Beach Wedding - DVX200, Rodelink

[Jason R. Johnston]

Hello! I've been getting to know my DVX200 over the past few weeks since I bought it at the top of May. I recently had the opportunity to videotape a beach wedding and I finished delivering the final video to the client last night. Now that everything is uploaded, I thought I'd share.

It's not for pixel-peeping, but I think the high quality of the camera and sound are still quite noticeable in this, the compressed 480p preview video on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/Ew2Q3r-_zK0

Here is a link to the delivery page with HD (720p & 1080p) files delivered from my Google Drive.

http://weddings.jasonrjohnston.com/aisha-baskette-ezgar-chavez/

Shot by just me with the DVX200, a cheap Yongnuo YN-300 LED bi-color on-camera light (interviews), Panasonic AJ-MC700 shotgun (ambience and interviews) plus Rycote Softie deadcat, Rode Rodelink wireless lav kit (on officiator) plus Rode Windjammer and a fair amount of running around — me circling the bride and groom as if they were wounded prey. Anyway, the equipment held up just fine; I gave it all a good cleaning, afterward. The OIS was helpful and I did some VFR stuff up to 90fps. All shot with Scene 1, natural. Slight color correction in post as I thought everything looked a shade too green, so I added magenta just a tad and there were a few instances where I needed to brighten up a zoomed-in shot because the iris ring got away from me and it ramped accidentally (I was trying to shoot the whole thing at f/5 throughout the zoom range, both to eliminate ramping and to make focus easier on myself. I used the LCD in bright south Texas sun almost exclusively. Every now and then I would put my face in the EVF, but I surprisingly didn't need it very much. I guess I'm used to shiny screens now. Thanks, Blackmagic! And Red, too, actually. I never used my Sachtler sticks...they show up in the background once during an interview, but it was there by the camera bag to simply provide support while setting up and tearing down. The DVX200 was quite robust and I never had to worry about it. I thought about it a bit, but in the end, I didn't need to think about it. The camera just works and is a joy to use. All pieces of the puzzle of my upcoming in-depth field review of the camera.

Enjoy! Comments, questions and critiques welcome.

 

[greytail]

Hi Jason:
Nice job! For the couple shots during the ceremony, were you hand held with OIS and shooting 1080? or were you UHD or 4K and using a monopod? Have you tried the new Scene 4?

 

[mapper65]

I think it looks really good. At first I thought something was wrong with the skin tones because the bride's face looks kind of orange but I have a feeling that's just how she was made up. The orange-ish color of her face seems to stop below her neck so that must be makeup. Everyone else's skin tone appears to be fine. Nice job!

 

[Jonny Gross]

I've seen that green/yellow tinge to faces before. It's not so much in the original footage, but when I upload to youtube, there it is...

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

Hi Jason:
Nice job! For the couple shots during the ceremony, were you hand held with OIS and shooting 1080? or were you UHD or 4K and using a monopod? Have you tried the new Scene 4?

Thanks very much. Weddings are killer. Outdoors are killer. Outdoor weddings are killer!

Hand-held with OIS at 1080 the whole time! Did not stop recording during the entire ~15 minute ceremony when I moved around because I needed all the audio. And when I moved, I kept the camera aimed at the bride, just in case. I considered UHD, but thought, nah. And I considered the monopod, but I thought, nah - I'll let this be a stress test. The monopod was sitting by the camera bag, but I've operated much heavier cameras and without OIS so this should look similar as a lighter camera with OIS. It'll be a short ceremony and I'll be relatively close to everything so I won't need to zoom in too much. Would have been easier if it were shoulder-able, but you can't have everything. Next time, I just might use the monopod.

I haven't tried Scene 4 outside of a little test or two. I'm hoping to do a thing soon where I can go with Scene 4, plus VlogL. C'mon thing!

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

I think it looks really good. At first I thought something was wrong with the skin tones because the bride's face looks kind of orange but I have a feeling that's just how she was made up. The orange-ish color of her face seems to stop below her neck so that must be makeup. Everyone else's skin tone appears to be fine. Nice job!

Yeah, exactly! It was either makeup or spray-tan. It was popping enough without my slight addition of saturation, but I can't let everyone else's skintones be dull...nor can I spend a lot of time with power windows.

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

I've seen that green/yellow tinge to faces before. It's not so much in the original footage, but when I upload to youtube, there it is...

I saw it a bit in the dad's face....but his skin was a bit off, anyway...and the perceived color of his pale skin with the green stuff behind him made him look greener...so when I tried to compensate, his skin looked fine, but everyone else was purple. So, that's what he looked like...a little green-ish in real life. Everyone else was fine...but, yes, something about YouTube...it adds a bit of something to the footage that is unpleasant.

 

[Jonny Gross]

I saw it a bit in the dad's face....but his skin was a bit off, anyway...and the perceived color of his pale skin with the green stuff behind him made him look greener...so when I tried to compensate, his skin looked fine, but everyone else was purple. So, that's what he looked like...a little green-ish in real life. Everyone else was fine...but, yes, something about YouTube...it adds a bit of something to the footage that is unpleasant.

I'm noticing it mainly in the shadows on the bride's face. Funnily enough, the last time I saw that, it was on a woman whose make-up was a bit on the orange side...make of that what you will, there might not be a connection!