Matching a HDSLR with say a HVX200

[Sohrab Sandhu]

Thats what i am aiming to do in about 3 weeks time.

Hvx-200 with a canon t2i. I plan to shoot 720p60 on both. Needless to say i have my fingers crossed!

2.66 GHz 8-core, ATI Radeon HD 4870,
FCS 3, AJA Kona Lhi

“The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six months, or six years down the road. But he has faith that it will happen.” — Carl Ally

[Michael Sacci]

I would shoot the Panny at 720p@24p and the Canon at 1080@24p, then I would convert the canon stuff to 720@23.98 DVCPorHD to match the Panny stuff.

Test the T2i shooting 720 most people don’t like it.

Biggest thing to do is to make sure the frame-rate is the same, not a problem to trancode to another resolution.

[Sohrab Sandhu]

[Michael Sacci] “Test the T2i shooting 720 most people don’t like it.”

Any specific reason???

I have shot some stuff at 720 before. I thought it was great!

2.66 GHz 8-core, ATI Radeon HD 4870,
FCS 3, AJA Kona Lhi

“The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six months, or six years down the road. But he has faith that it will happen.” — Carl Ally

[Phil Balsdon]

I’ve tried this with a Canon 7D 1080p and a JVC 111E at 720p. Resolution, colour etc were a usable match after a little work in post. What stuck out though was the depth of field factor.

Shoot close ups with the HDSLR and wide shots with the HVX. Don’t shoot matching frame sizes with different cameras and you should be right.

Try some tests with camera set ups prior to main shoot.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Michael King]

I did a project a few months ago with a HVX200 and two Canon 5ds. I did what Phil did with using the HVX at the back of house for the wide. My reasons were because it was a live show just under an hour in length. The HVX had two 32gb cards and the audio feed from the mixing board, the 5ds shot cutaways and close ups because of their shooting times and because they could match better than with the HVX. I don’t know what type of project your doing or if my reasons would apply.

[Chuck Purnell]

Well I am going to be shooting a Music Video inside a large dance hall place. I will definitely keep that is mind with using one camera as a wide shot camera and the other for my close ups and cutaways.

Cre8tive Minds Entertainment, LLC

[Steve Crow]

First off, I have never done a real music video myself however… from my reading about the music video technique, I’d think you’d be far better off just shooting everything with the HD DSLR.

I don’t think you will end up using much, if anything, of the HVX footage shooting the wide master…I say this because I think the depth of field issue and the whole “look” of the footage from the cameras will be so different. The HVX200, even in Cinema Mode, looks much more “video-ey” than the HD DSLR footage (I shoot with a Canon T2i but I am assuming the Nikon footage looks about the same)

Sure, with enough time spent in color correction and grading maybe you can get the two cameras to look a little bit the same but the difference is going to be obvious, in my humble opinion.

I do have a bias, I sold all my HVX200 equipment for a Canon T2i rig costing half as much but am now far, far happier with the results I am getting even though filming with a HD DSLR is much much harder than what I was used to with the HVX200. I just came back from a HD DSLR shoot today and I am exhausted BUT I think I got some great stuff.

[Nigel Thompson]

I too have an HVX200 but i usually use it with a Letus Extreme for extra depth of field. And recently ordered a D7000 (waiting for delivery). Has anyone done DOF adapters and an HDSLR ? how does that match ? From the images ive seen from DSLR’s, i think their images will be a bit sharper than the HVX. What do you guys think ?

HVX200, RED ONE, FCS and more,
High End, Production & Post Production
in the Caribbean
http://www.bistt.com

[Nigel Thompson]

as someone who has shot many videos, ill have to totally agree with Steve. However Steve, i have no intention of selling my HVX. Too useful a camera. And i’ve already invested heavily in P2. i wanna upgrade to a 370 but i dont see a reason just yet.

HVX200, RED ONE, FCS and more,
High End, Production & Post Production
in the Caribbean
http://www.bistt.com

[Pete Burger]

I have no experience with the Panasonic, but had to mix progressive HDV footage of a Sony V1 and footage of a 7D in some projects recently, which was quite a lot of post-production work and everything but easy.
IMHO it can be done and will look o.K., but in the end, we decided to get another DSLR (the T2i) next to the 7D for our next projects.
I edited the projects and then color-correct and match the footage completely in After Effects. The blending modes of AE (especially “soft light”) helped a lot, to get the camcorder footage look more like the DSLR footage.
More than once, I had to break down the picture quality of the Canon footage, to match the Sony footage, and that was really … um… annoying.
I think the Panasonic footage will look closer to the DSLR footage, than the Sony HDV footage does, but nevertheless will lead to massive post-work and eventually in a compromise in picture quality.

As mentioned before, with proper planning (close-ups with the DSLR, wider shots with the Panasonic, etc…) you’d get away with lesser work in post, but still have a lot of work to do.