1st Production on the water! Sweated the Workflow!

fielddominance

fielddominance

Active member
Hello HVXers,

Just shot my first paying film with the HVX...

Synopsis-

Job- boat demonstration film

location- South Biscayne Bay, Homestead, FL

description- Capt. Dave Sutton demos the new 2006 Panga 22 LX boat. Capt. Dave gives you a demonstration of boat & it's features. Talking head, product shot, running, fishing, etc...

Distribution- Internet & DVD

Gear-
HVX
2- 8 gig cards
no filters even thou I use a True-Pol avidly for this type of job. Just did not have time to get it.
Cartoni Focus w/ aluminum sticks
Panasonic 7" monitor ( i did not use it)
Shoulder mount
Custom Rodholder Mount
Pipe Clamp mount
Suction Mount
Lectrosonics 195
PB 17" 1.5 mhz w/ SmartDisk 80gig for P2 backup
2- Pelican 1650's
Power Inverter for PB

Settings-
Scene 6 @ 30fps (some 60 fps for action shots)
720 30PN
Shot 33 min. at a time then downloaded to PB. After the first BU session I started dumping 1 card at a time as they became full.
Note- Having a laptop on a boat was nerve wrecking to say the least. However, it worked without a glitch. If I continue with this workflow I will build a Pelican case for the laptop. Note- I use a Smartdisk CF card backup for my still photos which is the way to work in the field. If the P2 Store emulates that function ( I assume it does) then that will be the workflow of choice.

Pros-
sturdy & built like a tank

larger body makes it easier to work with.

Still small enough for progressive angles & mounts

Very intuitive layout of controls

instant migration if you are a DVX user. gave me confidence since I really do not have a "look" figured out yet.

P2 is life changing. However, extra cards & a P2Store are absolutely the way to go but the PB/firewire drive works

lens is awesome

battery life is great

the formats, framerates, are awesome!!!!

final images are without equal!!! 2 years ago when I shot the first clips with the DVX i was floored. The images from the HVX are the same, times 10!!!


Cons-

LCD near useless for focus and exposure. Will try a hoodman in the future.

Viewfinder is small & distant but worked great for both exposure & focus. Used the focus assist and momentary focus allot.

While I do admit that the images are clearly noisier than a Sony HDV in low light (shadows) you don't have the compression noise I clearly saw in my HDV footage in action shots. So, what's the lesser of the evils??? Don't know yet.

Cartoni Focus- the ball/bowl seems to be sticking a bit. When you try to balance the head it sticks making it difficult to zero in to plumb. I think its the paint and not the engineering??? Otherwise, the Focus is a winner at the price point.

Impressions-
Let me begin by saying that I have produced some of my best video work with the Varicam, SDX & DVX range of cams. I expect to do the same with the HVX. After using it in the field this week I can confirm that yes this will be my camera of choice for my low-mid budget films. In addition, I also think I will never shoot in SD again nor will I use tape. The HVX is just an amazing little cam that has re-inspired me to create. I like how it's holding up with Color correction & some filters. I am yet to pull mattes but for now I am just in love with the camera. PERIOD. There has been allot of talk about "Noise". I can confirm with all certainty that this camera is noisier than any Sony camera in it's range. But, if Sony does one thing really right- it is low light. One thing Sony does not do so well (except for the Cinealta) is 24P and film gamma. So, you choose.

The HVX just requires you to light everything properly. The HVX strengths are not Run & Gun nor is it for Docu style... It's strength is formal film production style... reflectors, HMIs & proper lighting. If you do that it is absolutely the finest image around within it's price range.

Note to Panny- If Panasonic intends to address the noise issue they should do it sooner rather than later... they should take care of all the early HVX investors who in many cases put money down over 10 months ago and waited patiently. Coming out with a HVX (A) in the next couple of months without a retrofit program for first generation cameras is just not acceptable.

here are some test... note, work in progress & compression effects gamma-
http://www.fielddominance.com/movies/p22_test1.mov
 
The link you provided isn't working? Can you check it or update? I am looking forward to seeing your footage....

thanks!
 
Sweet! Sweet!! I"m glad to see a fellow Floridian posting such gorgeous looking stuff. I plan on doing some boating and wakeboarding stuff later this year. I'm looking for a water housing for the HVX and some insurance.. But I'll have to have it for a few months to feel comfortable.. make some cash.. and then stick it under the water. Still nervous every time I do that even with my GL1.


