some more HPX500 footage

Having lived here for 8 years, I'm always amazed at the possibilities for beauty in Washington State. You captured some of the best moving imagery I've seen in video. Excellent work!

I had been a "All I can see are the mistakes" bubble for the last year
Click to expand...

I know what that's like. Every time I shoot the footage that I edit, I'm overly critical, when both clients and the people I share my work with can't see any of the issues I feel bad about.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Let me know when you're passing through up north in our neck of the woods. I have a demo Miller Pro Jib that I'll let you take for a spin on your next adventure. Works great with the HPX500!

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That looks like a good time!! Never used a Jib before should be fun!!

Looks like rain for us all next week so I might have a chance to come visit.
 
That is some beautiful footage. A couple of quick questions for you...

I also have the miller 25. I've been out doing the same type of shooting as you, but north, wayyyy north, I noticed when zoomed and especially with the extender. The camera was reading my pulse pretty well and for rock solid I had to take my hands off the tripod. Is that my twitchy self or pretty common.

Also what kind of polarizer did you use? Matte box or screw on like we have?
I noticed some significant colour changes with the polarizer that didn't seem to affect you. I'd white balance with it on, but still. It seems not going beyond ND2 with the polarizer on helped regularize the colour. What was your experience?
 
Thanks walnutcrunch. Vancouver isn't waaaaaaay north but it does make Seattle seem like some backwater berg. I love the diversity there...

Anyway, yeah I get the shakes but I think that is normal without image stabilization. I rented a Sacthler DV20 for my HVX200 one time. It was a beast of a tripod but even with just the stock lens on the 200, when zoomed all the way in you get those shakes from handling the bar or camera. I just cut that part out when I can.

There is a shot in my WA reel towards the end of thousands of shorebirds flying by... I was using the 2x and shooting from a wooden boardwalk full of people. Whenever someone moved the image shakes. If you watch that clip carefully you can see what I mean. Otherwise, when I use the 2x I am usually zooming out and trim the very first part to get rid of the shake. Also, the SmoothCam filter does a great job of getting rid of unwanted camera movement. Just takes the edge off. SmoothCam wouldn't work on that shorebird though... to much movement. I pulled my hair out for awhile then decided it was fine.

I have had 2 different CirPols.. Hoya and B+W never saw a color shift with either of them. They were both in the $200-$250 range... ND1-ND4 no change. I just got a matte box and Schneider 4x4 filters and can't really tell the difference.
 
By wayyy north I mean shooting in Gwaii Haanas in the Queen Charlotte Islands.

I'm using a Formatt Crown circular polarizer. It's mostly good but I do get strange results at times. Setting exposure can be difficult. Of course it could all be user error.

I seem to remember something about ND filters and the polarizer combining to offset the balance with the amount of IR hitting the sensor and thus causing colour problems. Could be a bunch of hooey though. Personally I have no way to explain why sometimes big vistas with the polarizer knock my socks off, and other times the colour is just funny.

Shooting the forest/ocean stuff like you were I found light temp was anywhere from 6.3K, sometimes 6.8K to the usual 5.6K. It seemed getting a 5.6K was the best bet at all times.
 
That is waaaaay north and WOW! That looks amazing!!!

I would love to see some footage and if you ever need a another shooter let me know!!

Every outdoor shot in that reel was shot at 5.6 -1temp ... I leave my WB "A preset" at 5.6 and manage to leave it that way... most of the time.

I know other people use 70% or 95% Zebras, I leave mine at 100% and on all the time. I find it is easy to judge exposure that way. Don't know why the polarizer would make color or exposure issues... Maybe you can track down another one for comparison?
 
wow! that looked really really good. Not to insult the State of Washington Tourism Bureau, but when I was in Seattle this summer, I saw their "Visit Washington" reel and this blew it away by far!

BTW- Have you ever gone down to Canon Beach, directly west of Portland?
 
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Did you use an SD lens for this?

Did you use an SD lens for this?

Xianchi,

Did you use an SD or HD lens for this? If it was an SD lens, where is the horrible chromatic aberration we keep hearing about from the camera stores? I didn't see any kind of CA, banding, or other artifacts they warn us about. Do you own an HD lens, and does it make a dramatic difference in quality?

Good images; very nice shot setups.
 
I'm going to have to check out that "Visit Washington" reel to see what you are saying... I haven't been down to Canon beach or any part of the Oregon coast but I have heard that it is amazing down there. Here in Washington the coast is hit and miss...

The lens I am shooting with is the kit lens... Fuji XA17x7.6 2X which is a low end HD lens. I would look into some of the SD lenses now, if I was in the market to start over. People have been posting some really nice results with older Canon SD lenses.
 
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