Scene Help -- PLEASE??

CaptainMench

CaptainMench

Carbonite Member
I know this is an individual question, but I need help setting up a good F setting. I've been shooting w/ F5 for my first two weeks and love it. I cannot stay in 24P forever.

Yesterday I was shooting at an airshow... bright sun, blue sky, few big white clouds -- lots of white T-shirts. I used factory setting F1. Everything I shot was nearly useless. Even with ND filters and auto iris with manual assist.

I've got blown out whites and lots of 'grain' when I view it on my sony TV.

I'm going to be traveling across country in a week and would like some help setting up a good 60i outdoor scene. I'd hate to loose all of that.

I have a polarizer filter and a UV filter.

Please help? Even 60 different answers is better than popping on F1 and getting hosed.

Thanks.

CaptM
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

The lattitude is what is killing you. Going from level to below horizon to shooting in the sky requires quite a range of exposure. So you are saying that with ND64 on the camera (6 stops) and closed all the way down you were still getting overexposed pictures? Was it just the highlights or was it key information such as the planes and jets were all overexposed?

I have two additonal ND filters I use; a .3 and a .6 which gives me 1 and 2 stop control. Combined with the 3 and 6 stop ND in camera, I now have 9 stops of control in 1 stop increments. The DVX has about 7 stops of lattitude with abiout 1.5 stops head room in overexposre and the rest below. Expose for highlights and set the GAMMA to HIGH contrast. Do some tests in similar lighting conditions until you hit on a set of filter, exposures, etc. that work for you.

Michael
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

No -- it wasn't so much the over exposure that killed me. I was able to compensate for that... at times.

What got me was the way it looked on the TV. It almost looked like a poorly compressed DVD. Artifacts around edges -- yes, in mostly brighter areas, but for instance a plane against the blue sky (I'll try to get a screen shot up in a bit) the blue is good, but the edges of the plane are full of grain.

That's why I was wondering if I needed to adjust any of those detail settings within a scene setting for overall good outdoor use. Just seemed that in the F5 setting things were softer. I also don't really want the cine-settings... Just the cleanest DV settings I can muster.

Thanks, Michael.

CaptM
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

Hey Michael, I don't know if you missed this discussion, but it turns out that with ND64 on, it's actually about 8 stops.  Testing shows that ND1 is about 3.5 stops and ND2 is about 4.5 stops!  Funny world, eh?
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

FWIW -- I just captured the tape trying to salvage and do a screen dump, but it acutally looks OK on my monitor. I like my sony TV better, but in this case... maybe it's like mastering music for a car stereo. My ntsc monitor IS that car stereo.

Hopefully, all is ok -- now, I already messed with F1 -- How do I get it back to factory?

CaptM
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

Wow... my testing on the waveform vectorscope for the first version of the camera showed 3 and 6. Are your numbers coming from the "A" version for the ND filters? This screws up my 1-9 clean range grrrr.....

;)

Michael
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

Someone else wrote in and said they were getting 4.5 stops when selecting ND2.  So I set up a less-precise test than a waveform, which was basically a light on a dimmer.  I dialed in the light to where I had a reasonably good expectation that the DVX was on a particular f-stop (taking into account the vagueries of its half-stop calibration, etc).  I then would swap out the ND filter and notice how much the auto-iris adjusted.  For ND1, it was usually 3.5 stops, and for ND2, it was usually 4.5 stops.

My testing was based on an original 100, whereas I think the other camera might have been a 100A but I don't remember.
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

[quote author=CaptainMench link=board=news;num=1084627772;start=0#0 date=05/15/04 at 06:29:31]I cannot stay in 24P forever.[/quote]

I'm curious as to why you say that. You may or may not WANT to stay in 24p, but why do think you can't?
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

Actually -- I had this hope, as I travel across the country (and I do quite a bit) -- I know a pipe dream... but as a hobbiest only I thought I could sell some shots to Artbeats or something just to make up some costs.

I do love 24P.

Just a thought.

CaptM
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

It's only a DREAM if you're SLEEPING.

I just made that up. I should copyright that ****.
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

You can do that in 24p. Heck, we've been talking about creating a 24p stock footage bank among ourselves and selling them to the outside world. I think 24p stock footage would be *very* useful to independent filmmakers, etc..
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

Yeah -- Maybe there should be another thread about stock footage banks... I cannot tell you how deep the freedom of information act can take you!!

How many independent corporate videographers have boat loads of B-roll sitting on their shelves?

CaptM
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

I always thought a service for footage by request would be cool. If I were mnaking a film here in Boston, but needed an establishing shot of Chicago for the story, I would post the request via this online service. This way, freelance shooters could create a more customized version of the shot rather than the same old stock shots. Don't get me wrong, there is some gorgous stuff, just not tailored sometimes to the look and feel of the film bing made - especially dramatic films. Requests may be:

24p,DV resolution, etc. Need a "Welcome to Chicago" sign as a drive by, early morning from a highway. Several drive by speeds,slow, medium fast. The tilt camera to skyline, then sky. The user could upload a storyboard or similar shot for reference. The shot would be put out for bid on this network where shooters could pick up the job as needed. Sort of the eBay of custom stock shots. Purchaser would retain all rights to fotoage unless negotiated otherwise - a basic work for hire scenario.

This would lower the costs of the film production since travel and other expenses would not be there while rasing the production value of the film itself with location, location location... the wonderful world of filmmaking - manipulation of time and place.

Michael
 
Re: Scene Help -- PLEASE??

Thanks for the link Hunter! I took a clip and put it into egas of misc explosions and destruction and started color correcting and this is exactly the kind of stuff I need! :D
 
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