[John Sharaf]

If I asked for $2250 I’d never get a job and I have a really nice kit and many years of work for A-list clients. I usually ask the prospective client what price they have in mind and go from there. If pressed I’d bid something more like $1750-2000/10 hours portal to portal, and quote add-ons per use for 2nd (wide angle) lens and 800/1200 HMI’s. Obviously in this economic climate it’s harder to command the highest rates, except from return clients who have paid that rate in the past and were happy enough to come back knowing what it will cost.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Tungsten lites do not necessarily create a “flat” look. It’s how the lighting designer places, controls and modifies them. If anything Kino’s could be accused of being “flat” because they are only a soft source and subject to proximity effect.

JS

[John Sharaf]

I’ll be very clear; never use diffusion filters for green screen or even white cyc shooting (in fact you should turn the detail down or off to minimize excessive contour on edges). It will destroy what edge sharpness/integrity that you have. On the greenscreen the composite edge will be bad and on the white cyc shots the edge will bloom. Test all you want, but it will only confirm these facts. Admit your mistake and return the filters or use on your next dream sequence or fantasy project.

JS

[John Sharaf]

I have to agree with Todd, that with the exception of ND filters I almost never use diffusion filters in high def; if I do it’s for some sort of dreamy or fantasy effect.

Even in extreme “Diva” scenarios like with Barbara Walters (just did her Oscar special again) we have given up the behind the lens stocking which we used to use in SD (with Betacams) and use no filters at all, even at 720 60p. Lighting alone creates the look. Even when we shoot SD, as we did recently with her 20/20 Patrick Swayzee special, we shot au natural (no filters) with the Sony XDCAM 510’s in widescreen, although we did talk the producer into 30p frame rate which took the “hard” video look off. The upconversion process is like a filter itself, although I have to admit that the picture still looked pretty sharp.

Another thing to remember with filters in HD is that in most cases the recording is dumbing down the horizontal resolution, so the resulting picture is less sharp than what you’re looking at. To really calibrate what you’re getting you must look at playback.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Rob,

I believe that Jesse Rosen at Abel Cine Tech in NYC has written such a program; to convert F to H and H to F files on a Mac. Try their website or give him a call or email.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Whenever I gave presentations at Varicamps I always used Film Rec and 2x on the vectorscope with CDM charts. I think you’ll find that you’re already at the end of the matrix’s range at 2x (+31), and there’s always the danger of too much or “illegal” color, especially with broadcast. I’ve also found on ocassions that this setting is too aggressive if there are really rich chroma elements in the scene. Here again the lack of overall saturation control can make your life difficult. When I’m confronted with this I’ll often raise the gamma (lower number) to desaturate if I’m forced to.

[John Sharaf]

Bob,

Of course you can use the CDM in Film Rec. I believe there is nomenclature on all the CDM charts stating the correct “blow up” or gain setting. I know on earlier charts it was 1.875, but later and current charts are 2x.

The one weak link is that the color saturation does decrease as you crush the gamma (higher number) and there is no “overall” saturation control in the Varicam to compensate, so this must be left to post. I therefore paint my matrix at 200 dynamic range knowing that that will be the maximum color and I’m aware that as I crush the gamma, the color will decrease. Don’t be scared that some of the matrix settings (especially Red) are near or at the max limit, especially if you like a colorful look.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Hi Bob,

You’re right about the washed out, desaturated look at high Dynamic range settings. One option is to use the Gamma Correction setting on your Panasonic monitors to preview what it will look like after color correction (or even just Panasonic Gamma Correction on playout from the 1400 deck which has this feature).

For a more what-you-see-is-what-you-get look, your instinct is again correct; reduce the dynamic range to what is appropriate for the scene. That is only use aggressive settings when you need to crush the highlights, and crush the gamma (higher numbers) to make better blacks and a “chrunchier” look. Finally you’ll want to paint a matrix from a Chroma du Monde chart that puts the vectors in the boxes and the in-betweens in a straight line between the vectors and evenly spaced at 2.0x gain on the vectorscope.

This is the beauty of this camera, you can create a low contract master for color correction or use the Dynamic range controls for a WYSIWYG look, which is more often the case in TV production where the additional expense of CC is not often budgeted or desired.

JS

[John Sharaf]

The first principal of “matching” two cameras is to set them at the same frame rate and scanning standard. This presumes you want them to look alike, not different, so if Varicam is shooting 30p, then set the HVX to do the same.

Next would be to try and match the gamma curves, so that if the Varicam is in Film Rec 200% Dynamic Range, the most likely match would be one of the Film Look settings on the HVX. This is a guess, the only way to determnine would be to look at a chip chart with both cameras and adjust the various gamma tables while observing on a waveform. This will optimize the luminance match (shades of gray).

Then as for color, using a Chroma du Monde or similar color chart and the vectorscope, you’d want to adjust the matrixs to match.

Short of these efforts, set the cameras at same frame rate, white balance, black balance and shoot.

Good luck,

JS

[John Sharaf]

Tobias,

The Varicam can of course shoot for PAL, by setting the Systems Frequency (page 4 options) to 60HZ and the frame rate to either 25 or 50, but the result on tape will be HD. Once they return to Europe the client will need a 1200A, 1400 or 1700 Panasonic deck to output Standard def either to a tape or into the NLE through the deck’s SD output (SD-SDI preferred). You must query them as to the availability of such a unit.

JS