[Russell Lasson]

Anamorphic as in coverting 16×9 to 2.35:1 or wide angle lens?

My theory with the HVX200: The camera has noise that has to be taken into consideration. I just watched a feature that was shot on the HVX200 and finished for a Digital Cinema release. There were several shots in the film that had quite a bit of noise to it. Sometimes noise can feel a little like film grain, but this time it didn’t because the shape of the noise was more rectangular. I’ve noticed this before but couldn’t figure it out.

Then it hit me. DVCPROHD is acutally anamorphic to start with 960×720 (4:3). Then it stretches the image horizontally to create a 1280×720 (16:9). That process stretches the noise from a square-ish shape to a rectagular shape.

Why have I bothered to bring all of this up? Because if you are considering shooting with an anamorphic lens you will be taking the 4:3 image and stretching it even more that it already does. This would cause the noise in the shots to look extra streched out and could look horible.

My suggestion: Pay attention to how much noise you have when you’re shooting. Do some tests so you know the best way to minimize it. And I would stay away from an anamorphic adaptor for this camera. You might be better off just cropping the top and bottom than stretching the image even more.

If you’re talking about wide angle adaptors, take a look at Original Idiot’s post to your question.

Russ Lasson
Kaleidoscope Pictures
http://www.kalpics.com

PS Sorry if this is way too much of me rambling.

[Russell Lasson]

We’ve got a case that I love. It’s a Pelican 1510. It is just the right size for carry on and fits the HVX200 just right. I think that you’d probably be able to fit the Firestore and P2 store in it without having it be too tight.

https://pelican.com/cases_detail.php?Case=1510

Russ Lasson
Kaleidoscope Pictures
http://www.kalpics.com

[Russell Lasson]

WOW!!! What a total oversite on my part. You’re right. It doesn’t shoot in 24PN!!!!!! That’s why it doesn’t shoot in slow motion! On the HVX200, to show footage in slow motion you need to shoot in a PN mode. What a bummer! The AG-HPX500 doesn’t tempt me as much because it doesn’t support AVC-Intra (and several other things that I learned in another post like CCD resolution etc.)

Panasonic, I’m getting reallly tierd of waiting for a P2 varicam replacement. Could you hurry it up a little? Okay, let’s set a date together. How does April 16 sound?

Oh and could you include 1080/24PN and some way to name your shot in the camera (being able to add a scene number or something.) Thanks! You guys are the best!

[Russell Lasson]

Give us work if it works! I’d buy it in heartbeat.

[Russell Lasson]

Sorry to be a post hog, but it looks like the AG-HPX500 will directly compete with XDCAMHD.

On the other hand, the AJ HD series (both tape and P2 cameras) will compete against Sony’s HDCAM series.

Is that right?

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

Are the AJ-HPX2000 CCDs a more acceptable comparison to the VariCam’s CCDs? If so, that would explain the $13,000 price difference between the AG-HPX500 and the AJ-HVX2000. It would also start to explain the difference between the new AG shoulder mount camera and the existing AJ cameras.

A similar observation might be that the AG series currently hasn’t announced support for AVC-Intra, while the AJ P2-HD camera has.

Things are starting to become more clear.

Thanks,
-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

“it’s HD formats are “interpreted” by pixel shifting a SD sped’d CCD.”

I’m not sure I understand. You’re saying that it has Standard Definitions CCD, then interprets it into HD?

Thanks,
Russ

[Russell Lasson]

Sorry, there should be no question mark next to the AG-HPX500 shooting variable frame rates. It does.

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

I had a similar problem. I figured out that my computer didn’t have the quicktime component in the /library/quicktime folder, even though I had FCP5 installed. This might not help, or it might be too late, but that fixed it for me.

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

It currently downconverts 720p 59.98 to NTSC, but does not downconvert 720p 23.98 to NTSC.

For me, 720p 59.98 to NTSC downconvert is useless because it contains the duplicate frames from the
Varicam. When I edit, I remove all of the duplicate frames and edit natively at 23.98fps or 29.97fps.

Now Blackmagic Design has been great updating new features. This post isn’t meant to bash them at all. I’m just hoping to get this feature updated sooner than others because it is much more useful to me.