Shooting in Europe – Posting in US

[Matthew Romanis]

Hi Robert,
The Varicam is perfect for this. I have recently been shooting BTS for TNT Movies on the set of “Stephen Kings Nightmares and Dreamscapes” here in Melbourne, Australia.
Australia is a PAL 50hz oriented region but we had to provide TNT with an NTSC original for post in Atlanta. I switched the Varicam from its PAL 60hz frequency to NTSC 59.94hz and shot at 30-fps. When the footage is played back through the Black Magic card into FCP, it is flagged as 29.97fps NTSC.
For your shoot make the same frequency change in the Varicam (in Europe it will be 60hz by default, make sure this is changed to 59.94 or all bets are off), and set the camera frame rate to 24-fps, which will be recognised as 23.98fps when used in post.
The usual country frequency differences will still be evident, such as flickering fluorescent lights and monitors, but use a shutter angle of 216 degrees and this problem is resolved in almost all situations.
In the viewfinder menu you can dim or blank out the extra 16×9 region outside the 4×3 protect area making shooting for this aspect ratio easier.

Regarding the issue of standards conversion if you shoot PAL SD, do the standards conversion in Europe with a good converter. PAL to NTSC conversion has always been a better process than NTSC to PAL, especially when the conversion is performed form a 50hz supply. Until Varicam this was how we did NTSC in PAL regions. You do need to mindful of over chroma areas especially green. Because you are going to NTSC 24-fps rather than NTSC 30-fps, you won’t have the temporal problems that arise in taking 25fps to 30-fps, you will however have an almost imperceptible speed up.

If you take your own lights you will need to replace all the elements in favour of 240v bubbles rather than the 110v you are probably using at he moment. If you take Diva lights or such, make sure the ballast can handle the differences.
Make sure that chargers and monitors can operate on both voltage and frequency systems.

I hope this helps.

[Gary Adcock]

[Robert Griffiths] “How about a Varicam? I checked the specs and it seems that the NTSC and PAL models both record 720x60p. Does this mean I can shoot in Europe with a 4×3 grad, bring the camera masters back to the US and do a simple downconvert to DVCPRO50 4×3? (God, it can’t be that simple) I would prefer to rent a camera/DP in Europe for both locations.”

1) there is not a PAL version of the Varicam.

2) 24p is 24p all over the world– the only caveat is to make sure the camera is set to 59.94 and NOT 60 hrz when needing to work in NTSC

3) other than finding a DP and camera it really is that simple.

Gary Adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation
Chicago, IL USA

[Robert Griffiths]

Hi Matt,

It more than helps!! As an old shooter, I’ve been throught the NTSC/PAL… wars only on BetaSP and DigiBeta… and a lot of your suggestions are ringing old bells.

I’ll be posting this in SD on an 844/x. It’s a SD box only, although the quality is uncompressed 10bit… pretty pictues. I’ll be digitizing off a Pany SD-930 DVCPRO50 Deck. I’m thinking about shooting in HD and downconverting once I get back to the States.

Thanks for the 59.94 and chroma tips!

G r i f f
—–
R o b e r t G r i f f i t h s , D i r e c t o r
F i r e D a n c e r P r o d u c t i o n s , I n c.
V e r o n a * N e w J e r s e y * U S A

https://www.FireDancer.tv

[Robert Griffiths]

> 1) there is not a PAL version of the Varicam.

That’s what I thought but Panasonic Europe sure makes it seem like there’s something “special” about the camera when I downloaded the specs. Must be the power supply. 😉

Thanks for the info and advice. Now if everything was only this simple!

G r i f f
—–
R o b e r t G r i f f i t h s , D i r e c t o r
F i r e D a n c e r P r o d u c t i o n s , I n c.
V e r o n a * N e w J e r s e y * U S A

https://www.FireDancer.tv

[Matthew Romanis]

Hi Robert,
The Camera can definitely be used in both PAL and NTSC modes. While it is correct to say that there is not a PAL version as such, it may be misleading to say this to the point that people may not think it can be used with a PAL outcome in mind.
The camera can be configured to operate at PAL frame rates and frequency’s, therefore for all intents and purposes it’s a PAL camera too.
90% of my work is for PAL 25fps HD and SD.

Matthew.