Looks really good bro.
 
Thanks Justyn,

Housing is at the top of my list! let me know what you get... I am thinking Gates but it's crazy money.. Equinox???
 
Yes. Those look really nice. I have actually made the housing I use for the GL1 but I've used an Equinox with a VX1000. I'm going to have to see what's out there and for the price. I wouldn't want to spend more than 1500 but we'll have to see.


What type of stuff do you shoot? I was gonna get it for wakeboarding and some surfing.. maybe a bit of dive footage too.
 
FYI in regards to a water housing, a purpose built dive housing is no good for shooting surfing. You need a much lighter housing which has more bouyancy.

My housing weighs only about 800grams (maybe 1 pound?) and floats very well but can be sunk when you need to dive down deep. Its rated to 30 feet and has all mechanical controls. Custom built by Dave Kelly here in Australia.

I'm not sure of any surf housing makers on your East coast but there are a few on the West coast....
 
Theres's a lot of custom builders here. I've done the same thing. I have a light boyant housing and I weight it down for diving. works well.


I made a 100 dollar housing that I used 50 times with no problems. Sure, I didn't have Lanc or zoom control but for what I was doing it was perfect...
 
Have you used it in any decent sized surf? Probably not if you're in Florida.. thats the real test for surf housings, i'm sure it'll do the job for wakeboarding though...

Gee, working without zoom would be a pain.. Mine only has 5 controls, power, record, zoom, focus & iris... On my next housing i'll get a few more controls like shutter control...
 
footage

footage

That footage looked great and sharp!

My impressions:

The color seems washed out. This is probably not a big problem since you can easily color correct in post. It could also be just the settings on the cam.

There IS some noise in the blacks and shadows. THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM AT ALL! I only noticed it cuz I was looking for it. And if you're looking at it that hard, then the film/video must be really bad cuz you're not paying attention to the content. Also, the noise is probably aggravated by the compression.

Conclusion:

This camera is great for its price. I've shot Cinealta and this camera comes very close. The average audience won't be able to tell the difference.

Now, I'd like to see footage of an HVX equipped with an M2.
 
There IS some noise in the blacks and shadows.
Click to expand...

What? Dude you cannot even be serious. What noise? Show me a grab of this noise you are spying.

-

A Pol totally would have helped with this (Anything on the water really)

Man I get so jealous seeing stuff like this.

I'd be happy with either gig (Hosting a fishing water show or shooting it)

-

Stuff looked really good and thank you for the insightful report !

-

I played with some of this in VEGAS and adjusted some levels and man it pops; awesome.
 
I thought several shots looked slightly underexposed and that is where the colors look a little less "poppy". I feel a slight tweak in post could bring this out easily.

Overall it looked very good. As far as noise.....I don't know how you can tell on this quicktime. I sure can't see any here but that doesn't mean it's not in the source material.

Overall great job!
 
Thanks for all the input guys...

No rain bag or cover... The day was really bad, windy & overcast and getting some sun to reflect was a nightmare. I did try to keep a consistant exposure where I would "Auto Iris" and then open up 2 stops since the "auto" always looks underexposed. I definitely always shoot with a Tru-Pol... Besides Polarizing it really helps control exposure in bright light. I tried to buy a 82mm while I wait for the Matte box filter kit but no one had one in stock... So, I had to shoot without my weapon of choice.

I will shoot that same boat from a helicopter in a wekk or so... I will keep you guys posted.

Cheers,
Prio
 
Where you using CineLike D??
I turned the Iris Setting to 0
I felt like it did underexpose too much.
That handy little spot meter will keep
you out of the ditch.
But I do need to find a good
portable HD monitor that does not
cost $1500-$2500
 
What Matte box filter (POL )did you end up ordering? I am going to be on the water (fishing) as well and am looking for a UW solution...Gates housing? Have you heard-is that going to fit the Firestore? I don't want to be changing P2 on the water, some of those days can get pretty ugly.
 
Noise

Noise

The noise I was referring to is under the guy's arms. You can see them in the black part of the guy's jacket. Like I said, it didn't really bother me since I had to look hard for it.

By the way, Field, what format did you shoot? It looked a little videowy. Or maybe you were shooting wide the whole time. I couldn't see the effect of 24p.
 
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