Young-H._Lee
Well-known member
Hihi ;D
This post is ALL about the DVX in Chinatown!!
WATCH VIDEO HERE!!
http://www.glue.umd.edu/~younglee/AE/chinatown3_small.mov
So, I went to Chinatown and did a number of tests with camera settings in preparation for shooting an action/fight scene this weekend for a feature film I’m working on.
I got the DVX two weeks ago and I’m trying to figure out the best settings and all that - hope you can share your opinion on the following questions (there are a lot, heh).
Some frame grabs from the video:
My ULTIMATE GOAL is a film transfer to 35mm. So please share your insight on what camera settings I should set to achieve the best film transfer (squeeze, 4x3, letterbox? ...etc.)
This post is divided into three sections:
1. Video of Chinatown
2. Frame grabs of Chinatown with varying camera settings
3. Miscellaneous questions
***** ;D PART 1: The Video *****
WATCH VIDEO HERE!!
http://www.glue.umd.edu/~younglee/AE/chinatown3_small.mov
I put together a video of various shots and did color correction with Vegas and MagicBullet. Everything was done handheld.
My Main Question:
Let me know what MagicBullet shot do you like the best...
My settings were as follows:
Shutter: 1/37.5 (yea, too much motion blur)
The rest of the camera settings I used are listed below in Part 2....
***** ;D PART 2: Frame Grabs of Camera settings *****
I tested three things:
A. Gamma
B. Detail Level
C. Master Ped
I changed one setting at a time. With exception to the setting I was changing at the time, all other settings were:
DETAIL LEVEL: 3
V DETAIL, DETAIL CORING, CHROMA LEVEL, CHROMA PHASE, COLOR TEMP: 0
MASTER PED: -6
A IRIS LEVEL: -1
GAMMA: Cine-Like V
KNEE: Auto
MATRIX: Norm
SKIN TONE: Off
V DETAIL FREQ: Thin
PROGRESSIVE: 24PA
SETUP: 0%
Shot with SQUEEZE MODE.
Synchro Scan Shutter: 1/37.5
;D A. Gamma
ND Filter: 1/64 (highest)
F-Stop: open
GAMMA: LOW
GAMMA: NORMAL
GAMMA: B-PRESS
GAMMA: HIGH
GAMMA: CINELIKE
GAMMA: CINELIKE-D
GAMMA: CINELIKE-V
My Main Question:
I can't really see too much difference in all of these. What do you think? Does it really matter? Some people recommend that we stick with NORMAL to avoid noise in low-light conditions and correct with post, but does CINELIKE offer a better image to start with?
On to the next test...
;D B. Detail Level
ND Filter: 1/64 (highest)
F-Stop: 2.8
DETAIL LEVEL: -7
DETAIL LEVEL: -3
DETAIL LEVEL: 0
DETAIL LEVEL: +3
DETAIL LEVEL: +7
My Main Question:
My ultimate goal is a 35mm film transfer. Should I just crank the detail to +7 and leave it there all the time?
Ok, last test....
;D C. Master Ped
ND Filter: 1/64 (highest)
F-Stop: 2.4
MASTER PED: -6
MASTER PED: -4
MASTER PED: -2
MASTER PED: 0
MASTER PED: +5
MASTER PED: +15
My Main Question:
So you can see that the higher the Master Ped goes,the more hazy it gets. Would you recommend that I stick with the lower value? And how low? For a film transfer, do you think a Master Ped of -15 is ideal (the lowest it can go?)
***** ;D PART 3: Miscellaneous Questions *****
Whew! After all that, thanks for reading till this point. I got a few misc questions...please shed some light on these matters:
Film transfer settings
1. I asked this in another thread, but if I am transferring my footage to 35mm film, is it best to shoot in Squeeze, 4x3 or Letterbox?
2. I don’t think I will be getting my DVX battery in the mail by this Saturday, so I am stuck with only my factory battery. This means I have like 30 minutes of camera power for a 5 hour shoot. I’ll have to turn off the camera after each shot. So, to maintain consistency, do I have to White Balance and do exposure stuff everytime I turn it back on?
3. What shutter speed do you recommend? 1/48? I think I had way too much motion blur in my tests.
So there you have it, a comprehensive series of tests and stuff in Chinatown DC. Thanks for reading and I appreciate all of your input very much!
Btw, I apologize for the quality of the large still captures, I havent figured out how to capture images in Vegas, so I used an image capture software to grab frames directly off the Vegas timeline!!!
EDIT - Please help answer these questions below
Besides the misc questions above, I realize I have asked many questions, so here are all the main ones together:
1. My ULTIMATE GOAL is a film transfer to 35mm. So please share your insight on what camera settings I should set to achieve the best film transfer: squeeze, 4x3, letterbox?
2. Let me know what MagicBullet shot do you like the best in the video.
3. Some people recommend that we stick with NORMAL to avoid noise in low-light conditions and correct with post, but does CINELIKE offer a better image to start with?
4. So you can see that the higher the Master Ped goes,the more hazy it gets. Would you recommend that I stick with the lower value? And how low? For a film transfer, do you think a Master Ped of -15 is ideal (the lowest it can go?)
thanks
This post is ALL about the DVX in Chinatown!!
