Shooting 24fps/60Hz in a 50Hz country

caheb

caheb

Member
Hello everyone, it's me again.
I chose to set up my AF100 in 60Hz mode so I can use the SMPTE bar to calibrate my field monitor... though I live in France (50Hz country). I made that choice because when in 50Hz mode you can only display EBU bars (without pluge bars) and I searched the net to find out how to calibrate monitors with that kind of bars, but all I found (even on french pages) is SMPTE calibration method. Nothing on EBU so I can't calibrate for exposure. My question is : since I plan to release movies on DVD or play it through BluRay player, will it work? Or maybe should I calibrate while in 60Hz then switch back to 50Hz to shoot (but I think my camera won't love it after the 100th switch!)? Any thoughts are welcome.
 
Color Bars are not a tool for calibrating exposure (if that is what you meant) and judging exposure from the field monitor is not best practice.

Shooting 60hz in a 50hz environment will cause you issues at some point.
 
I used the wrong words, I wasn't talking about the built in lcd panel, but an external calibrable hd monitor. I undurstood that the bars generated by the camera are tools to adjust luminance and contrast and then you adjust colours with blue only function so you can judge the picture on the monitor (judging exposure and colour). I don't understand how to adjust luminance and contrast without the pluge.
 
Every time I ask this particular question I find no answer! But that's ok, I spent more time searching the net using right words I guess. I found answers here : http://www.larryjordan.biz/calibrating-a-pal-video-monitor/. That what I thought, it's harder to calibrate a monitor with EBU bars(on an other site it's stated that it is impossible without a waveform monitor and a vectorscope!) than with SMPTE ones. Anyway the best thing to do is to buy a monitor with a built in waveform monitor and vectorscope to get the right calibration. So I'm stuck here until I can afford a 1000+ euros pro monitor with built in wfm and vectorscope! Think I 'm gonna use my camera on 60Hz mode until then, so I can work my images in camera, judging on a monitor, and not in post in my NLE. Thank you shooter for your reply.
 
I'm not aware of any tv that doesn't accept both PAL and NTSC formats these days. It's mostly a matter of software. The file/stream tells the tv what it is and the tv selects the appropriate codec and either plays it native or converts it in realtime to a format it can display. 50Hz and 60Hz are a legacy of analogue CRT technology, synced to the frequency of AC mains power. I live in Australia (50Hz) and use an american HVX without any issues. PAL has better SD resolution and in the old days NTSC sourced footage on PAL tv was immediately recognisable due to oversaturated colour, particularly red. I don't know if this was due to the format or the conversion but in the digital age there's not much difference to be found between the two. 8-bit is 8-bit in any language. In HD as far as I'm aware the only real difference is the framerate.

caheb said:
My question is : since I plan to release movies on DVD or play it through BluRay player, will it work?
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Regional coding (security) of DVD/bluray discs is the only reason a disc won't playback in different regions. As long as you encode to a standard codec you're fine.

caheb said:
Or maybe should I calibrate while in 60Hz then switch back to 50Hz to shoot (but I think my camera won't love it after the 100th switch!)? Any thoughts are welcome.
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I can't see why this wouldn't work. Your camera won't mind.

How good is your external monitor? If it's a cheapy, calibration might not be achieving much. I calibrated my Lilliput monitor once. Never bothered to do so again. Now I just use it for framing and focus.
 
Hi for what its worth I'd stick to 50 Hz as shooter has said it will catch you out somewhere, i live in a 50Hz country and had a fling with 60Hz for a while but its the things you dont think about even shooting in daylight that will ruin your day.E.g. an LED display on a shop front for example or a light thats on somewhere (food cabinet in the background)...when in the edit you'll regret it due to the strobing.
 
Thanks for the share.
Yes Shooter I am aware of that and I use it a lot, but I want to check and do my picture on set, and obviously, the built in lcd monitor, as stated by barry Green in his AF100 book :"...[the LCD monitor] isn't an absolute reference point, it's subjective...don't rely on how the image looks in the LCD or viewfinder to be the deciding factor on whether you've exposed the image properly." And since I use the 4:2:0 signal, I just don't want to rework my image in post production, I want to make it on set.
But maybe I should consider shooting 50Hz using WFM and the others built in tools until I can afford an external monitor, yet I'm still going to have hard time with colour... I admit that it is not a huge problem, but it's really frustrating for sure, to shoot and have the surprise when viewing rushes on my computer.
Again, thanks for the advices guys.
 
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Hey guys, I post it there because I think I start too much threads! Can someone tell me how to deactivate the function that suggest you to engage ND filters? Yesterday I did some outdoor shooting (with lumix 14140, lens check on) and at some point I see ND2 "flashing" on the lcd screen so I shot without engaging it and then with ND2. And honestly the shot was better without the ND filter though the camera advised me to engage it. Yet it's disturbing to have that flashing on the screen, so I disableb lens check but it still was there. Any clue?
 
caheb;1986212805Yet it's disturbing to have that flashing on the screen said:
Lens check and the ND indicator arent connected as they relate to two different functions. The ND Indicator will flash to tell you what the camera "thinks" needs to happen - but it cant pick your mind and see what you want the shot to be.

Use your waveform, get the exposure you want, ignore the flashy ND indicator.
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