AVC-I 100 1080/30pN footage= grainy– any thoughts?

Panasonic Cameras

AVC-I 100 1080/30pN footage= grainy– any thoughts?

Posted by Megan Evans on September 9, 2009 at 6:04 am

I am working with some footage shot on an HVX-300p, using the AVC-I 100 codec, 1080/30pN, and it appears pretty grainy, almost like 16mm film. Is this normal for the codec? I am bringing it in Apple Pro Res 422 (HQ).
Conversely, am also working with DVCPRO HD 1080/60i footage in another project (project is DVCPRO HD 1080/60i as well), and it looks fabulous– no grain at all.

Should I be doing something different with the AVC-I footage, or is the grain inherent in the codec?

Thanks

MacPro Quad-core, OS 10.5.3, FCP 6.0.5

Matt Gerard replied 16 years, 10 months ago 5 Members · 6 Replies
6 Replies

Shane Ross
September 9, 2009 at 1:41 pm

Was the GAIN turned up in the camera? Was this shot in a dark situation…thus the gain turned up? I have footage from this camera at AVCI-100, and it isn’t grainy.

Shane

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Noah Kadner
September 9, 2009 at 2:23 pm

Seriously- grain is man-made not camera native.

Noah

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Megan Evans
September 9, 2009 at 4:21 pm

Thanks Shane for your help. As far as I know, the footage was shot at -3Db. There are some darker scenes shot right at twilight that are grainy, and I would expect that, but it looks like all the footage we shot, even in broad daylight, has this grain to it.

Thanks again,
M
Morten
September 11, 2009 at 9:41 pm

I was told by a dealer that the HPX300 camera is pretty grainy in low light conditions!

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Shane Ross
September 11, 2009 at 9:45 pm

[Morten Ranmar] “I was told by a dealer that the HPX300 camera is pretty grainy in low light conditions! “

Well, they are wrong. Were they mainly SONY guys? Or trying to sell you a more expensive camera?

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
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Matt Gerard
September 23, 2009 at 4:36 pm

Our 2000 had some of this going on as well straight out of the box. After hooking up the paintbox and doing some tweaking on the black levels and gamma curves, the grain went away. It was mostly in the shadows and blacks, but was noticeable elsewhere as well under certain situations.

So, you need an experienced engineer to look at the camera and set it up, or at least someone like me that LIKES to read manuals and futz with dangerous settings in the camera until I get it to look right.

Out of the box these cameras have some grain to them, but that can be taken care of if they are properly set up.

Matt

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