shooting 1080pa vs 720p

[Shane Ross]

SHoot 720p 24PN (23.98)…and LIGHT WELL.

Want the film look…light like you would for film.

Look at 28 DAYS LATER…shot with a Canon Xl1s…DV CAMERA. Looked like film.

You will NOT get the quality out of the HVX as you would the f900. DVCPRO HD is a very compressed form of HD. BUT, if you light well…it will look very good. My last project was projected onto a 20 foot screen from a 2k Barco…shot 720p 23.98 with a varicam (Better than HVX) and HVX footage mixed…and it looked GREAT.

But, I had a GREAT DP too…

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Clint Nitkiewicz hernandez]

Really, shooting at 720p is better than 1080pa? Even though I want the best quality and highest resolution, while maintaining the film look, If selected for theatrical release will I have a problem by its original size being only 720? thanks alot for the post,I just never realized shooting at a lower resolution may look better…

Clint Nitkiewicz Hern

[Shane Ross]

The difference in the quality of 1080p and 720p, to my eye, is negligible. Slightly grainer, but not distracting. GOOD lighting and a GREAT story is what you need. The difference between 1080 and 720 with this camera is nothing, IMHO.

Also…I use 720 because then you get the VARIABLE frame rates. You can shoot 720p60 and slow that down to 24p and get AMAZING slow motion.

Get other opinions…please. Mine is that 720p, FROM THIS CAMERA, is just fine. The benefits you get with this format outweigh the slight quality gain you get. If you are doing Green Screen, then for THOSE I’d suggest shooting 1080p…you can downconvert that to 720p and get good results. THERE is where the extra quality will help you, as this is a compressed HD format.

Every see 300? GRAINY AS HELL…yet still DARN GOOD. Grain wasn’t distracting at all.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Barry Green]

The difference between 1080 and 720 is not insubstantial. It’s not night-and-day different, but it’s certainly enough that I choose 1080 every time unless there’s a compelling reason to settle for 720.

>>DVCPRO HD is a very compressed form of HD.<< So's the F900's HDCAM... 😉

[Clint Nitkiewicz hernandez]

Thanks Barry! But shooting at 1080 at 24pa, will that give you a better film look than say 720p, after I do a 2:3:2:3 pulldown in fcp? I simply dont want to sacrafice the fluidity of 24p (native) so I can earn extra pixels, but if you can have both, great, thats my goal,

Clint Nitkiewicz Hern

[Clint Nitkiewicz hernandez]

I wish there were a clear cut answer, but here is what I conclude in regards to the hvx200

720p;
– 720 lines
– 24 native frames no pulldown required
– excellent slow motion capabilities
– smaller file sizes than 1080 p.a
– closer look to film.

1080 p.a;
– 1080 lines
– 60frames but with 2:3:2:3 removal in final cut it is now 23.98 frames of un interlaced
footage
– much larger file sizes than 720p mode, only 4 minutes on 4gb p2 card, 8 mins on 8gig, etc.
– more of the dv blur, even after the 2:3:2:3 pulldown, so looks less like film.

Say I shot the film on both formats, (which I would never do, I really have to choose), and I dont care a bout bigger file sizes, but I really do care about it looking like film, and I do plan on doing heavy post production anyway, I have seen films which look like HDV because they have a certain type of motion blur which real 35mm film does not have.

Which will have less of the digital blur most cheesy HDV films have, 720p or the 1080pa option with 2:3:2:3 removal?

I want to avoid this at all means. Thanks a million!

Clint Nitkiewicz Hern

[Lars Wikstrom]

This may be the best answer for you. Go see the film “Sarah Landon’s Paranormal Hour”, It opened last night Oct 19th.

This film was shot on the HVX-200 using the M2 adapter by Red Rock Micro. They shot it in 720p, but there are 2 shots that were aerials that were shot with a different camera I read and I think they were shot 1080 and you should tell that they were cleaner. 720p looked a lot softer then the other 2 shots but it still looked OK.

After watching that film last night, and if I were to have to pick a format for HD to film with this camera it would be 1080pa. I could see both 720 and 1080 in the film and could tell the difference.

Everyone who wants to see this should go see this film this week, it won;t be in theaters for ever.

-Lars

[Clint Nitkiewicz hernandez]

Wow awesome! Sounds like just the film for me to watch right now in my pre-production stages, I plan on shooting with a hvx200 with a m2 adapter, so what a better time to do so, possibly contact the dp for the film as well. Thanks so much.

Clint Nitkiewicz Hern

[Clint Nitkiewicz hernandez]

Hey Lars, do you have any links to the film, or to where you read the info at? I just really want to dive in this stuff, thanks!!!

[Mike Most — account bouncing, bad address]

The first thing you should probably do is forget about it looking like film. It won’t. It doesn’t matter if you shoot in 1080, 720, or anything else. The HVX200 is a video camera. If you really want something to look like film, shoot on film. If you can’t do that, accept that lighting, composition, and camera control and movement are going to do more for your project’s “look” than anything in the video camera. Instead of obsessing over what HD video format to use, concentrate on getting a director of photography who can give you proper lighting and composition, and equip him or her with grip and electric equipment that will allow that.