Advice For Corporate Video Brochure

P

Patapoo

Member
Last week I purchased a DVX100b after a excruciating amount of research. Do I go HD, not go HD. DVX or PD170. Anyway I am relatively new to all of this but I am very good at selling myself and got contracted to do a corprate brochure for dvd and internet distribution.

So I get the DVX, start shooting B roll stuff and testimonials with the F5 preset and a 3 point lighting set-up and everything seemed to look good on the LCD screen. But, when I transfered it over to Vegas Pro it looked crappy. Dark, grainy, not very detailed.

I have to continue shooting tomarrow and would GREATLY appreciate any advice, setting ideas or anything at all to help get me through this shoot.

By the way the vast user base and information on this site was the number one factor in choosig the DVX. Being in pro audio for years to me nothing is more important than a great support group. Thank you.


By the way what mode would you recommend shooting in 60i, 30p, 24p?
 
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Do you have any stills you can post?

It seems to be a common observation. And before thinking there is something wrong with your camera, take a look at your setup. Are you editing on an hd monitor? The resolution will almost double that of the 720x480 the dvx puts out, so of course it's not going to look as sharp as and HD camera would.

My advice is to go into your scene file, turn up the detail coring, and just play around until you get the image you like.

I have never used vegas, but it could be that the footage is playing back at half res in order to be less intensive on your processor. So again, any stills?
 
zergtherobot said:
Do you have any stills you can post?

It seems to be a common observation. And before thinking there is something wrong with your camera, take a look at your setup. Are you editing on an hd monitor? The resolution will almost double that of the 720x480 the dvx puts out, so of course it's not going to look as sharp as and HD camera would.

My advice is to go into your scene file, turn up the detail coring, and just play around until you get the image you like.

I have never used vegas, but it could be that the footage is playing back at half res in order to be less intensive on your processor. So again, any stills?
Click to expand...


I took your advice. Its amazing what I've learned in just a few days. I was beginning to think I bought the wrong camcorder. I was originally looking at the Sony PD 170. I was told it was easier to use for a novice for point and shoot. But I was amazed at the footage I had seen with the DVX100b and the incredible support so I went for it.

Clearly I have a huge amount to learn to even be able to do corporate videos and how to DVD's. Thanks again.
 
The LCD can really fake you out with exposure, too. If it's even just a little off-axis, things look much brighter than they actually are. Use zebras to get better exposures. I usually use 70% zebras for flesh tones or 90% zebras for wide shots, but everyone has their own method.
 
Especially on the DVX, I find that being even a few degrees off axis when looking at the LCD, the picture changes dramatically. So, like others said, use the zebras (or the marker). Also, I like to set my viewfinder to B&W and check my contrast there.

The LCD is good for framing, color (for the most part) and to some degree, focus. It's not exactly what you're actually getting, but over time as you use it more, you'll begin to understand it better and you'll start to know that when the LCD shows A, you're really getting B.

Good luck.

~~Dave
 
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