Alex Derrick
Active member
Hi, I've been with my LT for almost a year now and would like to make a few suggestions for firmware. It seems most of the new firm ware updates are for Documentary and Broadcast, and a little light on the cinema/narrative side of things. These are some things I feel narrative shooters might enjoy.
1) Would it be possible to record cropped sensor formats. It would be super useful to be able to record files in various aspect ratios such as 1:1, 4:3, 16:9, 17:9 2.39:1, etc and not have to mask and throw away data on the post production side of things. Of course if you want to record in 17:9 for reframing thats cool, but if your confident and want to save space that would be so nice. And with the rise of social media video, outputting and composing directly to 1:1 or 4:3 would be good.
2) Can we get some actual black bars to mask these aspect ratios as well, not just fine lines. Being able to mask the viewfinder and control panel, as well as record only that area would be super useful.
Blackmagic Ursa Mini does both of these things to great effect. I was a little impressed with that feature and think it would be good for Varicam.
3) The 2K 444 is prone to fine detail image artifacts (chroma noise?). Whatever kind of scaling algorithm that is being used right now is not as good as shooting 4K and downscale in post. As much as I want to shoot in 2K for long format interviews, in order to avoid the artifacts in hair and fine patterns in clothing I always shoot in 4K and then scale down. Can this be fixed? In my experience the camera is always capable of rendering the exact same detail in 4k with no artifacts, and many times the 2K artifacts can be minimalized by slight noise reduction on the chroma channel in Resolve.
5) Could we have some user defined snap shot modes, that capture all the control panel settings and quick jump (w/ a built in reboot). I feel this could speed up changing modes even more.
Example modes:
1)4k 422, AVC-Intra, 24fps
2)2k 422, AVC-Intra LT, 120fps
3)2k 444, AVC-Intra, 24fps
4)4k 422, AVC-Intra LT, 60fps
-Cheers!
1) Would it be possible to record cropped sensor formats. It would be super useful to be able to record files in various aspect ratios such as 1:1, 4:3, 16:9, 17:9 2.39:1, etc and not have to mask and throw away data on the post production side of things. Of course if you want to record in 17:9 for reframing thats cool, but if your confident and want to save space that would be so nice. And with the rise of social media video, outputting and composing directly to 1:1 or 4:3 would be good.
2) Can we get some actual black bars to mask these aspect ratios as well, not just fine lines. Being able to mask the viewfinder and control panel, as well as record only that area would be super useful.
Blackmagic Ursa Mini does both of these things to great effect. I was a little impressed with that feature and think it would be good for Varicam.
3) The 2K 444 is prone to fine detail image artifacts (chroma noise?). Whatever kind of scaling algorithm that is being used right now is not as good as shooting 4K and downscale in post. As much as I want to shoot in 2K for long format interviews, in order to avoid the artifacts in hair and fine patterns in clothing I always shoot in 4K and then scale down. Can this be fixed? In my experience the camera is always capable of rendering the exact same detail in 4k with no artifacts, and many times the 2K artifacts can be minimalized by slight noise reduction on the chroma channel in Resolve.
5) Could we have some user defined snap shot modes, that capture all the control panel settings and quick jump (w/ a built in reboot). I feel this could speed up changing modes even more.
Example modes:
1)4k 422, AVC-Intra, 24fps
2)2k 422, AVC-Intra LT, 120fps
3)2k 444, AVC-Intra, 24fps
4)4k 422, AVC-Intra LT, 60fps
-Cheers!