on the same shoots. I'll try 1/50 on the time line to see if it's any better.

Thanks for the tip jaegersing.
 
Ah, thank you.

Just a quick question here. Every time that I have filmed something, I immediately hook it up to my t.v and check the footage out and so far, I have been pleased. I am shooting something until I find that it's worthy enough to transfer onto my computer and edit it. My question is this: If I import my videos from my camera into a program (let's say Adobe Premiere), it won't butcher any of the video, will it? I mean, will the footage look as good as when I immediately hook my XL2 up to my t.v comapred to when I edit it in a program and burn it to dvd? Or will it sacrifice any quality putting the footage on my computer?
 
Hi Morox. You don't mention how you are connecting everything together, but let's assume you are using firewire for the video capture into your PC. (If you're not, you should be.)

Since the XL2 records digital data onto miniDV tape, there is no degradation in quality at the video capture stage. The digital data is copied to your hard drive without loss.

Premiere allows you to totally butcher the video if that's what you want, but it also allows you to maintain very high quality. If you edit mainly by making cuts and don't have lots of effects, then the output should be very close to the input in terms of image quality.

BUT, if your final output is DVD, you have to go through an MPEG2 compression stage that can really screw up the quality if your compression settings are not correct. As a rough guide, if your DVD is one hour or less, you can set the encoding to 7Mbps CBR (constant bit rate) and you should get very good results. If you need a longer duration, things start getting more difficult and you will need a good encoder that works well at lower bit rates and also converts your audio to Dolby AC3 (to allow more space for video). I suggest you go one step at a time and try it out with a shorter DVD first.
 
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