How the heck does the HVX look like a still camera?

n8ture

n8ture

Veteran
Just got back from an extended trip in Yellowstone N.P.

I was amazed to hear all the comments about the HVX but two were that the camera takes great pictures.

When I told them it was a video camera they were surprised.

How can you confuse the HVX with mattebox as a still camera?

The only two that got it right was a crew shooting HPX500 who said "Look, it's our camera's little brother." and another crew shooting a high end Sony HD camera.

Not sure if people were sniffing to much geyser steam or what the deal was.
 
Kevin,
Did you run into any problems regarding permits while shooting in Yellowstone. I had read somewhere that the Park Service was clamping down on shooting with-in its facilities and raising the permit fees.

As far as confusing the HVX for a still camera... you just have to wonder about some people.

Jim
 
Jim Carswell said:
Did you run into any problems regarding permits while shooting in Yellowstone. I had read somewhere that the Park Service was clamping down on shooting with-in its facilities and raising the permit fees.
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I have been curious about this as well. I am headed to Yellowstone with my new HVX in September. From what I've read, if you are recording for personal enjoyment, then you do not have to obtain a permit. If you plan to profit from the film, you must obtain the permit. I really hope I do not get messed with.
 
Wow. I've never seen a still camera that even looks similar to the HVX. Perhaps they've never seen a video camera of that size - most consumer cams are much much smaller and perhaps the few pro cams they've seen are the larger over the shoulder varieties...
 
Dan,
When in September will you be in Yellowstone? I'm flying back around the 8th of September to do some more shooting. I can certainly show you some of my favorite haunts.

Anyway, I did have something weird happen while I was filming at Grand Prismatic Spring.
It was a quiet morning and I was sitting on one of the benches there doing a little filming but mostly taking in the scenery.

Jim,

I lug most of my gear in a LowePro Super Photo Trekker back from my still days.
If it's only a couple miles I put the HVX on the tripod, sling it over my shoulder and carry a Portabrace bag with P2 Store, extra batteries, filters etc.

A ranger came up and said it looked like a pretty nice camera I had. I thanked her then she asked if I was filming for myself etc. Well, technically I am so I said yeah.

The weird part was that I had an old shirt on from my still photography business days.
Well, I guess that wasn't the weird part. The weird part is that this woman in plain clothes started grilling me about my shirt.
"Is that your production company?" she asked. Just went on and on.
I said yeah, I used to shoot stills but this is an old shirt.

So, it almost came off like they had a spotter out there radioing in to the rangers when they see pro-like gear.

Course, all the 600f4 lenses trained on the coyote den which was like a circus like atmosphere were all amateurs. :)

The latest I've figured out is that if it's you with your camera and tripod you need to have a permit which will cost $200 and a $1,000,000 liability policy to film commercially. Any props etc can cause them to charge you location fees of $150 day/location as well as $65 an hour to have a ranger babysit you.

Course, they can consider a tripod, reflector etc a "prop."

I set up on the Old Faithful boardwalk right next to a Ranger. I nodded, he nodded and that was it.

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Tha's a nice shot Kevin, is that without cc? I will always remember my time in yellowstone, what a beautiful place. I had a Nikon SLR film camera with me. Got some amazing shots.
 
Jim,
That's with a grad ND, polarizer and a pretty saturated color scene file setting.

Same scene file settings on this one too. In fact, I pretty much never change my camera settings anymore.

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n8ture said:
Dan,
When in September will you be in Yellowstone? I'm flying back around the 8th of September to do some more shooting. I can certainly show you some of my favorite haunts.
Click to expand...


Jim,

I will be in the park from September 3rd through 15th (Old Faithful from the 5th to the 9th - Lake, Mammoth, and Canyon the other days). There is so much to shoot. I've only shot cheap SD in the past, so I pretty much want to record everything possible.

It's pretty crazy that they will not let you use a tripod without a permit. I really want to get some nice pan shots and obviously stabilize the best I can any geyser/hot spring and animal shots. I am not shooting commercially by any means. This trip is going to be my first with the HVX, so I plan it to be primarily a learning experience - and to create one hell of a vacation video.

I would love to hook up to exchange shooting locations and stories. Where do you plan on staying in the park?

Dan
 
Dan,
I usually stay at the Super 8 in Gardiner since I shoot so much in Lamar Valley.
It's across the street from Helen's Coral that has killer buffalo cheeseburgers. :)

Got some great footage of three coyotes chasing a black phased wolf away from their den, across the road and several miles down the valley.

I'll PM you and we'll see if we can't get you some killer footage!

If you're shooting for yourself, they're not going to require you to have a permit.
 
Kevin,
I'm headed to the Lamar Valley prior to the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival this year. We typically stay in Cooke City. I can't remember the name of the motel for the life of me... but it's clean and cheap and serves nicely as a temporary base location. After a couple days up there we'll head down to the festival at Jenny Lake Lodge. I can't wait to get back there. I can never get enough of the Lamar Valley.

Any chance of sharing those settings with us? Those are some incredible shots.
Jim
 
Kevin

I remeber your seetings from the wolves shot. Are you still taking the detail down to -3 and jacking up the coring?
 
bos,

I'm still jacking up the coring but I've bumped up the detail from-3 to -1 to +1 depending on what I'm shooting. I also dropped the master ped down to -8

If I can find it, I did shoot some footage of a grizzly bear in fog that I dumped the detail back down to -3. It looks like a painting. Turned out pretty cool.

So, I guess I lied, I guess I do fiddle with my settings a bit.

I actually have two saturated color scene files that are more detail and less detail. So I just switch between the two. Now I need to work on a setting for black bears. Dropping the master ped so low really blocks them up.
 
for the master ped, I leave the lens cap on, turn on the marker and take the master ped down to where the exposure is at 0. It is usually around -3. This is a trick David Tamas pointed out a while ago.

I have been at -3 on the detail ever since I saw your wolves shot, something about a the higher detail level that says video to me. It definitely is subjective though.
 
I probably drop the detail for wildlife and bump it for scenics.

If you look at the wolf footage, you'll see most of it was shot in very soft overcast conditions.

Here's a shot when the sun peeked out with the detail at -3. I think it looks totally different than the shots in overcast snowy conditions.

1181788090.jpg
 
That's a great shot, I think there is plenty of detail in the hair. Which reminds me, I have to take some steaks out of the freezer for tomorrow.
 
Hello N8ture,
Nice shot of the wolf. Do you have wolves or did you shoot this footage at a wolf facility?
 
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