using dvx for stills based film project

P

Pog

Active member
Hi,

I have an idea for a hour + project shot on my dvx100b using still shots, it would not be animation, it would be a series of continous stills. Theres a function that allows you to grab a few frames at a time so it would'nt be that much of a pain.

But theres a problem when i'd like to zoom in/out in and possibly across certain shots, because you cant really do that with dv because the image gets noticebly noisey when you zoom in. The film would be exhibited on the internet vimeo/youtube etc.

So i was thinking i could use a different camera maybe a 12mp stills camera for the zoom in shots, then in post try and grade the images from the stills camera to match the stills from the dvx. Would i be on the right track here?

Or should i look into shooting it all on a dedicated stills camera? My budget for a stills camera would be very little say 200+ And i'd loose the mojo of the dvx.
 
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If you're shooting stills, use a still camera. Why even bother with the DVX for this, especially since you've said you'd have to use a still camera for some of the shots? Yeah, you can grab stills on the DVX... poor-quality stills, that would (still) require you to capture the DV footage as if it were motion footage. That's a huge workaround when there are tools designed specifically for what you're doing. If it's all you've got, I guess that's one thing, but it's going to be a lot of hassle.
 
Hi C2V,

Well i could probabley borrow a stills camera just for the shots that require a zoom in and i dont feel like i can afford to buy more gear right now. But i definately would consider it, if would make things easier and be a wiser way to approach it etc.

For stills cameras i was thinking about something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-L...ZE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1298742746&sr=8-4ng. In post i could lower the resolution for the static shots then for zoom in shots i could increase the resolution. What do you think? Cutting files from this might be a lot for FCE on my imac i3.. Thanks for any advice.
 
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Not a bad camera. You're a little more limited with point-and-shoot as opposed to DSLR, but that's not a bad point-and-shoot.

As far as increasing/decreasing resolution, don't bother. All that will do is create artifacts. Your iMac i3 and FCE will do just fine... just import the still images and use the motion control tab on each one to frame the image, using the scale and center controls. Once you've done that, just render the video and FCE will conform the resolution to the codec you're using.

The other thing to consider is that, by shooting stills, you're actually starting with images that are well above anything the DVX can create. Any "DVX mojo" you think you're missing won't really be missed. You can use color correction and other filters in FCE to get the look you want, and since you'll be starting with more detail you can push them a little farther than you could any stills from the DVX.
 
Cheers C2V, will definately go with a stills cam, i checked out a panny LX5 and it sounds super sweet.
 
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