John Sharaf
Forum Replies Created
-
Multicam footage must be genlocked with proper TriLevel Sync in order for the time code to slave to be completely accurate. I suspect this is your problem. Check with the camera crew to see if this was done!
JS
-
Arty,
Just specify tungsten balance flourescents. Kino makes both 2900K and 3200K.
JS
-
Use 1/50 or 1/100 shutter speed.
JS
-
Ian,
I appreciate your vote of confidence and I’ll just add that both positions are tenable; namely figuring it out yourself, by trial, error and observation (a great way to learn) or by looking over the shoulder of a skilled engineer (like Tony S) and asking a lot of questions. I have to admit that what I know is a result of doing both!
JS
-
High,
I think it’s a better idea to continue the Varicam forum as a more or less DVCPRO100 forum. You are correct that the X900 is becoming very popular, but it is so similar to the Varicam that the Varicam forum has become the gathering place for all things 2/3″ Panasonic HD. I would hope that the future “2000” and “3000” model users/owners and operators would gravitate here too and share their experiences and queries.
JMHO
JS
-
Bill,
The only “always” is that 24 (meaning 23.97) is always shot non-drop frame. That’s because there is no such thing as drop frame at that speed. Even if the camera/recorder is set DF it will default to NDF.
The other speeds you mention, 29.97 and 59.94 can be shot at either time code setting depending for the most part if the footage is intended to be used for television broadcast. If that’s the case you’ll want the time code to match the clock so you can be certain of your broadcast’s length. That means DF!
While I’m not a FCP expert, I suspect that your problem is a FCP setting; you should always have the option of DF or NDF when shooting. Perhaps you should take this question to the FCP page?
JS
-
Ian,
Good questions!
As regards the exposure. With a chip chart, which is designed (grey scale) to represent a more limited range of contrast than exists in the real world, you do want to set the white chips at 100%. This assumes that the knee is off or the dynamic range is limited. You’ll notice that if you run the dynamic range with this setting (even with the exposure adjusted for the sensitivity loss by resetting the crossover to the same 50%) it will crush the highlight while leaving the mid tone constant. This is to allow you to extend the dynamic range in the real world, where a bright sky or a white shirt may find itself in your otherwise properly exposed shot.
To continue, a properly exposed face in HD comes in at 50-55%, so again, in the real world that is how you’ll want to set your exposure. The Panasonic 8.4″ LCD with its waveform function is very useful in this regard. You’ll find that setting exposure is fundamentally different than it was with your Betacam, where we’d use the Zebra set at 98-100ire to set the exposure of the brightest part of the scene; with the HD it’s important not to clip the brights but it’s equally important not to overexpose the face.
About the matrix; yes it’s perfectly normal to almost reach the maximum setting (+31) on several of the Matrix levels. You should also notice, and pay attention to the fact that as you crush the gamma (higher number) you also increase the color saturation. and you’ll find this a very powerful control in “painting” your pictures. The problem is to keep it consistent within each project.
The Varicam does lack an overall “saturation” control which would be very helpful in making adjustments to the color as you crush or press the gamma. I’ve complain vociferously to Panasonic about this and they’re considering adding this control to later models…we’ll see. Even Sony, who did respond to this request has added only “desaturation” in a misguided attempt to prevent “illegal color gamet” as if such a thing existed in digital broadcast or digital cinema.
You’re well on your way to making some beautiful pictures!
JS
-
Ian,
It’s not really completely possible to explain this in a short reply over the internet, but here’s a short version:
The Varicam comes from the factory with a rather “bland” camera setup, namely that the Matrix is off and otherwise set to all zeros. The elegance of the DSC Chroma du Monde chart is that it allows you to build a Matrix setting that most accurately reproduces color and gives skin tone a pleasing quality.
To do this you must otherwise set the camera up completely, meaning the dynamic range that you intend to use and the gamma setting. This is not always completely self-evident, as these settings really depend on the eventual use of the footage, specifically whether you seek a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWUG) look or a low contrast master for filmout. Assuming the former (which is really 99% of the use of this camera) I recommend a Dynamic Range setting of 200. While this is the minimum of the Film Gamma effect, it still causes something of a washed out look. To adjust that. I usually “crush” the gamma a little bit.
By looking at a properly lit and exposed DSC chart and observing on the waveform, I’ll adjust the Gamma to cross over at 50 or 55% depending on how “crunchy” a look I’m after for the scene.
Now it’s time to build your matrix. Set the Vectorscope to variable gain and adjust it to 1.870x. This is the setting that when used in conjunction with the Chroma du Monde allows the color to be adjusted nominally. First turn on the matrix and color correction in the low/mid/high sections of the first page menu. Then use the matrix to grow the “meatball” as best you can into the six boxes on the scope. This will take several gorounds. It not not be perfect, that’s what the next adjustment will do.
Once you’ve done this use the next color correction to adjust the six points even better into the boxes and finally the last color correction to adjust the three colors between each box into the best and most evenly spaced line as possible.
It’ll take some time and patience to do all this, but you will definitely create a more colorful look than the out-of-the-box camera. You can always return to factory set by resetting the camera (pg 4) or by turning off the matrix and color correction in the l/m/h lines.
If you like what you’ve created, save it as a scene file on your card and in the internal memory, giving it a title indicating the colorful look or matrix on.
If you don’t understand or are frustrated by failure, the best thing is still to hire a skilled Varicam specialist to allow you to watch them setup the camera, there’s nothing like this one-on-one relationship and q and a that naturally occurs to assist in learning what is really an art, yet portrayed as a science!
Hope this helps.
JS
-
Bob,
The drop-down is necessitated by the fact that you’ll need to aim the light! Often the boom arm is not level so pan and tilt would be limited.
JS
-
Both the Varicam and the Cine Alta are excellent choices for shooting feature film projects for filmout. Of course now there are better choices like the F23, Viper, Genesis and Arri D20, but these cameras all are more expensive to rent and for their postproduction workflow.
It’s generally considered that the higher pixel count and line numbers of the Cine Alta (HDCAM format) are better for filmout than the Varicam and while it does seem logical, only a comparative test would prove it. Another major factor is the lenses and in this case there is little dispute that the Zeiss DigiPrimes and DigiZooms cannot be beat both for resolution and contrast.
In the Varicam there is a setting in the Film Menu for Dynamic Range which can be maximized at 500%. This makes a low contrast master with a lot of headroom for highlight control and mimics the reproduction of film. This is the way to maximize the cameras ability to make the best filmout. The Cine Alta (F900R) has a similar setting known as Hyper Gamma and also the ability to import customized gamma curves like tose made available by Steve Shaw at Digital Praxis.
As far as post production, there is little doubt that Apple’s Final Cut Pro (FCP) is more user friendly to high definition editing. It’s ability to import DVCPRO100 via firewire and to use inexpensive firewire drives almost makes it a no brainer. The only conflict arises when the preferred editor is Avid-centric and insists that that platform be used. In that case, unless the Avid has had extensive upgrades and lots of expensive storage then downconverts must be made, editing in standard definition and a seperate on-line process is called for. The newest FCP known as 6.0 also adds a ProRes 422 feature which allows HDCAM to be edited in a manner like DVCPRO100, that is in HD and with unsophisticated storage. You will however need a capture card like a Kona, but that only costs a couple of thousand dollars, certainly less than the downconverts would cost.
If, as it seems, you are new to high definition, I strongly advise that you hire a knowledgeable consultant to guide you through this process, as it can be overwhelming, and the possibility for mistakes is great. In addition, proper testing of the camera, lenses, and post workflow including filmout will save you considerable time, money and anxiety.
Hope this helps!
JS