Any Good B&W clips?

HowdyDoo

HowdyDoo

Well-known member
Does anyone have any good B&W clips shot with the HVX? I am going to shoot a lot in B&W this year and Pappa's footage with the XL-H1 is really selling me on that camera. I would love to see some HVX stuff.
 
I'm currently editing a film of mine that was shot on a DVX100A and converted to B&W. Most people I've shown it to think the B&W stuff looks fantastic (looks like 16mm on a TV screen, havn't tried blowing it up yet) so I assume the HVX200 would perform similarly but with higher resolution.
 
Yep! I was thinking about the same issue. Barry, what is your experience with the B&W performance of the HVX?
 
This is slightly off the topic and also in the wrong forum, but someone mentioned the DVX. Can you configure the DVX to shoot B&W VIA a setting or does it have to be done in post? I imagine the HVX can shoot B&W in camera much like the JVC and Canon, but I'm not sure on the DVX.
 
I don't think either camera can shoot B&W in camera --- that would be cool if they did, though. I think it's all done in post. And yes, I've played around a bit with shooting for B&W with my HVX and it does look stunning. Very crisp. Particularly if you light properly, let the high-end blow out just a bit and drop that master ped down to about -5 (or lower depending on how much contrast you want). You have to have a monitor that you can switch to B&W though (or just a lot of experience), cuz it looks totally wrong on a color monitor.
 
Thanks HowdyDoo! I don't know whether the HVX does B&W internally, however the H1 does it in the menu and forces you to commit to that shooting decision. I like that kind of discipline. The HVX is a sweet camera that I would love to test for a few weeks. I know I can get killer footage with the HVX in color or B&W because it has a rich image. All these cameras are awesome.... Any choice you make, will be a good choice!



Michael Pappas
Arrfilms@hotmail.com
http://www.Myspace.com/PappasArts
XLH1 & JVC HD100 FOOTAGE: http://homepage.mac.com/pappasarts/
PappasArts & Arrfilms Main site
CONTACT VIA AOL INSTANT MESSENGER
AT { PAPPASARTS2 }
XLH1 and HVX200 frame grabs and news here:
http://www.pbase.com/Arrfilms
http://www.PappasArts.com

HowdyDoo said:
Does anyone have any good B&W clips shot with the HVX? I am going to shoot a lot in B&W this year and Pappas' footage with the XL-H1 is really selling me on that camera. I would love to see some HVX stuff.
Click to expand...
 
Here is a a still, desaturated in FCPs 3way CC. It really dosen't do justice to the moving image though.
Drop2.jpg
 
HowdyDoo said:
This is slightly off the topic and also in the wrong forum, but someone mentioned the DVX. Can you configure the DVX to shoot B&W VIA a setting or does it have to be done in post? I imagine the HVX can shoot B&W in camera much like the JVC and Canon, but I'm not sure on the DVX.
Click to expand...

No, it can't. My film had a few Sin City effects where certain parts of the image are in color and others are in black and white. For the ones I needed color data from, I left alone. For the ones I know would be in pure B&W I went ahead and simply turned down the chroma level to give me a good idea what it would look like. Keep in mind that you really have to do tests and get a good idea what you are doing since, as anyone will tell you, B&W cinemtography is very different from color. Most of my crew thought I was crazy and that the film would look like crap when we were shooting and looking at stuff on the LCD. It was only when I switched to B&W that the effect becomes clear.

Also make sure that, if you do this, you go ahead and crush your blacks either by CC or by lowering the master pedistal.
 
That's very nice Evin. The HVX looks a lot like the HD100 in B&W which reminds me of characteristics of Eastman 7222. I like the image the HD100 produces in
black & white. I think the HVX will do great results in B&W. My favorite B&W came from the HD100 vs the XLH1. There is a little more organic feel to the HD100, where as the H1 was to clean. If I gained up the H1 to 12db, it took on a nice look. Evin, shoot with the HVX fully gained, it will look awesome. I shot 18db on the HD100 in B&W, and it was my favorite looking shots.

