Anamorphic Cinemascope in Native 1920x810 MJPEG Mode

It would help me if someone knows another way of showing details ..
Maybe some high detailed texture? I´m really interested in this .. but I´m not at home so I don´t have a GH1 here for a week ... We need some high detailed texture with clear edges and shapes to shoot ..
 
It would help me if someone knows another way of showing details so we can see real difference between shoots.
Think that mine are not so convenient.
The technique I use in After Effects is to render a proxy still frame as a maximum quality level JPEG image. Before doing so, I step through the frames to find a key frame at least two GOP's past the start of the video file. That insures that I've picked a spot beyond any initial bitrate glitches during the start of recording. I use AE to upsample the 1920x810 image to 1920x1080, but not to render magnified crops of each still frame. For detail comparison purposes, I'd load both images into Photoshop and resize them using Nearest Neighbor scaling in order to preserve the original pixel data.
 
LPowell, you just gave me an idea here i didn't think of before : i haven't bought UpRez, SuperResolution, Instant HD, or any other upres plugin, but i assume these could really make a difference as to image quality compared to AE's own scaling?
 
I just tested Lpowell's setting and it looks great. Used the Panny pancake lense, Sandisk Extreme 2 SD card.
Unfortunately, camera freezes 5/7 times on "Pappa's chart of doom". During shooting a not very detailed scene it froze as well (camera was still operational, just displayed error message). Two interesting things happened. First, if I shoot exactly the same scene with exactly the same settings immediately after the crash - it records just fine. Second, most of the files that were written on the card when the crashes occurred were of size 0. There were, however, two files with bitrates over 90Mbps. Both were empty and ran a little over 1 sec. On average the successful MJPG shots are around 55Mbps.
So, apparently there is something going on. It's not exactly stable for me. Has anyone had similar experience? Maybe I should tone down the settings a bit so I don't top 50Mbps?
By the way, I am having troubles with 30p in Premiere Pro CS4. It keeps pushing 29.97 instead of 30p and I get motion blur after exporting the movie. It seems like After Effects can deal with that ... weird.
 
There were, however, two files with bitrates over 90Mbps. Both were empty and ran a little over 1 sec. On average the successful MJPG shots are around 55Mbps.
So, apparently there is something going on.
A 90Mbps MJPEG bitrate should not be possible using the settings in my downloadable PTool INI file:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/attachment.php?attachmentid=24506&d=1287353720

If you applied the anamorphic patch by modifying my 60Mbps MJPEG Patch, be sure to uncheck the 422 Color Depth patch. The 1920-pixel anamorphic frame is too wide to combine with 422 color.
 
I am using the patch as-is (the mpeg parts, I have my own AVCHD settings). 422 color depth is not checked... It's not a one time thing and happened both with manual and auto-focus. It is definitely weird.
 
The technique I use in After Effects is to render a proxy still frame as a maximum quality level JPEG image. Before doing so, I step through the frames to find a key frame at least two GOP's past the start of the video file. That insures that I've picked a spot beyond any initial bitrate glitches during the start of recording. I use AE to upsample the 1920x810 image to 1920x1080, but not to render magnified crops of each still frame. For detail comparison purposes, I'd load both images into Photoshop and resize them using Nearest Neighbor scaling in order to preserve the original pixel data.

My techique is based on Final Cut and Still image export. But now I import video files into Photoshop and compare them. Its not maybe the best tool but I could see difference better then in other software.
Will post some results soon. And it would be helpful if you could tell me how to know when are two GOP's passed (after 1 sec?) ?

I just tested Lpowell's setting and it looks great. Used the Panny pancake lense, Sandisk Extreme 2 SD card.
Unfortunately, camera freezes 5/7 times on "Pappa's chart of doom". During shooting a not very detailed scene it froze as well (camera was still operational, just displayed error message). Two interesting things happened. First, if I shoot exactly the same scene with exactly the same settings immediately after the crash - it records just fine. Second, most of the files that were written on the card when the crashes occurred were of size 0. There were, however, two files with bitrates over 90Mbps. Both were empty and ran a little over 1 sec. On average the successful MJPG shots are around 55Mbps.
So, apparently there is something going on. It's not exactly stable for me. Has anyone had similar experience? Maybe I should tone down the settings a bit so I don't top 50Mbps?
By the way, I am having troubles with 30p in Premiere Pro CS4. It keeps pushing 29.97 instead of 30p and I get motion blur after exporting the movie. It seems like After Effects can deal with that ... weird.

I shoot a lot with with Anamorphic patch and didnt have any problems. Card is also Sandisk Extreme 10class. Maximum bitrate on Anamophic MJPEG is ~75Mbits/s and average 60Mbits/s. Also recorded Pappas Chart test and didnt have any problems. Final cut also automatically push 29.97 with square pixel aspect and HDTV 1080i. I dont know why is that but export results are fine.
 
