Zebra cool, lions gone?

CaptainMench

CaptainMench

Carbonite Member
I believe the zebra settings are defaulted at 80%. Is that 80% of 100IRE? Anyway, that's not my question. Here it is: If I bump it to 100% should I make sure all the zebra lines go away? Or as DP (cough) am I left to decide if those areas are of real concern to me?

I mean, I'm closing iris, snapping ND filters, re-white balancing... every time!! Should I stop the madness?

Any help in understanding what I'm seeing would be appreciated.

Thanks,

CaptM

I never had a camera before that told me how stupid I was everytime I turned it on.
 
Re: Zebra cool, lions gone?

[quote author=CaptainMench link=board=Events;num=1084068399;start=0#0 date=05/08/04 at 19:06:38] If I bump it to 100% should I make sure all the zebra lines go away?  Or as DP (cough) am I left to decide if those areas are of real concern to me?
[/quote]

You can't just stop down until the zebras go away, because that may leave areas of your picture underexposed.

Managing exposure latitude is one of the challenges of shooting video. Ideally you would have a picture with proper exposure on your subject and NO 100% zebras. That's the goal. So if you are shooting a scene where there are 100% zebras showing up, it's your job to either bring down the light on those sections, or raise the light level on your subject (so you can now stop down to eliminate the zebras), or decide that you're not concerned about those blown-out areas. For example, if the blown-out area is a light bulb in the shot, that's probably okay to let it blow out. But if the blown-out area is, say, a white car in the shot, then letting that blow out will result in UGLY video.

The zebras are there to point out potential problem areas in your shot. It's up to you to determine the right way to address those problems.
 
Re: Zebra cool, lions gone?

Ok -- a follow up on stepping down. I just dumped some footage into FCP that I filmed in the stock F5 mode. I had been checking zebras and left some of the sky through trees 'overexposed.'

When I turn on my histogram video scope it shows a SPIKE at 110 -- no ramps, just a huge spike. Can you explain that? What am I seeing here? I mean there are minimal super-whites and then this spike that goes all the way to the top on the final line to the right.

Might be a FCP question, but just wondering if the DVX somehow lets in range above 110 even if I stepped down my iris.

Thanks,

CaptM
 
Re: Zebra cool, lions gone?

If you are shooting with CineGamma ON you will get whites that go to 110IRE. Bring it back down to 100 IRE and see what you get. You can always shoot with NORM, HIGH, or LOW, if you want the camera to add a shoulder ending at 100IRE while shooting.

Michael
 
Re: Zebra cool, lions gone?

Mmmm. The sky is obviously peaking, I brought that into a waveform and it shows just the sky going out which is ok.

As barry said, thats the wonders of working with the latitude of Video. There is not much you could of really done in shooting that scene, unless you had a bunch of HMI's backlighting the scene, in which you would of lost a little contrast, or put a huge net up overhead where you see the sky.

It looks ok to me, you exposed to your first talent, and the exposure there seems perfect. Any darker to bring down the sky woulda placed the kids too dark.
 
Re: Zebra cool, lions gone?

Thanks again. It was run and gun that day with the talent. Wanted to work RIGHT THEN... oh, my wife yells at me when I call my kids Talent. LOL.

Good to know I was on the right track with this.

Thanks again

CaptM
 
Re: Zebra cool, lions gone?

Hey Captain...

Are you the Captain Mench of Apple forum fame?

If so, I'm one of the newbies to both worlds and want to say glad to have you join the DVX world. If you contribute here like you did over there, you're an awesome addition. If not... get lost... HA! just kiddin' It seems that there is a learning curve for you, but I'm sure it won't be long.

Cheers,
Chico
 
Re: Zebra cool, lions gone?

Ugh, you found me!! 'Tis I. Though I'm not sure you should ever use Mench and Fame in the same sentence.

You know, I'm remembering more and more from my teen years when my mom took up photography and she would try to explain her 'massive' camera to me and how she set up shots etc. That combined with Photoshop gammas, curves, knee... etc... I'm getting there.

Going from this manual to camera is a bit harder than I thought. WHAT the heck does the SW stand for in Auto SW??? Took me forever to figure out they were talking about the user's auto setup when AUTO was pressed.

Thanks, J-

CaptM
 
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