"The Regret" HVX/M2/Zeiss Lenses

dantewaters said:
The article you're writing will be available on the web?
Also What are you using to monitor your HD footage
To keep it as sharp as possible ?
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i constantly check focus during and inbetween takes, im kinda a nazi about it. I use the evf detail and peaking alot and always use the eye piece in black and white for exposure and contrast gaging. everyonce in a while i pop out my light meter and I also use the marker function in the camera to check luminance in the picture. Ideally a large monitor is nice as well as a waveform, but those things arent always nesseraily practical with a small crew or budget.
 
So you used the new Zeiss ZF (Nikon Mount) lenses?

How did you like them. What focal lengths did you use most?

Very Beautiful Piece.
 
garydxd said:
So you used the new Zeiss ZF (Nikon Mount) lenses?

How did you like them. What focal lengths did you use most?

Very Beautiful Piece.
Click to expand...

yes. They are beautiful, both in their construction and image quality. Very fast and sharp.

We used 50mm and 85mm the most. We used the 35mm a bit and had a 25mm, 100mm Makro and 50mm Makro as well. Basically the whole set :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

They were given to us on loan for the project from Zeiss
 
Nathan: nice work with the camera. Color was nice and rich without being oversaturated; full dynamic range without obvious blow-outs or crushing.

I'm just getting my legs with a new HVX this month (been shooting with a DVX for almost three years), and am curious how much on-camera tweaking you had to do to get your fine results from the HVX.

Were you able to achieve most of your look in camera, or did you/Michael tweak color/gamma/exposure a lot/some/not-at-all in post?

Thanks for sharing your work!

--Hans
 
Hans,

Used cine-like color setting in camera. It added some noise but we liked the look. The locations were rich in color already: red brick, fire, stained glass, foliage. Nothing was oversaturated when I brought it into FCP except for fire in forge, which is to be expected. Did very little to first dolly shot outside church, low angle on church tower I warmed up a little to match the first shot because we actually shot it first and the sun was sinking and the light was getting warmer, dolly to pew in church I did little to, forge fire I desaturated a little, his angles in forge are the same, holy water scene I desaturated a little and made a little cooler, it looks a little too desaturated on-line but I like it on DVD, I increased the reds a touch on the outside of the factory, sky was a little hot on angle down the tracks so used color corrector to pinpoint that area and bring it down, I'm amazed at what that can bring back, the steps are the same, him coming up hill to church I thought the green grass was too vibrant and distracted from the foliage so I used color corrector to take just that element down, I warmed up the stone highlights a touch on the dolly into the door handles, desaturated last two interior shots a little and brightened them. They were even darker to begin with! We were going for a dim seductive mysterious look inside and went a touch far. I'm thankful Nate put the highlight on top of her blond hair so we can follow what's happening.

Michael
 
Brad,

Thank you for sharing the film. Nate can be a rock star if he wants. Personally, I'm trying to figure out the logistics of what exactly is involved in becoming a recluse.

Michael
 
Hi Micheal and Nathan,

Nice work ! The composition is really nice and lighting and the color tone is beautiful, sharp as well.

"Used cine-like color setting in camera."

One question Nathan, you 've shot using cine-like color setting with no tweaking (gamma, details, etc...) at all from scene file 6, if I understand ?

C'est du bon cinéma, Bravo !
 
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Thank you, Shadow. Pretty sure this is what we went with, though I don't have the HVX right in front of me. It was 0 or norm or off if not mentioned here:

all details +3
master ped (varied, usually around -5)
gamma: cine-like V
matrix: cine-like

Best,

Michael
 
i like cine v a lot, as there is not much noise at all and it tends to produce the image that requires the least amount of correction in post. A lot of people here live by BPress, but the grain difference between b and v is almost unoticeable and b is definitely a different quality dark than v. B does offer more latitude for correction in post, but i always am very pleased with the raw images from v.

if you look at this reel -
http://www.urbanrhinovisual.com/viewer.html

It's all HVX200 and all raw images from the camera, with the exception of 1 car shot that has a little bit of correction.

Michael also mentioned that for the most part the images in "The Regret" were raw as well - with a few being tweak for saturation or brightness
 
I have seen alot of work on this site and others, and this is by far some of the best footage ever. period. You guys give me a lot to work toward.
 
Hey nathan, just a quickie question about the footage in "The Regret"... what was your average aperture and shutter speed inside and outside, and how much did you vary it, if at all? Sorry if this has already been asked, I'm in the middle of a film shoot and we're trying to get some cleaner images... like yours... haha.
 
I treat the redrock like the p+s technik

usually leaving the camera aperture as wide open as possible in order to minimize the chance the of seeing the glass, by having the lease amount of depth possible. Granted this isn't always possible for exposure reasons and speed on set.

we used an nd .9 in the mattebox for the wider outside shots and grads on a few as well.

Shutter was always on 180º - For a couple of shots we filmed at 32 and 36fps. The actors also moved slowly in most of the 24fps shots as well.

Aperture varied greatly - Outside I'd say that we were probably at a 5.6 and 8 a lot. I try not to go above 8 on the lenses for the same reason i try to leave the camera as open as possible. Inside we were usually between 1.4 and 4. We were wide open more often than not. Not because we wanted the shallow depth of field, but because it was the only way to get exposure with the lights and time we had.

I actually like to try to use the adapter in a way so that every shot isn't necessarily an example of DOF, but so that it is appropriate for the shot. Sometimes that just isn't possible.
When ever I have the light and the shot calls for it, I stop down as much as I can ---- which is probably why some of this stuff looks sharper than most others -- simply because I'm not always shooting wideopen and because I like to be spot on in focus! If I'm not Michael whips me and we do it again. Even 27 times if we have to!
 
Hi Nathan,

I was curious about your M2 setup, are you using the hardmount and if so what are your focus and zoom settings? Have you adjusted the motor or ground glass at all? I ask because your images seem pretty optimal. Maybe it's the Zeiss lenses though.
 
Rambos said:
Hi Nathan,

I was curious about your M2 setup, are you using the hardmount and if so what are your focus and zoom settings? Have you adjusted the motor or ground glass at all? I ask because your images seem pretty optimal. Maybe it's the Zeiss lenses though.
Click to expand...

Yup - I am using the hard mount setup. I think everyone should, for the $35 it be ridiculous to shoot without it. I have adjusted the motor and ground glass, in fact I incessantly play with it. Usually just to get the exact back focus for nikons so I can more readily rely on the lens marks, though sometimes for edge softness and shutter testing.

Though the film at the link below is the first thing I shot with my M2. In fact it arrived only the evening before. So this was done with the very first setup, out of the box with a handful of used nikon and nikkors I picked up

http://urbanrhinovisual.com/presents/fisher/index.html

The image looked great then too. The Zeiss lenses are very sharp and fast, and have better color consistency - but focus is focus.

For comparison - This was shot same setup, but with Zeiss
http://urbanrhinovisual.com/presents/fisher/shell.html
 
I'm curious as to how you dealt with the upside down image from the M2? A pic would help if you took one during production. thanks
 
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