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Auto Facial Focus vs Manual?
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Cheers Todd,
Yeah the change in lighting came about due to the LCD screen being on the left therefore I needed to be on the left hence swapping over the key light. Does it really matter if I am on the left? I’ll move that light over to face the talent.
I wasn’t using a fill just a key light and a head/rim light above his head to separate him from the background. I realised straight away it was to strong. Real bugger that mistake.
As I’ve mentioned I set it up and my assistant leaves to put the vet at easy. This may have to change but this does give rise to an external monitor. Could you please help me with these links and I might ask the question in the forum so I need an HD with no less than 720 lines right?
You looked at this one (would it just cut the mustard or is it worth waiting & saving for a better grade): https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/854001-REG/Delvcam_delv_dslr_7l_Camera_Top_7_HDMI_LCD.html
There’s so many out there but could you please checked this one out and tell me if it’s worth purchasing:
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It doesn’t matter which side you are on. You probably want to vary them… some facing one way, some the other. But in any case you want the key light on the same side as you are, on the side toward which the talent is looking. I’d put it farther back as well, at about a 30° or even as much as a 45° angle, not so much head-on.
You said you have a “head/rim light above his head”… it’s hard to really tell from the sample due to the overexposure, but do you mean it is literally above his head?… as in pointing straight down on him? If so, you want that farther back, so that it’s also pointing down at about a 45° angle to him.
I think you need to get over the thinking that it only needs to be you and the talent in the room. I understand your wanting to make the talent feel at ease, but you might be underestimating these guys and it seems to me that in your situation you really want and need a live camera operator with his hands on the gear monitoring things at all times. These are guys who have faced enemies literally trying to kill them… I think they should be able to get over the fact that there’s an actual person behind the camera. We’ve done zillions of similar interviews, and never once have we had to completely clear a set of every living soul in order to get a better performance (in fact, it wouldn’t even occur to me to do so).
If you want to just check framing and exposure, that cheaper monitor is fine. If you want to rely on it for razor-sharp focusing, you’d need at least one of those in the previous two links (the one in the last link doesn’t have very high resolution). Of the two earlier ones, they are virtually the same price and the same features, so I’d go with the one that is the most useful size for your. For me, that’d probably be the bigger one. For your mounting purposes, it might be the smaller… I think only you can make that determination.
Happy shooting and good luck!…
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Thanks Todd!
You’ve been a fantastic help!
I think I may as well go for razor sharp focusing. One last question – what’s the optimal resolution I should be go for with this monitor?
Thanks again Todd!
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If by “optimal” you mean the very best there is… well that would be a 1080 line monitor. Unfortunately though those don’t really exist in little TTF monitors unless you want to spend real money… such as the little Astro monitors like they use on feature film sets. Then again, they are about six grand.
For most of us we get by with 720 monitors just fine. Just look at the specs and make sure the ones you are considering have a vertical line count of at least 720 lines or more.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Thank you.
sometimes the specs don’t tell you their line count. Is it under a different title? I.e 8.9″ LCD WXGA (1280h x 768v) does that 768v mean it’s got the right count?
Thanks for your patience!
Pat
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Yes, those numbers are the horizontal and vertical resolution.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Hey Todd,
A very embracing thing happened to me today. I was very meticulous about using all your advice. I used the magnification function to help with focusing but didn’t push the button again, stupidly recording the whole interview with it on. It looked great until I turned it off and the image went right back past the point I had originally zoomed in at. If it looked good with the magnification tool on I’m assuming it was recorded o.k. would there be anything it post that could help me get that picture back?
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Any of the pro NLE will let you crop your picture. Choose the framing you want and apply crop. If it looked good magnified it should look good cropped. You’ll loose a little resolution but you can choose the best frame in post.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Patrick… that is a very easy mistake to make… learn from it, but don’t be too embarrassed about it.
I’ll have to admit I’ve done that a couple of times. See, I used that feature all the time with my previous camera, the Canon XLH1. But with the H1, magnification only worked when the camera was paused. As soon as you pulled trigger the viewfinder would pop back to normal. We retired that camera for the C300, which does not function that way… with the C300 you can use magnification when it is recording. So.. a couple of times I accidentally shot an image much much wider than I intended.
As Craig said, any NLE can blow that back up. If your finished project is in 1080HD you will significantly lose resolution though if you blow it back up to the size you were seeing when magnified. If you happen to have shot HD but are finishing your project in standard-def (say, for a DVD release), then you’re golden… you can easily make that size change with no ill effects. If the project is staying in the HD world, you can blow it up 150% and still technically stay HD, since 1080 lines blown up that much is still 720 lines of resolution.
Just don’t do that again 🙂
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Cheers Craig and Todd,
I’ve certainly learn’t my lesson. I’m just very lucky the vet was so understanding and is going to let me redo the interview!
I won’t be forgetting that again!
Thanks again guys.
Regards,
Pat
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