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HPX2000 Setup
What is a good resource for how to setup the paint menus and other stuff int his camera? My boss wants me to become the expert on our new purchase, so i need to start somewhere.
Thanks!
Matt
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7 Replies
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It would help to know your background and what you allready know about pro cameras.
KB
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Fair enough-
I am mainly a postproduction guy. Editing, color correction, animation, design.
On the set I am a fairly capable audio op and grip. I can set up and rig lights and all associated accutrements, but I don’t know alot about the art of lighting itself.
I am probably best characterized as a novice camera operator. I can operate a camera for interviews, simple pan and zoom, and if I’m having a good day, a simple follow focus. I know the basic operations of most cameras, ie- focus, iris, gain, white balance, basic menu options.
Now, what I don’t know about is deeper stuff like gamma settings, individual color adjustments, pedestal, shutter speeds and when to use them, and how to save scenes to the SD card for various situations. I am more technical than creative, so I should be able to get a hold of this camera fairly quickly, but I’d rather read or ask about it instead of scrolling through all the menus and screwing it up even more.
For example, we just got done shooting 2 scenes, one a lady on greenscreen, in full bore 1080i HD, and it looks noisy, like the gain was at +6, which it wasn’t. The other was a silver medical device over black, and the blacks look washed out and noisy. I don’t trust that the shop we bought th camera from did the proper “set up” procedures, so i need to go through all the settings and make sure that they are where they need to be.
Is there anyone that can save me thier scene settings so I can load it onto my cam, and see what the differences are?
i really appreciate the offers for help. i don’t want to badger people with rookie questions, so if therre is a reference that I can read or a book, i will happily do that was well. THEN I’ll come back and bug y’all.
Also, what should I get as a test target? What is the standard to use when setting these up?
Matt
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First let’s start with what you should “really know”.
Besides the “black level” (Pedestal) adjustment and the rest of the features you mentionned, everything else is often used at a creative level.
The pedestal is actually the black level. To make adjustments there, you first need a good calibrated broadcast monitor, as well as a waveform monitor (Adobe Onlocation can work for you on a budget, since HD monitoring is still far from affordable)
I would download a trial and try to learn all its functions.
If you have noise there is likely some gain, and maybe insufficient lighting ?
Vince
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If you are recording in a digital format there is no pedestal. Set-up would be set to 0.
If you are recording to an analog format then set-up would set to 7.5.KB
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Thanks for the basic info, that will get me started. So should I save the settings that are in the camera now, then reset all the settings in the camera to the factory defaults?
Just looking for a source to be able to set this camera up on my own, I want to be able to troubleshoot this thing on set, the boss has added VIDEO ENGINEER to my job description!
Thanks all!
Matt
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First, My boss and I think your boss is asking alot from you. Second,
If you go through the user manual for the 2000 there is alot of information on what to do.
I’m an old film guy and a former Gaffer. The other guy was right, lighting is and issue if you have grain.
You need to also take the camera out of “Default” mode in the camera setup menu. There are different Pre-set “Looks” under the Gamma settings. Film 1,2,&3 are a good start. After that adjust your Saturations. Play with all the settings through the Paint modes.
Some of this is Trial and Error, find what looks good to your eye and what is right for the scene. Also, being a film guy I like to use a polarizer on the lens, we have a 4X4 matte box, you lose a 1/4 stop but it softens the “Video” look. Be sure to have your monitor calibrated correctly.Hope this Helps
PIV -
Wow, good response to an old post!
Its been a while, and I have had the chance to really sit and play with the camera. I’ve gotten a copy of the Goodmans guide for the SDX900, which is basically the same camera with the P@ slots insteaad of the deck. So, 90% of the menus and explanations are similar if not the same.
So, I have gotten a baisc understanding of the different terms that are used to describe the way the different adjustments work, and how they affect the picture. I know what knobs to touch, and which to leave alone!!!
I have gotten to the point that am now engineering shoots for our main cline that has product which is painted a very particular color (red!!!!!) and needs to match wheather we are inside or outside, sun, clouds, etc. Being an editor it helps me understand what I can fix in pot and what needs to be fixed on set. I really like being on the shoot, then being the editor for the video. And, my client understands what the benifit is to having me on the shoot.
I wish there was a quick and easy way to control the playback of thumbnails from the paintbox, though.
So, thanks for the feedback, we do have a matte box, and use it for lens shading, but haven’t used any filters yet, as we are in the middle of a project. Next one though, will be a lot of outdoor shooting, so we will be using the polarizer there. I have saved my settings files for a number of different scenarios, interview, warehouse, manufacturing, in SD and HD resolutions.
Holy grail would be being able to manage the clips in the camera remotly (rename, add scene numbers, notes, etc), but that might still come. I would even work on a PC if I had to to get that functionalilty!!!
Thanks!
Matt
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