Four questions before I shoot...

GND

GND

Well-known member
I'm about to shoot my first short film in a week, and have been testing and asking things about the DVX100b I'm going to use. But I have four final questions bothering me...

Note: the film will be about 70% hand-held and 30% tripod. + lowlight /indoors at evening or night time. And shooting 24pA

1) Is autofocus good or a big "no" ?

2) Should "knee" always be on "low" ? I know it has to be when using cine-like settings...just wondering if I should change the gamma so I could adjust the knee.

3) The plan is for a DVD and/or even festival (DVD...maybe film?) out. - now, should I use the letterbox mode? or squeeze? or fullframe, then add letrerboxes in FCP after?

4) should I shoot 24pA if making a DVD or film-out? (edit's on FCP)


thanks a bunch!
 
Autofocus tends to shift in the middle of shots, focusing on whatever catches it's attention. Therefore, it is not recommended.
 
Knee can be on whatever you want it to be. It's disabled in cinelike-D and cinelike-V becaused the curve is a fixed curve, but in the other gammas you can change it to how you like it. But beware that there's an "auto" setting, and if you leave it in "auto" it might change on you by itself (like auto-anything-else) so that can cause some "flickering" in the highlights of your picture.
 
Ok, I'll take the 3rd question if someone else takes the 4th...

Shoot fullframe. The best way to shoot for 16:9 with the DVX (without using an anamorphic adapter) is to shoot regular full 4:3 and then crop and conform to 16:9/or letterbox in post. This gives you the most control and best options for a high quality scaling from the DVX's 4:3 imagers. It's a good idea to mask off your LCD with 16:9 framelines when shooting to help you frame correctly, run a search for ideas how. The prefered methos id ot use a "screen skin" overlay on your LCD, but you can just use rubber-bands to get you started too. :)

- Mikko
 
First...USE a tripod. DV cameras REALLY need the BEST possible shooting techniques...or you might as well not spend the money for a great camera with an awesome lens.
Second... 24pa footage looks beautiful. (I recently read a short list of settings by guru Barry Green) The colors are vibrant, rich and awesome detail...when shot on a tripod. The skin tones are very true with a great range of shadows to highlights. And while the "film look" quality that seems to be highly rated is not 35mm "film-like"...you'll love 24pa. Good luck...you're gonna have fun!
 
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