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SDX900 — some dumb questions
Hi guys: I’m renting an SDX900 on Friday to shoot a fair at my kids’ school. It’s a lot of booths and games and some performances, interviews with the kids and teachers, mostly exterior. Just wanted to try this camera out after reading about it, thinking I may want to use it on a couple of infomercials we’re doing this summer.
So here are my dumb questions:
1) Thinking of shooting in 24p, this will be mostly handheld stuff, want to see what the effect is like. Do I want 24P? Or 24PA? I see there’s a difference in the pulldown? What’s the advantage of one over another? Or am I making a mistake of some kind by shooting this kind of thing in a 24P format?
2) I guess I use DVCPRO50 tapes in this, to shoot in the 50 Mpbs format and get highest quality. Correct?
3) I’m just going to use the camera to capture my footage into my computer. Is there a firewire to get this into my PC (using premiere pro)? Presumably if I had a box to break it out I could get the very best quality, but don’t have one, just firewire and component s-video in, and don’t want to get one just now. Options to input? Suggestions?
4) What settings in terms of filmic looks? Would like to apply one of those filmic/cinema curves, maybe.
5) I can use 16:9 or 4:3 format. The “client” (kids’ school) doesn’t care. Any advantages/disadvantages to one over the other, in anyone’s opinion? (This is just for home viewing on tv, of course.)
6) Any tricks or problems a novice like me should be aware of? Going to be shooting mostly exterior on Friday, whether is forecast to be cloudy at times, maybe some wind.
Thanks for any input.
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3 Replies
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You will be needing a DVCPRO50 VTR to play back your tapes.
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The SDX900 is a really nice camera and you will have fun shooting with it. I m not tremendously experienced with the camera but I have shot with a number of times.
1. re:24p — 24Pp is very nice if you are trying to make it look like film. 30p looks very nice, too and handles camera movement better. There is less strobing. It has that nice film look but is better in my opinion if you are not going to do a film out. Also, at this school fair, there sounds like there could be a lot of panning etc and 30p may look better. It’s up to you.
2. 50 mpbs — Yes, I believe this will yeild the highest quality for this camera
3. Firwire out — As far ass I know, the SDX900 does NOT have firewire out. You will need a deck to capture.
4. Settings — Totally up to you.
5. 16×9 or 3×5 — 16×9 looks nicer to me. It’s more fun to have the bigger frame to work with. Again, totally up to you. If you were not going to go 16×9, you could rent a cheaper camera an get very nice results.
6. Any tricks — I would get soemone to help me with the sound. Retn a shotgun or something and put it on a boom pole and have someone hold it so that the mike picks up the people speaking or the activities. Good audio makes a tremenedous difference. Sounds like you may need a dead cat for the mike as well.
Hope this helps.
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Trying to figure out how to put in these scene files w/my SD card. Not certain I’ve done it right. ??
Thanks for the input, should be interesting tomorrow. Thinking (slightly) ahead, can premiere pro 1.5 or premiere 6.5 edit this DVCPro50 format? Or…?
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