HVX200 barrel distortion?

Ralph Oshiro

Ralph Oshiro

Veteran
I know that my DVX100 at full wide has significant barrel distortion. As a result, I am not shooting any wider than about "Z30." Anyone recall at what point the barrel distortion disappears on the HVX? Is the barrel distortion as bad as the DVX?
 
Not as bad, not sure when it goes away completely though. Maybe Z15? I'm surprized you would give up your WA just for a little distotion that you can only see on staight lines. It's also eaisily fixed in post for CG work.
 
I'm with NBCshooter that at full wide, it's a lot more noticable than just on "straight lines." Although, sometimes I like the effect. At least it's controllable...
 
I don't mind at all losing my wide angle of view to get rid of the barrel distortion because, it really bothers the crap outta me. Most of my compositions are very rectilinear, and always seem to have vertical lines in the frame. Nothing screams "cheap Handycam movie" to me more than barrel distortion. I shot some recent tests with a lot of architecture in the frame, and the frame just looked completely silly until I zoomed into about Z30. The vertical lines on my Steadicam shot on my short still bother me (I forgot to zoom in on that initial shot).

This is the reason I never use wide angle adapters. In fact, I've adapting my cinematographic style to shoot much more with long lenses for a more cinematic look anyway. So I really don't miss the wide end of my lens.
 
I've always wondered why the film lenses at wider angles don't show barrel distortion.... I guess it has something to do with the design of the lens... any1 knows a good link for such issue?

Thx
 
Btw, yesterday "James Bond - the living daylights" was on german television. I watched some minutes when I noticed some serious barrel distorion in the interior scenes. And I don't think they used some cheap lenses.
 
Probably it is caused by your wide screen CRT with flat face.

MarcusX said:
Btw, yesterday "James Bond - the living daylights" was on german television. I watched some minutes when I noticed some serious barrel distorion in the interior scenes. And I don't think they used some cheap lenses.
Click to expand...
 
NBCshooter said:
Is the barrel distortion as bad as the DVX?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. When I did my 3D tracking test I didn't have to run the footage through any software geometry fixes before I tracked it. Lines looked much straighter at full wide than my DVX did.

Which brings me to a suggestion for the whole issue of wide angle distortion;

Why not use software to correct the distortion you get with a wide angle adaptor? It's possible to completely remove all traces of it if you wish, giving that lens/adaptor combo the geometry of an expensive prime. Here's one to look at that works in AE or DF...

http://www.thepixelfarm.co.uk/products/products.aspx?PID=1

The only downside is that it robs some resolution in the corners of the image, but here's what I'm thinking in general about the HVX...

I think the HVX will be a great 720p camera and a so-so 1080 one. If it proves that the resolution gain is just 30% or so in 1080, then I plan to use 1080 only for FX plates or just this very case... a way to add some resolution to wide angle shots to help them survive the software fix of geometry issues.

Just my rambling for today...

Jim Arthurs
 
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