DVX100A bad for greenscreening?

P

Policar

Carbonite Member
This article seems to say so:
http://www.adamwilt.com/24p/index.html#The_chroma-patterning_problem

I do a LOT of greenscreening with a pretty bad set up--and no I can't make it better, but using Keylight I've been able to get great (or good enough) results as long as I've been using a decent camera. For instance, with a GL2 in frame mode I'd pull a fine matte, but with a digital 8, the scene was a total mess...not even a prayer of salvaging the footage.

I've heard that the DVX100 has bad low light performance (especially in progressive mode, which I'd be shooting in), and the chroma patterning seems to be an even worse issue. On top of the compression that's inherent with DV footage, these issues would seem to add up to an inability to chroma key except in the best possible conditions, which I do not have access to.

Should I look elsewhere (GL2, perhaps?) for chroma keying or is it possible to get good results with a DVX100? If it is, what settings should I use (I'd be shooting in 24p mode regardless, but film-like color correction could be done in post, so I could shoot with boosted saturation if necessary.)

Thanks in advance for your help! I'm new here, so bear with me if I ask stupid questions.
 
Re: DVX100A bad for greenscreening?

Hey There,
You might want to check out some recent threads in the AfterEffects section. We just had a pretty big discussion about it.
And what do you mean by pretty bad setup. Is it lighting? The reason you get a good key on the gl2 and not on the digital 8 is because the 8 shoots in 60i (60 interlaced frames) Where in movie mode on the gl2 you get 30 frames (well actually 60 but every 2 frames is the same<no interlacing>) I've just pulled about 35 keys in the last 5 days on the DVX mostly in 30p and they've all come out great. You will always get dv artifacts but nothing you can't tweak out in keylight with a little pre-blur and a matte choker. Of course I've got a pro 20x15 screen and 2000w worth of lights (w/softboxes) but if you're getting good keys with a gl2 you should have no problems with the DVX even in 24pA. Hope this clears things up a little.
;D CAVEMAN
 
Re: DVX100A bad for greenscreening?

60i versus frame mode was not an issue. I actually de-interlaced the footage in both cases (and accidentally lost half my resolution with the canon, but I was just doing test shots at this point). It was really the abysmal low light abilities and heavy noise that made the digital 8 unusable.

gs.jpg


There's a capture from my latest shoot (yes, I'm aware of the huge hot spot). I'm using two 8X4s with Rosco chroma key paint, two 500w (or was it 300w?) floods with Rosco diffusion filters to light the background, and one 500w flood and one 200w omni to light the foreground. I placed other small lamps around areas where I was having trouble getting enough light.

Will the issues with the DVX make keying any harder? Already (even with the GL2) the dv artifacts are making semi-transparent areas (and overlit areas) very hard to work with, as much as I use pre-blur and the matte choker (which have both been lifesavers, btw).

I'm really worried about low light, but I suppose anything with 1/3 inch CCDs will beat out the canon which has 1/4 inch CCDs (which I believe are even made by panasonic). The saturation and chroma patterning really worry me, though, since DV artifacts+poofy hair+any other problems=a terrible mess.

I don't have much money to spend and can only buy one camera (and have already poured too much into my greenscreen as it is)...should I hold off on the DVX100A or just not worrying about keying issues?
 
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