Guy Mcloughlin
Forum Replies Created
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On the DvxUser website, Jan Crittenden Livingston of Panasonic commented that 10-bit external recording would require the HPX-250 model, making it sound like the AC-160 model’s SDI output was only 8-bit.
I don’t think we will have absolute clarity on this issue until the pre-production cameras are being tested, which might be 4-6 months from now.
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One low cost solution to consider are Blu-Ray discs…
A Pioneer 10x Blu-ray writer is under $150, and Delkin sell “200 Year” archival “Gold” blu-ray discs for about $20 a piece. I imagine the price will drop over once there is competition.
A single sided blu-ray disc holds about 25 GB of data, a dual-layer disc holds about 50 GB, and the latest BDXL format holds over 100 GB of data.
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[Randy Burleson] “Does that mean no LANC control?”
Panasonic has never used LANC, only Sony and Canon do. So you have to buy a focus / zoom controller designed for Panasonic cameras. Lots to choose from at B&H Photo:
B&H Photo: Zoom & Focus Controls
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I am guessing that you mean the new Panasonic HPX-250 and AC-160 cameras…
I would not buy any controller until these new cameras are close to release, which could be 6 months from now.
Likely these new cameras will have Panasonic lens/iris control circuitry.
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I’m currently shooting with a GH-2, and plan on buying an AF-100 later this summer. Here’s my current lens strategy:
HAND-HELD / DAYLIGHT SHOOTING
Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6
Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6NOTE: I owned the Panasonic 14-140mm f/4.0-5.6 for a few months, but sold it because I found it to be awkward and large to shoot with, so I replaced it with the 14-45mm and 45-200mm.
TRIPOD / STABILIZED SHALLOW DOF / LOW-LIGHT SHOOTING
Voightlander 25mm f/0.95
Carl Zeiss 50mm f/1.40 Nikon Mount with adapterLENSES I PLAN TO ADD
Panasonic 7-14mm f/4.0 ( waiting for OIS version to come out )
Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 ( unless something better comes from Panasonic or Olympus )
Carl Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 Nikon Mount with adapterNOTE: I hope that some company comes out with a 12mm f/2.0 or faster lens this year.
LOW COST LENSES
If you are trying to buy lenses on a limited budget, I would start with the Panasonic 14-45mm and Panasonic 45-200mm lenses. These are sharp low cost lenses with built-in image stabilization.
You also might look at buying the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 zoom with a Nikon mount ( not the VC version, as the image-stabilzation won’t work with the AF-100 ), which is a low cost sharp and fairly fast zoom lens. You will need to buy a Nikon —> Micro 4/3 adapter that has aperture control to use this lens.
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[Patrick Wells] “If the AF100’s capture rate is such an issue that a lot of people prefer recording out from the HD-SDI, how does the internal recording hold up in 1080p60?
The AF100’s internal capture rate is NOT an issue for most people, in fact on the DvxUser site several people have stated that they canceled an external recorder purchase once they saw how good the internal AVCHD footage was.
The main reasons for adding an external recorder fall in to one of these categories:
– Editing with Final Cut Pro on a Mac, so external recorder that captures in ProRes format saves a lot of time and hassle.
– Person shoots lots of green-screen / FX work where 4:2:2 color-space makes life easier in post.
– Person wants recording redundancy, where the identical footage is recorded to both SDXC cards and to an external recorder, so if one capture method fails they always have a back-up.
– Person shoots higher end jobs where the cost of an external recorder is insignificant relative to their budgets.
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[Rick Bovill] “Thanks for the link to the dvx site; that’s been helpful as it seems they are not having the same fringe issues as we had; suggesting it could be something which is not inerrant to the camera / sensor.”
I honestly think it all comes down to having very controlled lighting, as you will find that most of the DvxUser posts describe.
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[Uli Plank] “Well, I wouldn’t always follow this rule – it’s highly scene dependent.
True, but for most location shoots I find that I am almost always trying to reduce contrast. ( the problem is rarely that the shot is lacking contrast )
[Uli Plank] “One example: If your scene is flat plus you shoot flat you are not using the full range of 8 bit luminance (which is already limiting compared to what the sensor can do). If you want it a bit punchier later, you’ll have to stretch out the limited range you used and risk banding.”
I’ll partially agree with you here, as the Panasonic AVCHD CODEC appears to be very adaptive, so I’m not certain the process is a linear as you might think it to be.
[Uli Plank] “I’d try to get as close to the look you really want in the camera (monitoring with a calibrated monitor) and only do minor corrections in post.”
I think I’m going to have to try shooting it both ways and see what the limitations are when the footage is up on the editing suite. In theory what you state sounds correct, but I still want to know how much of a difference each method makes.
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[Noah Kadner] “Also that lens is super slow and not that sharp. I’d highly recommend- a- working on the lighting a bit and b- getting some high quality primes.”
The 14-140mm is actually a pretty sharp lens, but yes it’s very slow. I don’t think this lens was the limiting factor as far as shooting sharp looking green screen footage.
Prime lenses do make life a lot easier, and the least expensive entry point would be to use still photography lenses with a M4/3 adapter. I bought a Zeiss ZF 50mm f/1.4 to use with the Voightlander Nikon —> M4/3 adapter, which produces a beautiful image. ( it’s the same optics as the Zeiss compact primes without the beautiful/expensive cine housing )
Following the DvxUser AF-100 green-screen thread ( the link that I posted ) it becomes pretty obvious that controlled lighting is crucial to successful green-screen work. Some useful tips were posted like using the wave-form tool built in to the AF-100 to set up proper lighting on the background ( you should see a thin even line at 50 IRE if the background is lit correctly ), having your talent stand far away from the background, edge lighting your talent to ensure proper separation from the background ( you do not want any green background bleed ), and lighting your talent about 2 F-stops brighter than the background. And of course you want to try and match your talent lighting with the lighting of the final background image they are going to be composited into.
FYI: My first green-screen job ( about 10 years ago ) was a disaster mostly because I did not know enough about how to properly set up my lighting ( or how to process the green screen video for computer compositing ), but I swore it would never happen again, and since then I’ve had no problems.
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I don’t own an AF-100 yet ( later this summer ), but I follow the philosophy of shooting “flat” low-contrast, low-sharpness, maximum amount of image detail, and then modifying the image in post to achieve the final look you are after.
I guess part of it is my fear of “baking in” the look with the camera settings, and then changing my mind about how things look afterwards. As long as you are willing to do the work, you can do almost anything in post.