WATCH VIDEO HERE!! http://www.glue.umd.edu/~younglee/AE/chinatown3_small.mov
So, I went to Chinatown and did a number of tests with camera settings in preparation for shooting an action/fight scene this weekend for a feature film I’m working on.
I got the DVX two weeks ago and I’m trying to figure out the best settings and all that - hope you can share your opinion on the following questions (there are a lot, heh).
Some frame grabs from the video:
My ULTIMATE GOAL is a film transfer to 35mm. So please share your insight on what camera settings I should set to achieve the best film transfer (squeeze, 4x3, letterbox? ...etc.)
This post is divided into three sections:
1. Video of Chinatown
2. Frame grabs of Chinatown with varying camera settings
3. Miscellaneous questions
***** ;D PART 1: The Video *****
WATCH VIDEO HERE!! http://www.glue.umd.edu/~younglee/AE/chinatown3_small.mov
I put together a video of various shots and did color correction with Vegas and MagicBullet. Everything was done handheld.
My Main Question:
Let me know what MagicBullet shot do you like the best...
My settings were as follows:
Shutter: 1/37.5 (yea, too much motion blur)
The rest of the camera settings I used are listed below in Part 2....
***** ;D PART 2: Frame Grabs of Camera settings *****
I tested three things:
A. Gamma
B. Detail Level
C. Master Ped
I changed one setting at a time. With exception to the setting I was changing at the time, all other settings were:
DETAIL LEVEL: 3
V DETAIL, DETAIL CORING, CHROMA LEVEL, CHROMA PHASE, COLOR TEMP: 0
MASTER PED: -6
A IRIS LEVEL: -1
GAMMA: Cine-Like V
KNEE: Auto
MATRIX: Norm
SKIN TONE: Off
V DETAIL FREQ: Thin
PROGRESSIVE: 24PA
SETUP: 0%
Shot with SQUEEZE MODE.
Synchro Scan Shutter: 1/37.5
;D A. Gamma
ND Filter: 1/64 (highest)
F-Stop: open
GAMMA: LOW
GAMMA: NORMAL
GAMMA: B-PRESS
GAMMA: HIGH
GAMMA: CINELIKE
GAMMA: CINELIKE-D
GAMMA: CINELIKE-V
My Main Question:
I can't really see too much difference in all of these. What do you think? Does it really matter? Some people recommend that we stick with NORMAL to avoid noise in low-light conditions and correct with post, but does CINELIKE offer a better image to start with?
On to the next test...
;D B. Detail Level
ND Filter: 1/64 (highest)
F-Stop: 2.8
DETAIL LEVEL: -7
DETAIL LEVEL: -3
DETAIL LEVEL: 0
DETAIL LEVEL: +3
DETAIL LEVEL: +7
My Main Question:
My ultimate goal is a 35mm film transfer. Should I just crank the detail to +7 and leave it there all the time?
Ok, last test....
;D C. Master Ped
ND Filter: 1/64 (highest)
F-Stop: 2.4
MASTER PED: -6
MASTER PED: -4
MASTER PED: -2
MASTER PED: 0
MASTER PED: +5
MASTER PED: +15
My Main Question:
So you can see that the higher the Master Ped goes,the more hazy it gets. Would you recommend that I stick with the lower value? And how low? For a film transfer, do you think a Master Ped of -15 is ideal (the lowest it can go?)
***** ;D PART 3: Miscellaneous Questions *****
Whew! After all that, thanks for reading till this point. I got a few misc questions...please shed some light on these matters:
Film transfer settings
1. I asked this in another thread, but if I am transferring my footage to 35mm film, is it best to shoot in Squeeze, 4x3 or Letterbox?
2. I don’t think I will be getting my DVX battery in the mail by this Saturday, so I am stuck with only my factory battery. This means I have like 30 minutes of camera power for a 5 hour shoot. I’ll have to turn off the camera after each shot. So, to maintain consistency, do I have to White Balance and do exposure stuff everytime I turn it back on?
3. What shutter speed do you recommend? 1/48? I think I had way too much motion blur in my tests.
So there you have it, a comprehensive series of tests and stuff in Chinatown DC. Thanks for reading and I appreciate all of your input very much!
Btw, I apologize for the quality of the large still captures, I havent figured out how to capture images in Vegas, so I used an image capture software to grab frames directly off the Vegas timeline!!!
EDIT - Please help answer these questions below
Besides the misc questions above, I realize I have asked many questions, so here are all the main ones together:
1. My ULTIMATE GOAL is a film transfer to 35mm. So please share your insight on what camera settings I should set to achieve the best film transfer: squeeze, 4x3, letterbox?
2. Let me know what MagicBullet shot do you like the best in the video.
3. Some people recommend that we stick with NORMAL to avoid noise in low-light conditions and correct with post, but does CINELIKE offer a better image to start with?
4. So you can see that the higher the Master Ped goes,the more hazy it gets. Would you recommend that I stick with the lower value? And how low? For a film transfer, do you think a Master Ped of -15 is ideal (the lowest it can go?)
thanks
