Dvx100 to native 16:9

H

hasseclaes

New member
I'm soon going to shoot my first short film. I would like to shoot my film in native 16:9 widescreen, but unfortunately the dvx100 only shoots in 4:3 or letterbox mode. So I've planned to uprezz my film with instant hd in post to widescreen 720x576 pal or higher.

Should I shoot in letterbox mode, or 4:3 and mask the lcd display?

Is there any better ways I can do this?
I'm kinda new to this, so have patience...:bath:
 
You could think about an anamorphic adapter which will give you true 16:9 and make the best use of the DVX100's resolution ..

.. but failing that, probably best to shoot in 4:3 and give yourself the opportunity to reframe in post.
 
i dunno man, i am just finishing up a short film, and i shot it all in squeeze mode, with the view finder set to widescreen. then when you rip it from the camera, just do a wide screen project. itll be full widescreen and itll look pretty good.

http://vimeo.com/7700400

thats what i did with this scene.
 
linkdafourf said:
i dunno man, i am just finishing up a short film, and i shot it all in squeeze mode, with the view finder set to widescreen. then when you rip it from the camera, just do a wide screen project. itll be full widescreen and itll look pretty good.
Click to expand...
AFAIK, the 100 does not have squeeze mode, the 100A and the 100B do.
 
hasseclaes said:
I'm soon going to shoot my first short film. I would like to shoot my film in native 16:9 widescreen, but unfortunately the dvx100 only shoots in 4:3 or letterbox mode. So I've planned to uprezz my film with instant hd in post to widescreen 720x576 pal or higher.

Should I shoot in letterbox mode, or 4:3 and mask the lcd display?

Is there any better ways I can do this?
I'm kinda new to this, so have patience...
Click to expand...
If you're shooting with the original 100 and do not have squeeze mode, you have a couple options.

There is an anamorphic adapter lens for the DVX that will create the squeeze. It's not cheap... about $700 or $800. It also limits your zoom, and needs to be properly aligned, so there are challenges with shooting with it. The benefit is that you use the full 4:3 frame, unlike squeeze mode on the 100a or 100b that doesn't use the entire chip.

You can also shoot 4:3 and use black tape to mask your LCD for the 16:9 frame. Cropping it (not letterboxing) in post and expanding the frame to 16:9 gives you good control over each frame, too, since you can shift the frame up or down if you need to correct your headroom. The loss of resolution is the same as using squeeze on the 100a or 100b. This loss isn't really a huge deal. I don't know many (any, really) folks who use the anamorphic lens. I know lots of folks (me, included) who shoot squeeze and get beautiful results... stuff that still up-rezzes very gracefully to HD frame size.
 
If you're shooting 25p, though, be sure to set your vertical frequency detail to THIN. This will give you the best vertical resolution, and you need as much as you can get for this.
 
hasseclaes said:
I'm soon going to shoot my first short film. I would like to shoot my film in native 16:9 widescreen, but unfortunately the dvx100 only shoots in 4:3 or letterbox mode. So I've planned to uprezz my film with instant hd in post to widescreen 720x576 pal or higher.

Should I shoot in letterbox mode, or 4:3 and mask the lcd display?

Is there any better ways I can do this?
I'm kinda new to this, so have patience...:bath:
Click to expand...

I have been shooting Widescreen with the DVX100 with Squeezed mode. Just make sure you set the vertical lines to thin in the seen settings.

As for uprezz, I have never seen anything good with DV video. It is fine in a pinch when you need that one shot for a second or so, but that is about it. You might as well shoot HDV video if you are going to uprezz DV.

As for me, I primary shoot DV for events and HD with the hvx200 or hpx300 for commercials, TV shows and Indie films that I get work on. The big thing about choosing the format is the intended purpose of the video. If you will deliver on DVD only then shoot DV. Shoot HD for TV and FILM though only in 24p if the project will also be including film stock footage. Otherwise I shoot everything in 60i. I do shoot progressive only when we know we will be doing some VFX in a scene...30p or 60P for action scenes.
 
C2V said:
If you're shooting with the original 100 and do not have squeeze mode, you have a couple options.

There is an anamorphic adapter lens for the DVX that will create the squeeze. It's not cheap... about $700 or $800. It also limits your zoom, and needs to be properly aligned, so there are challenges with shooting with it. The benefit is that you use the full 4:3 frame, unlike squeeze mode on the 100a or 100b that doesn't use the entire chip.

You can also shoot 4:3 and use black tape to mask your LCD for the 16:9 frame. Cropping it (not letterboxing) in post and expanding the frame to 16:9 gives you good control over each frame, too, since you can shift the frame up or down if you need to correct your headroom. The loss of resolution is the same as using squeeze on the 100a or 100b. This loss isn't really a huge deal. I don't know many (any, really) folks who use the anamorphic lens. I know lots of folks (me, included) who shoot squeeze and get beautiful results... stuff that still up-rezzes very gracefully to HD frame size.
Click to expand...

I hate to hijack the thread. If I have the DVX100A and shoot in squeeze mode, do I need to do anything in the post?

thanks
 
do u need to do anything in post to get 16:9? no. But the footage on a widescreen timeline (whatever frame rate u shot it) and the editor will "unsqueeze" the footage to 16:9.

shoot THIN vertical frequency detail also.
 
C2V said:
If you're shooting with the original 100 and do not have squeeze mode, you have a couple options.

There is an anamorphic adapter lens for the DVX that will create the squeeze. It's not cheap... about $700 or $800. It also limits your zoom, and needs to be properly aligned, so there are challenges with shooting with it. The benefit is that you use the full 4:3 frame, unlike squeeze mode on the 100a or 100b that doesn't use the entire chip.

You can also shoot 4:3 and use black tape to mask your LCD for the 16:9 frame. Cropping it (not letterboxing) in post and expanding the frame to 16:9 gives you good control over each frame, too, since you can shift the frame up or down if you need to correct your headroom. The loss of resolution is the same as using squeeze on the 100a or 100b. This loss isn't really a huge deal. I don't know many (any, really) folks who use the anamorphic lens. I know lots of folks (me, included) who shoot squeeze and get beautiful results... stuff that still up-rezzes very gracefully to HD frame size.
Click to expand...
Interested as I have the same issue.... By the way I have a DVX100E (must be 100 equivalent European PAL) and it dosent squeeze - letterbox only.

What is the difference between masking and letterbox when all LB does is cut it off?
So you stck black tape to your lens?? How do you clean off the residual?
 
Hi,

No tape on the lens (!), but on the viewfinder. Just to help you frame in 16:9 so you have 'croppable' footage later on in your editing program. Letterbox doesn't cut anything of the recorded image, but puts -so to speak- black tape on the recording. The recorded image containts two black bars, but is in fact still a 4:3 image.


Jasper
 
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