The XLH1 reminds me of a Eastman 5231 B&W film!

Canon%20XLH1%20BW%201.jpg


Canon%20XLH1%20BW%202.jpg


jvc%20hd100%20BW%201.jpg


jvc%20hd100%20BW%202.jpg



Michael Pappas
Arrfilms@hotmail.com
http://www.Myspace.com/PappasArts
PappasArts & Arrfilms Main site
CONTACT VIA AOL INSTANT MESSENGER
AT { PAPPASARTS2 }
XLH1 and HVX200 frame grabs and news here:
http://www.pbase.com/Arrfilms
http://www.PappasArts.com



evinsky said:
Here is a a still, desaturated in FCPs 3way CC. It really dosen't do justice to the moving image though.]
Click to expand...
 
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Pappas,
I love the shot of the bridge (is that what it is? Can't tell.). The mid- to dark-mid areas look beautiful. Nice work. Did you crush the blacks in-camera or was that done in post?

Have either you or Evinsky shot video for B&W with a red filter on the lens? I do that all the time with my DSLR, but I've never tried it on a video camera. I assume it has the same effect, but something tells me it might not be the same(?). Curious.
 
in HDV it may cause a problem.

HVX shouldnt have any problems with it if youre shooting DVCpro50 and "up"

In DV it DEFINITLY will cause a problem.
 
Hvx B&w

Hvx B&w

I would like to encourage people to post their HVX B&W footage. Both the HD100 and the XLH1 stuff looks incredible to me. I know the HD100 has a sharper image then the HVX and it seems to me that when it comes to B&W, sharper images look the best.
 
Barry's comparison clearly shows that that the HVX has comprable recorded detail to the HD100. You just need to crank up the edge enhancement if you want it to match. They match about perfect at HVX +6 and HD100 -7.

However if this thread becomes a "JVC is sharper, no it's not" thread I'll close it.

I think the footage from both cameras is awesome in B&W, but you do need to crush the blacks in post. The red filter is interesting and I'll have to try it. I wonder how the pixel shift is going to be affected by it.
 
I don't know much about black and white photography, but I too would like to see some B&W HVX footage.

The footage I've seen posted in the "Other Cameras" forum has sparked my interest in black and white.

I have two questions:

What is the benefit of using a red filter for black and white footage?

What does it mean to crush the blacks?
 
Workaholic,
To crush the blacks means to bring the dark areas down (way down?) below typical "video" black. The best way to do that (IMO) is by bringing down the "master ped" setting in camera, or by bringing the darks down with the color corrector in post. When shooting B&W, the blacks should be truly black and the whites should be truly white. That's why it's also okay to overexpose just a bit. --- Again, just my opinion.
As for the red filter, still photographers who shoot B&W will often shoot with a red filter on the lens --- particularly outdoors. This will cause anything blue and/or blueish to darken giving you more contrast and an overall richer image. Some DSLRs (Canon Rebel XT, for instance) now give you "in-camera" filters to do this digitally. It's an awsome tool, but I have no idea if it works with video. Evin, it looks like it's time to run some B&W tests.
 
HowdyDoo said:
Does anyone have any good B&W clips shot with the HVX? I am going to shoot a lot in B&W this year and Pappa's footage with the XL-H1 is really selling me on that camera. I would love to see some HVX stuff.
Click to expand...
this week this forum it seems a sitcom..

edit
but not to Pappas i LOOOOVE :love4: his work
 
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darwinandpaine said:
As for the red filter, still photographers who shoot B&W will often shoot with a red filter on the lens --- particularly outdoors. This will cause anything blue and/or blueish to darken giving you more contrast and an overall richer image. .
Click to expand...

The above is true for b+w film photography. It may not hold for digital still or video.

If you do testing, the results will be of interest.
 
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