DVX100 and SD format for documentary festivals in 2010-2013?

D

den59

Well-known member
Hi everybody,

I'm about to buy a prosumer camera and really thinking of DVX100b. I study doc. film-making so it ain't going to be used for TV work. Only to make some money by doing weddings sometimes. Obviously, I can buy DVX100b 2-3 times cheaper than HMC150 and I'm on a very tight budget.

The main question is:
would you say that shooting in SD resolution (e.g. 576x720 PAL) is (in general) enough for documentary festivals for next 2-3 years or HD/HDV is a must? I consider mostly festivals in Europe and Asia.

It would be grate to hear opinion of people who are involved into festival business so they can give first-hand experience. But also if someone can share their bad/good experience on submitting the film done in SD to documentary festival.

Best regards,
Denis.
 
It's not about the resolution - it's about the story. If your story is compelling and shot on home video, anyone will take it. If someone is dying for an HD version you can just upconvert.
 
Dear Artem623, thank you for you reply, but it's not the answer to the question. I'm petty much aware of what the story means in doc. movie and how much success depends on it rather than any technical part (cameras, lighting, sound/noise in interview, etc...), let's be speculative and say story is 90% of the film.

Yet, as far as I know, it's common practice to reject films based on sound and/or picture "quality". I can imagine that amazing story/bad quality will be accepted almost everywhere, whereas good story/bad quality rejected, unless it's not good story/good quality. You see my point?

What's why I was asking how crucial is SD resolution for documentary projects in next 2-3 years. Would you say in 3 years it will be "SD==bad quality"?

Regards,
Denis.
 
I think it depends on the festival, the top tier ones may prefer HD but will probably not reject it if the content is their. Many smaller independent festivals will probably continue to screen almost exclusively from dvd. I just attended a small weekend festival, held at a great old single screen rep house that has installed digital projection. I don't know the specs, but I'm guessing the projector was 720p and filled the roughly 20' wide screen nicely. Some content was HD from a server, but other stuff was on DVD, and from 3/4 back where I like to sit there was very little difference to my eyes.

I was very encouraged by this, as this is probably where things are headed in the small rep houses all over, as well as small festivals run in similar venues. If well shot, dvx footage will hold up fine.

Broadcasters will demand higher standards, which is silly considering how much they all muck it up with recompression. I suspect if they all quietly went 480p widescreen on HD feeds the average viewer would not notice the difference, it may even look better as the bandwidth would be more efficient.

I use HV20's as they were a cheap entry to 24p, not specifically for HD, I'm tempted to dump them for cheap used DVX's and they easier post workflow.
 
I would much rather have an hv40 over a dxv100, but thats just me. If you know how to work the hv series cams, they can deliver amazing HD footage. Which destroys sd. Not to mention, down resd hd looks better than native sd.
The dvx will do better in low light and has proper audio ins. But if you have a zoom h4n and a light kit your good to go.
 
dop16mm said:
...Some content was HD from a server, but other stuff was on DVD, and from 3/4 back where I like to sit there was very little difference to my eyes.

I was very encouraged by this, as this is probably where things are headed in the small rep houses all over, as well as small festivals run in similar venues. If well shot, dvx footage will hold up fine.
...
I use HV20's as they were a cheap entry to 24p, not specifically for HD, I'm tempted to dump them for cheap used DVX's and they easier post workflow.
Click to expand...

Thank you dop16mm for sharing your experience.

Regarding HV20 vs DVX, I have a feeling that it's better to have SD camera with good ergonomics and control rather than good handy-cam with beautiful picture but bad ergonomics. I used to have HV20 and I did a short (35min) documentary with it.
My main problem was audio levels control - I have "clicks" all over the the place picked up by mic when I needed to increase/decrease levels (it was one man crew). Same applies to iris control if lighting condition changes (sun/clouds) and/or you go outside.

As maranfilms said, one can obtain amazing HD footage, but then (at least from my experience) there are other things which can ruin or damage your footage.

Then, the question is - what about Panasonic TM700? It's not bad, bad no control over gain level unless iris is fully open...
 
christriplet said:
So I suppose the hv40 does have better picture quality over the dvx100b? Right?
Click to expand...

I never had any of those, but I can speculate that dvx is better in low light (bigger pixels), but in normal condition it's obvious that hv40 footage is superior.

However, if one is not after the ergonomics and good audio, then probably Canon 550d/Panasonic GH2 is a better choice than hv40, IMHO...
 
I agree that SD is officially dead....HOWEVER...

Documentaries very often look GREAT even at lower rez because the scenes are so often less visually demanding.

AND - if you light it well, and get good focus and composition - then use Red Giant"s INSTANT HD ADVANCED product - you WILL have something that will look absolutely fine in the documentary category. Provided your film is not a "close-up on nature" type film.

Google up "Iraq In Fragments" to see a killer Doc done on the DVX.

If budget is tight and not negotiable - this method WILL work for Docs because resolution aside, the DVX captures phenomenal images.

~DPS
 
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