HDV for film

C

Carlos_E._Martinez

Well-known member
I will be shooting some tests for HDV images that will be blown up to 35mm.

Cameras will be Sony Z1s, so I guess we will probably shoot in 50i to get a better transfer. That may be a problem in certain situations because the line frequency here (Brazil) is 60Hz, so we have to be careful not to shoot fluorescents.

Besides the usual ones, like shooting a portrait with several stops and see how noise gets disturbing, what else should we shoot?

I can't ask the lab, because we should be testing two different labs to see which does best.

Editing should be done on FCP, which I am not too familiar with either (I am an Avid man), so it will be a chance to see that too.

Suggestions?
 
If possible try to shoot wiith a Canon A1. its only 3500$, and has a phenminal pictre.
 
thats too bad. Then i would have to say the Cineframe 25, would be your best bet.
 
TimurCivan said:
thats too bad. Then i would have to say the Cineframe 25, would be your best bet.
Click to expand...

I am not sure it's too bad. When I get the results I'll report back here.

Cineframe 25 is not a real 25p either, and it should only work to give a film effect on a video image to be seen in video.

From what I have already read, like on Swiss Effects recommended settings, 50i is the best bet.
 
TimurCivan said:
really? thats interesting......
Click to expand...

Excerpt from Swiss Effects paper on general for HDV for 35mm shooting:

"Do not use Cine Frame Modes. These modes are not a truly progressive. The Frame Mode setting works with interpolation and this leads to a worse image quality than using interlaced mode. Transferring from interlaced source material to film is no problem.
Deinterlacing will reduce detail but can improve motion reproduction. It can be done in post production. The quality depends on the calculation."

They recommend shooting in 50i with the Z1 and all cameras that do not have real 24p or 25p.

Though I might do tests to see what happens when you shoot 60i and have to transfer to 35mm anyway.

The interpolation thing I knew about, even if some Sony salesmen for some time said the Z1 did real 24p. I heard that myself at an equipment show.
 
I actually have some information to share. I saw fred lumiere's movie tomorrowistoday on a big screen at a movie theater in los angeles. it looked amazing. after the movie they revealed that the movie was playing from a dvd player. WOW. hdv is amazing! they shoot the z1 in 25i and slowed it down to 24p and deinterlaced. I am posting from my phone so I hope it works.
 
Ok. That part of the question is solved. If you are not going HDV in real 24p, for film transfer, shoot in 50i.

Now what are the test I should do? In film we used to do sensitometry tests and focus tests, to test all the lenses we were going to use, usually with a lens chart.

With these tests you could see how many stops you could go over and under the value you were going to expose with.

But now most of those tests are rather meanless, except if you can repeat them over and over with the lab, something we can't really do.

HDV seems to be sensible to overexposure, and you can't very much set 1/3 of a stop on a Z1.

What has been the "simile ASA" sensitivity you have found for the Z1? Using a light meter might be a good way to get away without a real HD monitor on the set, which I don't know if we will have. At least on some situations.

The internal settings, which people like Swiss Effects advice to leave alone, is an obscure area for me.

It's interesting that when the DVX100 was released there were many tests that were made on the internal settings. This is not the case with Z1. I wonder why.

Do suggest shooting situations to test.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top