DVX by itself...

C

ChasBetts

Member
Okay, I just got done watching a few of Steve Dempsey's films, and have seen a lot of others lately too that have incredible looks to them. I am not coming on here to ask you how to achieve the 'film look' because I'm well aware of the many things that could be listed.

My question is, how great can the DVX look, on its own? Without any filters, matte box, anamorphic adapter, anything of that sort. If you were to take the DVX out of the box, mess with the settings to your liking and shoot... could you achieve the look that a lot of Dempsey's films have? Or is this impossible without the use of matte boxes, filters, and other add ons? Thanks.
 
The simulated "film look" of the DVX for the most part is achieved by a combination of shooting in 24P/24PA and the Cine Gamma curve settings. You can get this as a default factory combination without doing anything else but choosing Scene Dial setting 6. (24PA and Cine Gamma).

Matteboxes and filters are generally used to do basic things like shelter against lens flare, reduce gare (polarizer), balance foreground and sky (ND grads), etc.

Adding filters is not necessarily about the "film" look so much as assisting in quality of image.

Using Chromacolour Animation Pencils won't make you a Disney quality animator any more than using a DVX will make you shoot incredibly looking shots either. Giving an inexperienced workman powertools will just allow them to make a mess a lot faster.

Making incredible images has as much to do with mastering the use and handling of light, composition and colour theory as it does with having a particular camera.
Start adding in digital image processing and you add still more layers to the onion.

Yes the DVX is an absolutely terrific camera for helping to achieve that "film look", but remember its just one piece of an intricate puzzle.

If you want to see how important these other factors really are, go shoot some real film and see how good your product is. If you can't get great images with real film, don't expect a DVX to do any better.
 
Chas,

What you see in most of my films is just what's shot using the basic camera and the standard lens, although I do use a telconverter from Century (but that does not alter the image quality in any way).

So yes, it's possible to get all the looks I have in my films by just using the camera with no filters, attachments or peripherals/accessories.

All you need is a good understanding of photography, a good understanding of the technical side of capturing an image (e.g., using manual exposure, etc.), and a good understanding of your NLE with particular attention on color correction tools.

If you get a grip on all of this stuff, your image can look amazing.

Good luck and thanks for the nice comments.
 
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