Sound fellas at work (micro clip)

rawfa

rawfa

Veteran
Hey guys, this week I did a lot of location scouting and sound testing with my sound guys to prepare for a feature I should begin shooting shortly. Before the sound test I was messing around with the camera and I actually didn't even know it was recording, so the footage is all shaky and it has weird zooms on it (am I great at selling my prodct or what)....but I think it's worth seeing anyway. I wasn't even going to post this, but the IMAGE quality is so great I just had to post (besides I was getting anxious from not posting anything for a long time...pre-production sucks).

Anyway, this leads me to an "issue" I would like to post. Every time I shoot something with the A1 the results turn out so amazing that I really don't see much point/need on color correcting it (maybe a minor one every once in a while)...as opposed to shooting with the FX1 I used to have (I had to CC every single shot to make it more cinematic, to give it that texture, that organic feel that is by nature already present on the A1).


Straight out of the camera:
http://rapidshare.com/files/13443594/Sound_Fellas_at_work.wmv.html

Color corrected:
http://rapidshare.com/files/13443470/Sound_Fellas_at_work_CCed.wmv.html
 
Wow how does even crappy footage like this have such nice color and a look. I can see why you wouldn't really need to cc, post those settings! Was this with your 35mm adapter on? Damnit I need an A1 as fast as possible.
 
No 35mm adapter used at all. That's another amazing thing about the A1...it has THE most amazing DOF and bokeh! I have a letus35A, a 7" monitor and 5 expensive nikon primes, and I'm seriously thinking about selling them. The A1 doesn't need it! Today I'm going out to specifically shoot with and without the letus so that I may come to a specific conclusion. I could sell it and put this money on a merlin or a steadicam JR.

As for the camera settings, I downloaded all the presets from dvinfo and I was using preset number 9 (it has nice warm colors). The on the color corrected version and simply used a screen key on the top layer and messed around with "fast color correction" on premiere.
 
Rawfa great footage man! Proud of you. You've come very far. Now is it better to encode to WMV, if so could you email me your settings?

By the way ecking - I love your profile pic. 'It ain't easy being white...'
 
I have to agree with you on the raw footy, it looks VERY good! I love the footage that this little camera puts out, simply blows me away. I'd like to see the CC'd version but that site is saying that I exceeded my downloads, lol.
 
Thanks, fellas. In one hour or so I'm going to go location scouting again and this time I'll make some proper tests. I really want to find out if it's really worth it to keep a 35mm adapter. I'll test the A1 with it's regular stock lens, then with a regular screw on wide angle...againste the letus35A with a 28mm f1.8 and a 50mm f1.8. I'll be sure to post the results soon.

Yas, the preset I used was TERRA1 (quote" is a soft unsharpened image, shadows retain detail without looking washed out"). It's preset number 8 on the dvinfo preset download list.
 
That wasn't my question, my question was is it better to render to WMV as opposed to H.264. H.264 quicktime seems to flatten the colours and wmv doesn't. Unless you rendered as uncomressed WMV.
 
Oh, ok. I've been trying to get as good results with H.264 as I do with wmv and so far I didn't succeed. Anyway, I don't worry too much about it because these are only web copies to post at forums and stuff. My final work is always delivered on DVD or tape.
 
BTW, I have shot some letus35+A1 footage this afternoon that will blow people's minds. The key is sun light! I'll probably edit it tomorrow and post it by the end of the day.
 
Looks great. What was your shudder speed? Looks kinda like 1/24. Slightly too much trail, but it might just be my eyes.
 
bballplaya283 said:
Looks great. What was your shudder speed? Looks kinda like 1/24. Slightly too much trail, but it might just be my eyes.
Click to expand...

That is probably the compression. I was using 1/50.
 
rawfa said:
That's another amazing thing about the A1...it has THE most amazing DOF and bokeh!
Click to expand...

I couldn't help but think the same thing when the first thing I shot with the camera was this:
http://realm.cc/upload/Elton/FacesInTheCrowd.mov

I think adapters have their place, but decent looking subject isolation isn't that hard to pull off with the A1.

And I loooove the OIS on the A1. Made it very easy to hold the camera against my chest and just shoot with a long zoom on that NY sidewalk.
 
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The A1 has the best DOF/bokeh from all the prosumers cameras out there (imo) and until yesterday I was really beginning to think there's no point using a 35mm adapter with it...but today people will witness the beginning of a new era. Just be patient.
 
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