Michael Slowe
Forum Replies Created
-
I’ve shot in PAL ever since I had my EX 1 when it came out, is there any other way? (Sorry, just being European!).
Michael Slowe
-
First of all this may not be the explanation for your jittery footage but, I always shoot in 1920 X 1080i at 25fps. I know many (most) contributors to this forum shoot Progressive, but I get brilliant picture quality and my current DVD’s and (particularly) my BD’s look very good indeed. Wait and see what others say about your problem. Maybe your encoding is to blame, what does the raw footage look like?
Michael Slowe
-
Are you shooting Interlaced or Progressive? I always find you get smoother pans with Interlaced.
Michael Slowe
-
Tom, I forgot to deal with your other request, for docs shot with my EX 1 have a look at my Vimeo site, link herewith: https://vimeo.com/user17404759
Michael Slowe
-
Tom. I was going to mention Doug Jensen’s DVD, it’s required viewing (and referenced time and again) for all users of the camera. I can’t see that it would go out of date, the camera is still more or less the same, there’s been a few updates, but nothing major. I got mine free with the camera. Doug does cover the Picture Profile options quite comprehensively, offering some good suggestions since the original Sony settings are deliberately fairly neutral thinking, rightly, that people might have personal requirements.
For what it’s worth, I choose his setting and, of course, set everything to manual, I use the Peaking facility for focus (Medium at Blue), and Zebra for exposure. As I know my screen so well I rely on that to a great degree, it seems very accurate as far as exposure is concerned, but focus can be a problem. I believe that the new PMW 300 has an improved screen, this would be a great help. Mine is quite tricky in bright light and impossible in sun light – a good shade is vital.
You can get great pics with these cameras so study Jensen’s DVD.
Michael Slowe
-
As a long timer user of an EX 1 I can suggest that this footage may have been shot in full ‘auto’ mode in error and, if the location was dark, the gain was bumped up too high. I mostly shoot with the gain at -3 provided the light allows this. As to the ‘judder’ this is puzzling. Since I still shoot interlaced I have no such problems, but, I do hear that progressive shots don’t pan as well as interlaced..
Concerning your choice of export codec, that’s up to who it’s for. What codec are you editing in? I go straight to ProRes 422 HQ in import of my EX footage and stay with it to the export. Great codec, compressed to save space, but no loss of quality, also, good for archive too as most people are happy to receive media in this codec.
Michael Slowe
-
You are not alone in your confusion! I simply don’t believe that the industry can kill off discs as clearly they want to (particularly Apple). The general public still like to be handed a disc, be it BD or DVD, that they can play at home on a decent TV screen. Little old ladies (and men!), don’t want to, and can’t, download files. Files are fine for us working with video, but when it comes to distribution I think that discs will be with us for quite some years.
Michael Slowe
-
I encode and burn BD’s in Titanium Toast Pro and they look great. I use a stand alone Lacie BD burner through a MacPro. I don’t need menus and chapters but I’m sure that I’ve seen reference to these functions in Toast.
Michael Slowe
-
It’s the same as the old days, who then would not use the very best film available to shoot? You only have one chance with original material, seems crazy to me that anyone would consider taking any risks. If money is a very big problem, use a cheaper camera, rather than cheaper cards (film / tape).
Michael Slowe
-
As Eric says, HD will contain more data therefore generally provide better quality picture. The rule is that the better the original the better will be the result no matter what process you put the material through. By the way, I don’t regard Compressor as the best software for encoding for DVD. Without having to spend a fortune there are better encoders. Personally I use BitVice which apart from doing a brilliant encode, does a great job with the downscale from HD.
Michael Slowe