[Robert Griffiths]

Yes, the Varicam does sound like the way to go. I would rather do a downconvert from Varicam “NTSC” HD to DVCPRO50 SD… than a standards convert from PAL to NTSC going the SDX900 way. No telling what that 25p to 24p converstion would look like going through even the best standards converter.

Thanks to all for the info!

G r i f f
—–
R o b e r t G r i f f i t h s , D i r e c t o r
F i r e D a n c e r P r o d u c t i o n s , I n c.
V e r o n a * N e w J e r s e y * U S A

https://www.FireDancer.tv

[Gary Adcock]

[matthew Romanis] “While it is correct to say that there is not a PAL version as such, it may be misleading to say this to the point that people may not think it can be used with a PAL outcome in mind.”

the same can be said of Film, which can support PAL, but is not PAL specific. PAL specific cameras in HD sometimes only mean they support the 25p /50i frame rates – At this point in time until the VariCam supports native FW capture of 720p25 those of us on this side of the world in NTSC land

[Robert Griffiths] “I would rather do a downconvert from Varicam “NTSC” HD to DVCPRO50 SD… than a standards convert from PAL to NTSC going the SDX900 way.”

Nah stay in 720p until you need to go to SD. the data rate for 720p25 material is less than 6 mgs per second –or exactly the same as that DV50 footage at 29.97

Gary Adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation
Chicago, IL USA

[Robert Griffiths]

Thanks again to all!

G r i f f
—–
R o b e r t G r i f f i t h s , D i r e c t o r
F i r e D a n c e r P r o d u c t i o n s , I n c.
V e r o n a * N e w J e r s e y * U S A

https://www.FireDancer.tv

[Matthew Romanis]

Hi Gary,
No one thinks of film as NTSC only though. Film can be shot at 25fps for straight telecine to PAL TV standards, or 24fps, or 48fps, or whatever is required. Varicam should be thought of in the same way as non standard dependHi Gary,
No one thinks of film as NTSC only though. Film can be shot at 25fps for straight telecine to PAL TV standards, or 24fps, or 48fps, or whatever is required. Varicam should be thought of in the same way, as non standards dependant capture. The argument that until it is supported over firewire in PAL that it’s NTSC only is counter productive, the Kona 2 and BM cards make life easier and open a lot of options. I would dearly love to see FW support for 25fps soon (maybe a pipe dream), but because there is none at the moment doesn’t mean that PAL Varicam can’t be done.
VIVA LA 25fps (HD or SD)!!!!

[Jeff Merritt]

Hi folks,

The entire issue of shooting PAL is much more that just shooting 25fps. And to that point, there is no PAL version of the VariCam because, like a film camera, the VariCam can acquire images at either 25 fps of 50fps. But “PAL” means a lot more that 25fps. PAL has a lot to do with a different color space and exactly how color is derived from the image process that is different than NTSC.

For example, if you shoot the VariCam at 25.00fps and playback in the AJ-HD1200A or AJ-HD1700 VTR and set the VTR to even frame rate, then the tape will playback and give you a down converted 625 PAL output with the correct color space. Dubbing this output to a PAL SD compatible VTR will yield the same picture as an expensive NTSC to PAL conversion. But remember to shoot at 25.00fps.

There are many VariCam shooters in Europe right now acquiring content for the upcoming Torino Olympics. They are acquiring at 25fps. But unfortunately as many have figured out, FCP HD does not currently support 720p/25 eventhough it has been adopted as the transmission standard for HD in Europe.

There is another alternative and that is to use a Panasonic D5-HD for mastering in 720p/24/100. In this scenerio, just like film transfers, shoot at 24p, master to D5-HD, and playback the D5 Master at 25fps and the internal down converted signal will be 625 PAL. Admittedly, the speed will be faster by about 4% and pitch change correction will be necessay in post, but the results will be agreeable in both continents. Of course the opposite can be accomplished by shooting at 25fps, master to D5-HD and slow it down to 24fps. By the way, in either case, the time code will convert as well in either the DVCPRO HD machines or the D5-HD.

In short, VariCam is very popular in PAL countries and the transistion to NTSC is an easy one today thanks to the new designs of VTRs.

Good shooting,

Jeff Merritt
Product Line Business Manager
High Definition Products
Panasonic Broadcast
323-436-3676