Synchro-Scan w/ND vs. Fixed Shutter - Sunny

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digo

New member
I have some newb questions with my HVX regarding shooting in bright conditions and am curious to get some opinions.

I was shooting some footage this morning outside and it was rather bright even though the sun was behind a thick shield of clouds, (it had just snowed).

When I was attempting to shoot in Synchro scan at 180.0d everything was blown out with the iris relatively open. To avoid this, I switched on a ND filter and dropped the iris down to around 8 or so and it seemed to work well.

However I took some other shots with a fixed shutter set around 1/500 with the iris again around 8 or 6.8 with no ND filter. To my eye the shots with the fixed shutter turned out nicer.

I am planning on shooting a short road movie which would take place outside on desert highways using a lot of inescapable natural sunlight. I was planning to shoot around 180 or 200d to give it more of a "film" look but this, as I am finding out, would require the ND filter to be permantely switched ON.

My question to whoever reads this post is this; When shooting outside in bright conditions, and to achieve a filmic feel which is better? synchro scan w/ND filter, or fixed shutter speed. What are the downsides, if any, to shooting with a neutral density filter?

Thanks any advance to anyone who posts!
 
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no down side to ND filters - its all a matter of choice

lower shutter speed like 1/500 makes for more stuttery motion - 180d at 24p is a shutter of 1/48 - which is smoother motion - this is the standard shutter speed (not meaning the best - just the most used)
 
Normally you would use the iris to control exposure; in a video (or film) camera you don't want to go changing the shutter unless you know exactly what you're doing and what effect it will have on the image.

So, iris and/or ND filters to bring an overexposed image into proper exposure range.
 
Barry must be tired :laugh:

Iris adjusts exposure and helps to control depth of field - use a more open iris for a shallower depth of field (albeit only a bit on the hvx).

And yes - always avoid iris settings over 5.6 unless you have no choice - the hvx is missing one ND filter it should have of .6 - occasionally you get shoe horned into using a stop over 5.6 because of that
 
The loss in sharpness only serioulsy affects the camera past f9.6. To my knowledge any effect before this is undetectable, beyond this, I recall Barry saying its a dramatic drop in sharpness of 15% or thereabouts.
 
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