Hey guys, I just got my DVXA two weeks ago, not enough time to do test shoots before having to begin secondary photography on a documentary. The principal photography will be done in 16:9 with the anamorphic adapter, however, I must get some shots now before I can get the adapter. Should I shoot in 4:3 and attempt to reformat the aspect ratio in post or should I shoot in 16:9 digital squeeze or fake the letter box with the black bars for the highest quality results?
Which Mode Would You Shoot with?
- Thread starter massmusic
- Start date
Slimothy
Veteran
Shooting 4:3 will make it so you don't lose any resolution and you can crop it in post. I wouldn't ever do letterbox cuz your ****ed if you mess it up. I would do 4:3. And be careful using an anamorphic adapter for a run and gun type shoot as there are alot of focusing issues that might get in your way.
To mix the shots more easily when your adapter arrives I would shoot squeeze mode. The process in your NLE will be the same to conform to 16:9. Squeeze will give you some resolution loss. Shooting 4:3 will give you resolution loss when it comes to cropping to fit the same aspect ratio as your ana footage. I am not sure of the exact numbers..... But I would figure shooting 4:3 then doing the post work to stretch etc would be much the same output as footage shot in squeeze, my point being the process doing squeeze will be much easier.
Letterbox will give you the same issue as cropping 4:3 and adding black bars, you would need to crop the bars then increase the image size.
Letterbox will give you the same issue as cropping 4:3 and adding black bars, you would need to crop the bars then increase the image size.
Pale Rider
Well-known member
ditto to what ncje said... theoretically you could shoot 4:3 and uprez, but it would be much less of a headache to just shoot in squeeze until your adapter arrives.
Thanks guys, The shoot went down yesterday and I chose to shoot in 4:3. Fortunately it was an interview that could very much end up in the cutting room delete file. I have the entire weekend to do test shoots....like I should have done two weeks ago. This site rocks as do all you guys helping others!
you did exactly right.massmusic said:
according to Barry's book shooting 4:3 and blowing up to 16:9 post and shooting squeeze are about the same resolution, with blowing up in your NLE being the slight winner for a little better resolution because it has a cleaner starting point to blow up from. The difference is like 300 vs 350 lines of resolution I THINK, both of which are as high or higher res than SD TV can safely display without line twitter.
But you picked the higher rez way and more flexible way as you can reframe if you need to.
If you really want uprezz as oposed to just blowing the image up to 16:9 (which you will have to do to edit it on the same timeline as the rest of the footage) then look for the tutorials around here on uprezzing the image in photozoom pro.
Thanks for the confirmation. I actualy made my choice based upon instinct given that I've not had the opportunity to shoot in 16:9 in the past, so I knew how to frame and figured by the time I go to post there would be some way to make it eaither 16:9 or look like 16:9. I'll search out the tutorial for Photozoom since I'd rather uprez and not just blow the image up. Another fortunate thing is the shoot I did is a part of a series of interviews that I want to have a very different look then the other footage, so for consistancy, I'll shoot all interviews in 4:3 and up rez and shoot the other footage with the anamorphic adapter.
Once again I know the real right thing to have done was do my test shoots and my homework before taking the camera to the real world, I thank you guys for not slamming me on that point.
Once again I know the real right thing to have done was do my test shoots and my homework before taking the camera to the real world, I thank you guys for not slamming me on that point.
lol, its a sticky at the top of the technical section
(you can get photozoom pro for free or cheap I think)
http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=6844
its a little labor intensive and you might even hold off until you know you are 100% sure you are going to film
I shot with the Ananmorphic for the zombiefest (see link below) SHED, SHOT IN THE DARK was uprezzed in photozoom pro, and everyone else was jus blown up and cropped (by Jarred) and you really can't tell that much differenc if any (on my standard def 20" monitor at least)
you might want to invest 20 bucks in the DVD so you can compare these three methods on a hi def wide screen at friends house or by loitering at Big Buy if necessary.
(you can get photozoom pro for free or cheap I think)
http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=6844
its a little labor intensive and you might even hold off until you know you are 100% sure you are going to film
I shot with the Ananmorphic for the zombiefest (see link below) SHED, SHOT IN THE DARK was uprezzed in photozoom pro, and everyone else was jus blown up and cropped (by Jarred) and you really can't tell that much differenc if any (on my standard def 20" monitor at least)
you might want to invest 20 bucks in the DVD so you can compare these three methods on a hi def wide screen at friends house or by loitering at Big Buy if necessary.
no it sure will work.
