Shooting a day on the water

J

juanck

New member
Hello everyone. I'm a video editor with very limited videography experience. I'm new to the DVX100b and I just ordered the DVX Book. I'm in the process of absorbing all that info but I have an upcoming shoot that I'm hoping to get some advice for.

I'll be going out to the Florida Keys, hanging out on boats, and shooting boats on the water. Can anyone suggest some camera settings that will help me get a great image?

:dankk2:, Juanck

By the way, has anyone checked this out: An easy way to build a mini35. I'm going to attempt it. Has anyone built this thing before?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2166317/Film-Production-Guide
 
juanck said:
Hello everyone. I'm a video editor with very limited videography experience. I'm new to the DVX100b and I just ordered the DVX Book. I'm in the process of absorbing all that info but I have an upcoming shoot that I'm hoping to get some advice for.

I'll be going out to the Florida Keys, hanging out on boats, and shooting boats on the water. Can anyone suggest some camera settings that will help me get a great image?
Click to expand...

Well, that depends on what kind of "great image" you want. Are you shooting 60i (standard video), 24P, 24PA, or 30p?

But long story short, set your zebras to 80% and keep them on. It's all about proper white balance and exposure. High-speed action shots may benefit from higher shutter speeds, but everything else should use slower speeds or just keep the shutter speed function off.

White balance every time the lighting changes (from noon to afternoon, to evening, from sunny to cloudy, or if you move into the shade).

Keep your exposure hot enough that the zebras just start to show on the whites.

And please do not neglect your audio. Make sure that you wear headphones, get an external mic and avoid the built-ins (they're mostly useless), and have plenty of windscreening for the mic.

juanck said:
By the way, has anyone checked this out: An easy way to build a mini35. I'm going to attempt it. Has anyone built this thing before?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2166317/Film-Production-Guide
Click to expand...

That looks really chintzy, and completely awkward for shooting. Good for novelty's sake, but carrying your camera around on a sheet of plywood might not inspire the greatest confidence from your clients. There are some better DIY solutions that look much more impressive... and professionsl.
 
Thank you both for the help. This information is very useful. As much as I'd like to shoot at 24P for the look, I might need to shoot at a higher frame rate to get the action I want. I'm going to try to stay away from interlaced video. I want a soft and pretty look to glorify the boating lifestyle in a romantic way. I want it to look as much as film as possible. I'm planning on picking up some ND filters, polarizing, UV, and wide and telephoto lenses. I quickly browsed Ebay and saw all sorts of packages. I obviously want to spend as less money as possible and get some useful tools. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Also, is there anything else I should consider getting other than what I mentioned?

On a side note, I'm having a blast with the awesome camera and this site kicks butt!
 
Beware cheap ebay filters. Cheap filters can kill your image. For Circular Polarizer and UV, go with something like B+W, Schneider, Tiffen, or Formatt. Do not cheap out on filters.

Now, there was recently a good find on lens adapters...
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=163771

You can still shoot some pretty action at 24PA. Cruise around the DVX footage forum and see what folks are doing with it!
 
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