John Sharaf
Forum Replies Created
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I think buying the low priced “compromise” 17 or 18x lens is ill-advised. as you found out almostr immediately you’ll need the wide lens (either an 11x or 13x) and the longer zoom makes a better complementary unit; such as a 21 or 22x. The in-between lens is ok if you only do handheld 16×9, but if you must protect the 4×3 frame only the extra wide lenses give you a wide enough picture to cut the sides off and still be wide. Sorry!
JS
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Jim,
Remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder! For that matter any light can be a key light, but it’s success as such depends on the quality of light you wish to portray as well as the other ambient light conditions.
The small softlight you refer to has a rather small oraface, maybe 8″ square, so even though it is a softlight it will still cause a shadow when used close up, which might be the case because it doesn’t put out much intensity. I often use larger softlights like the Mole 2K zip or full sized 2K or Baby 4K (same size) as a key light on a stage. These units create a similar quality as a junior or senior aimed through a diffussion panel like silk or Lee 216, but not quite the intensity and are faster to move around if there are many setups.
Again, it depends on the ambient conditions too. If you’re in a typical day interior where there is spill light from windows, the soft light is the wrong color temperature and if you correct it with CTB gel you’ll reduce its output to almost nothing.
To me it sounds like you already have one of these units, or are thinking of buying one. I’d advise getting a more flexible light that can serve several purposes like a Mickey (1K) or even a Teenie Mole (650W). These light can be used direct for a hard key, diffussed or color corrected with gel on the barndoors or with the proper speedring you can mount a Chimera or other light bank. Another good unit for portraiture is the Kino Flo 4Bank or Diva 400. These have the advantage of being able to switch out the tubes either daylight or tungsten, and are cool and efficient.
You’ll find, even by perusing the Mole website that are many, many types of instruments, all designed for special purposes and applications in theatrical lighting; there’s a good reason for the many choices! Obviously the challange in starting out is to select a kit of units that can serve double duty. Good luck doing so.
JS
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Despite my many requests to Panasonic to include an overall color saturation control they have not done so. The only aternative you have is to desaturate in post production. You could preview this on the set by turning the color down on your monitor.
JS
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If you really want to know, call Portabrace; I’m sure they’re working on a dedicated design for the HVX900 and they’ll gladly report their progress!
JS
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Laura,
Reboot, reseat the cables then send both in for service if no go! I’ve had failures with EC3 that were maintainance issues. In general I find the Panasonic products to be less rekliable and less robust than they should be!
JS
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The main difference between the two decks is that thec 1400 has a flying erase head which allows proper insert and assemble editing (whereas the 1200 only allows “crash” editing). Another nice feature is built in Cine Gamma correction (which does the work of a box which costs $10000 previously). With this feature you can shoot for film out at 500% dynamic range (which otherwise creates a rather flat and low contrast origional) and apply a LUT on the way out as you capture to your NLE so you edit with a nicer picture without applying extensive color correction.
JS
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Untold,
Once you turn off the detail that’s all she wrote in that regard, you can’t sharpen it in post, only defocus!
With the compression of the XDCAM (that is what you’re shooting?) I’d recommend you expose it as best you can, trying to “turn it up” later might reveal dark compression artifacts. Treat it like reversal or slide film; expose for the highlights. It’s better to turn it down rather than turn it up. That doesn’t mean overexpose it either!
JS
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Lunch,
Don’t worry about posting SDX (or for that matter HVX) questions here, as all these cameras are cousins to the Varicam and it’s likely you’ll get some good answers!
While I don’t specifically know about the Super V function in the SDX, I’m familiar with it in Ikegami cameras, and since thes designers are from Ike, I’d imagine that there are similarities. I always found the Super V to look artificially enhanced. There really is a difference between actual sharpness, resolution and enhancement. It seems like you’re going for a film-like look, so I think you’re better off without the Super V!
To know for sure you’d need to test it out to the HD upres and a-b the two looks on an HD monitor like the one you’ll be presenting the finished product on.
JS
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Bob,
Trust your instincts! You know that this assertion is incorrect. If anything, if the backgrounds were shot in daylight you should make the firegrounds that you shoot “look like” they were shot in daylight; meaning that the quality of the light and contrast ratios should match, for a convincing composite!
JS
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There’s a company called “Magic Gadgets” that makes a real cool line of pro dimmers. I own one of their three channel 2K dimmers that has all kinds of chase and flikker effects in it as well.
JS