And to answer your question in yoour 1st post simply. Shoot 4X3 with a 16X9 laminate on the LCD and blow up in your NLE or use photozoom pro.
Why:
-- Squeeze is ok and only slightly less resolution than Letter Box.
-- but Barry GReen posists in the DVX book that blowing up in your NLE will be slightly higher resolution that Squeeze -- so that's reason one.
-- Reason two is that you have framing choices in post by shooting 4:3 and cropping, blowing up, or uprezzing later
-- Reason three Blowing up in your NLE is no bigge you just change the scale and aspect ratio -- your done, not labor intensive like uprezzing with photozoom pro.
(though of course you have to render)
-- Reason 4 you can use photozoom pro or not if you shoot 4:3. You could even do your project by blowing up in your NLE, go look at it projected, then say gosh I wish I had more sharpness and its worth hours of work, so now I'm going to uprezz it. You can even go to a thirs option -- there are boxes pout there that you run your video through and get a real time uprezz, I forget what they are called but you can rent a session with one of these for like $300 / hour, which should be enough for a short, maybe cost you $450 or $600 for a feature.
So if you shoot squeeze you are stuck in terms of framing and resolution. But if you shoot 4:3 you can do a quick slightly higher res than squeeze blow up in your NLE, a time intensive uprezz in photozoom pro, or spend some money to get it done.
Re uprezzing with photozoom pro:
Uprezzing is not the same as shooting with an anamorphic adaptor (500 lines of resolution) but it will be better than squeeze or letterboxing or letterboxing in post or blowing up to 16:9 in your NLE all of which will work (although letterbox is obviously a 4:3 screen with black bars).
Anamorphic adaptor = highest resolution 16X9 with MANY trade offs in on set work flow and you can use no filters or adaptors
Photo Zoom pro = next highest resolution 16X9 but is most labor intensive
Blowing up in your NLE = Ok resolution in 16X9
Squeeze slightly less resolution 16X9 but difference is marginal
letterbox in camera or post = not true 16X9 but 4X3 frame with bars.
And to answer your question in yoour 1st post simply. Shoot 4X3 with a 16X9 laminate on the LCD and blow up in your NLE or use photozoom pro.
Why:
-- Squeeze is ok and only slightly less resolution than Letter Box.
-- but Barry GReen posists in the DVX book that blowing up in your NLE will be slightly higher resolution that Squeeze -- so that's reason one.
-- Reason two is that you have framing choices in post by shooting 4:3 and cropping, blowing up, or uprezzing later
-- Reason three Blowing up in your NLE is no bigge you just change the scale and aspect ratio -- your done, not labor intensive like uprezzing with photozoom pro.
(though of course you have to render)
-- Reason 4 you can use photozoom pro or not if you shoot 4:3. You could even do your project by blowing up in your NLE, go look at it projected, then say gosh I wish I had more sharpness and its worth hours of work, so now I'm going to uprezz it. You can even go to a thirs option -- there are boxes pout there that you run your video through and get a real time uprezz, I forget what they are called but you can rent a session with one of these for like $300 / hour, which should be enough for a short, maybe cost you $450 or $600 for a feature.
So if you shoot squeeze you are stuck in terms of framing and resolution. But if you shoot 4:3 you can do a quick slightly higher res than squeeze blow up in your NLE, a time intensive uprezz in photozoom pro, or spend some money to get it done.
Re uprezzing with photozoom pro:
Uprezzing is not the same as shooting with an anamorphic adaptor (500 lines of resolution) but it will be better than squeeze or letterboxing or letterboxing in post or blowing up to 16:9 in your NLE all of which will work (although letterbox is obviously a 4:3 screen with black bars).
Anamorphic adaptor = highest resolution 16X9 with MANY trade offs in on set work flow and you can use no filters or adaptors
Photo Zoom pro = next highest resolution 16X9 but is most labor intensive
Blowing up in your NLE = Ok resolution in 16X9
Squeeze slightly less resolution 16X9 but difference is marginal
letterbox in camera or post = not true 16X9 but 4X3 frame with bars.