Contrast and Timelapse

[Joe Editor]

Hi…I just got the Varicam 2 months ago and been shooting in Arizona, and for some reason a lot of my shoots look a little washed out, very little contrast and little chroma. I am shooting in 24fps and using the default factory setting…Master gamma is a .45 and zebras at 80%. This happens indoors and outdoors. I sometimes use a Matte box with a Tiffen Warm Polarizer combined with a Tiffen 812 filter. This gives me better results. Do you recommend a set-up to help with this…

Also what is the best setting for shooting traffic night time lapses to get the streaky-lights look like 35mm film cameras? (Do you recommend 4fps with no shutter?)

Thanks in advance!

Joe O.

Joe O.

[John Sharaf]

Joe,

I’ll bet you’re shooting Film Rec at 500% Dynamic Range! This will assure the milky washed out look you describe. Theis setting is really designed for “film out” transfer to motion picture film which adds the contrast back in, or for extensive post production color correction, as one might do on a Da Vinci.

For good looking uncorrected footage, try Dynamic Range ay 200%, crush the gamma to .55 or .60 and press the black to -1. Let me know if you notice a favorable difference!

JS

[Ray Palmer]

Hello Joe.
We need to get together and share Varicam experiences. I too am in Phoenix, AZ and we have had the Varicam for over two years now. I am often asked where someone can get a Varicam in Phoenix and we cannot rent ours out.

Give me a call or send me an email.

Ray Palmer
602-809-1471 cell
rrpalmer@srpnet.com

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.