...it would be helpful if you could tell me how to know when are two GOP's passed (after 1 sec?) ?
I simply start at the beginning of the video and count off the frames step-by-step until I reach the I-frame in the second or third GOP.
 
How exactly do you shoot Pappas chart? Off a monitor or printed? What distance and what magnification factor (if you are shooting at a monitor)? I have a 24" monitor, I zoom the chart at 100% and put the camera at such a distance so that around 99% of the frame is the chart (shooting with 20mm lens). And it freezes most of the time (most of the time the freeze is in the first 2 sec.)....
 
How exactly do you shoot Pappas chart? Off a monitor or printed?
I printed both Pappas charts on 8.5x11" copier paper using a Canon 4800dpi inkjet printer. This produces much sharper details than an HDTV. I routinely film these charts for 30+ minutes using a manually-focused Olympus 14-54mm Mark II zoom lens. I also use the rotating Pappas chart as a final reality-check.
 
Hey is anyone using these settings with twixtor to get 24p for their projects? seems like a lot of post work but man does mjpeg look good.
 

That adapter is quite good, although it suffers from some barrel distortion. I doubt whether you can order it though, as stocks seem depleted everywhere and prices on ebay going almost as high for a used one.

You don't need to focus this adapter, compared to the majority of the Japanese adapters for 16mm projectors, which makes filming a lot easier. I think LPowell did some tests with the Century Optics 1.33x adapter, which is about half the price of this one (although they have a larger more expensive 1.33x adapter as well), and having pretty good results.
 
That adapter is quite good, although it suffers from some barrel distortion. I doubt whether you can order it though, as stocks seem depleted everywhere and prices on ebay going almost as high for a used one.

You don't need to focus this adapter, compared to the majority of the Japanese adapters for 16mm projectors, which makes filming a lot easier. I think LPowell did some tests with the Century Optics 1.33x adapter, which is about half the price of this one (although they have a larger more expensive 1.33x adapter as well), and having pretty good results.

There is no barrel distortion with the Century Optics 1.33x adapter?

I am just after the best one, money isn't an issue yet.
 
Here's a link to my sample shots of the Century Optics 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter. Coupled to the Lumix 20mm pancake, it's definitely the ingenue of the anamorphic world:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...0-MJPEG-Mode&p=2126471&viewfull=1#post2126471

While the Century Optics doesn't show much barrel distotion, it's noticeably blurry on the wide angle sides. While it can be selectively sharpened up in post, I try to minimize the problem by setting focus at point about a third of the way from the side of the frame. It's definitely not the highest quality anamorphic adapter I've tried, though it's certainly the most portable.
 
Here's a link to my sample shots of the Century Optics 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter. Coupled to the Lumix 20mm pancake, it's definitely the ingenue of the anamorphic world:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...0-MJPEG-Mode&p=2126471&viewfull=1#post2126471

While the Century Optics doesn't show much barrel distotion, it's noticeably blurry on the wide angle sides. While it can be selectively sharpened up in post, I try to minimize the problem by setting focus at point about a third of the way from the side of the frame. It's definitely not the highest quality anamorphic adapter I've tried, though it's certainly the most portable.

Which one would be the highest quality anamorphic adapter that you have tried?
 
Real anamorphics

Real anamorphics

Hi: so I have a real set of 35mm anamorphics (LOMO roundfronts). What is my best option and settings for ending up with 2:35:1 video? Thanks
 
Which one would be the highest quality anamorphic adapter that you have tried?


If money is no problem, go with a good Iscorama on ebay. Be prepared to pay a lot of cash though, in the region of 1000-2000$. Those are top of the line of the anamorphic adapters. It is rumoured Isco will release a new adapter in the future, but last time i checked it hadn't been released. Check http://www.isco.eu/index.php?id=taking-lenses
I think the Century Optics is really good (by the way they're part of Isco now) , but i'd like to see LPowell use it on a 50mm and see how much blur remains on the sides.

Also, you can always buy Anamorphic lenses, but they are rarely found 2nd hand, except for the Russian Lomo lenses. As i understand it, all films shot on anamorphic use lenses hired from Panavision. You have some other brands of anamorphic lenses, like Hawk, etc. There are places online where they can be bought, but always at prices +2000$.
 
Hi: so I have a real set of 35mm anamorphics (LOMO roundfronts). What is my best option and settings for ending up with 2:35:1 video? Thanks

If your lenses are 2x anamorphic, then until we can shoot 4:3 on the GH1, there isn't a good solution to arrive at 2.35 without losing a lot of resolution (by cropping). If they are 1.33x you can just shoot 16:9, and there you have your 2.35. You could modify the MJPEG settings, so you don't need to post-process the footage, yet i leave it to others to give you feedback on how well that would work. My opinion still is that GH1 doesn't have special filters for stretching the image, so it seems the image isn't as sharp as it would be shot at the unstretched 16:9 aspect ratio and then stretched in AE or any other app.
 
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