Black and White DV w/Filters?  Musings...

Jaime Valles

Jaime Valles

Veteran
Hello, all. I was thinking about ways to shoot in black and white using the DVX100. I know I must shoot in color (no such thing as black and white DV tapes) and de-saturate in post.

I'm wondering about using filters. Specifically filters for b/w still photography. Can something like this be used for MiniDV? It seems a waste to be capturing all that color info, only to be discarding it in post. What if we used it to our advantage?

Just brainstorming here... I'm thinking about how the MiniDV codec doesn't like the color red (it can become blocky and bleeds). What would happen if one shoots with a colored filter in front of the camera lens, say a green filter. This would remove any red from the shot, and potentially reduce the artifacts associated with that color? Also, doesn't the DVX have pixel-shift? The green CCD would get all the color input, leaving the other two... not capturing anything? Would this result in potentially a better image? Maybe worse?

I have little technical knowledge about this, and no colored filters to test it out. I know I sound like I'm completely off my rocker right now, and should just play with the contrast and saturation in the NLE, but just wanted to see what anyone else thinks of this.

Have a nice day. :)
 
Re: Black and White DV w/Filters?  Musings...

Re: Black and White DV w/Filters?  Musings...

Professional photographers utilize channel blends to get black and white, meaning they typically mix a proportion of the Red and Green channels to reach monochrome. (blue is usually the noisiest channel, so it's generally avoided). If you skip red completely, you can have a very odd looking monochromatic scene, so as pookie says above...do it in post.

Don't lock yourself into a look in camera that might not work for you later on.
 
Re: Black and White DV w/Filters?  Musings...

Re: Black and White DV w/Filters?  Musings...

When you shoot with the DVX you're *already* shooting b&w with three filters. There are 3 CCD chips, each covered with a red, blue, or green filter. Normally, the images from each chip are combined for a color image, but as mentioned, you can mix the channels as you like in post for a b&w image. The CCD's by themselves are sensitive to the complete visible spectrum (usually including some IR), but their peak sensitivity is in the yellow-orange part of the spectrum. Of R, G, and B--the lowest sensitivity is to blue light--hence the increased noise in the blue channel. Putting an additional filter on the camera lens, only narrows your options without any technical advantage.
 
Re: Black and White DV w/Filters?  Musings...

Gotcha. Thanks, all. It makes sense that the CCDs are already recording in b&w with 3 filters. Hadn't thought of that.

Another question: If I have a production NTSC monitor on location when shooting, the best thing to do would be to turn down the chroma all the way until the image turns b&w, correct? It won't look exactly like it will when I'm messing with the channels in post, but it's the closest I could get, right?

Thanks again.
 
Re: Black and White DV w/Filters?  Musings...

Re: Black and White DV w/Filters?  Musings...

Yeah, turning down the chroma on your field monitor won't be perfect, but it should still be more helpful than monitoring in color.
 
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