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DV Painting The Image

Painting the Image(PD 150 or VX 2000)


Treat the camera as tungsten film 3200 K. (The daylight temperature is 5800 K)
Go to the custom preset menu (back of the handle) and change the sharpness (detail) -2 change the saturation (colour) to -3 then on the white balance change to preset 3200k (set to indoor/tungsten) put a polarizer on the front and a 85ND.6 for daylight.

When you shoot indoors take out the 85ND.6 filter. When you look at the shot on the a monitor you can change the colour to a little warmer or cooler in the custom preset menu, this gives you tonal control.

Very wide shots tend to be a little soft; edges tend not to "ring". The 85ND.6 has nice yellows, browns and magenta/pink, while the polarizer brings out blues and greens, the reds have a deeper Ektachrome feel, the overall look has a filmic texture, try shooting at 25th/sec shutter speed to give you film judder (24fps) so avoid fast pans!

Chrosziel matte box 3" is available for most DV cameras with all the filters from ND grads, polarises, colour grads ETC...little on board lights.

Audio


PD150 has 16bit 48fsk, the camera can also record at 32fsk 12bit, this gives 4 channels. One can't actually record 4 channels individually, ch1 and ch2 are bounced onto ch3 and ch4.

We have found the Sennhieser K6 ME 64 to be a great on board mic with a warm punchy sound.


It can also be removed and used as a hand mic. If you get a MKE 60-C lapel mic you can plug it into the K6, the K6 can be phantom powered or with a AA 1.5v battery so you can use your lapel or ME64 on any record device that does not support P48, like a Walkman dat or minidisk for audio interviews. Once you have a K6 Sennheiser you have an array of capsules for various situations.

DV for film.

Exposure

Try to avoid over exposure, the DV cameras has very little dynamic range so rather expose the hi lights and fill the areas you want to see. If you do "blow" the hi light there is no recovery, not even on the best grading machines.

Colour/patterns

Avoid fire engine red, traffic cone orange, low frequency blue (chroma blue) or Electric blue. (This can be helped using the DSR PD 150 custom preset menu, -2 blocks of colour..) Avoid herringbone, paisley, hound's-tooth any lines that are close together this will also depend on the lens; if you shoot wide, the lines will be closer together and will "Ring/Beat", rather shoot tighter and move the scene to suit the shot. Wide shots will be a little softer than mid to tight shots.

F-stop

The optimum F-stop on the most chip cameras is between 5.6 and wide open (1.6) on the DSR 150 5.6 to 1.6. The CCD (charged coupled device) needs to be charged with light to render full signal/saturation. Rather use ND's and open the iris than shoot at a narrow aperture. We have found when blowing up to 35mm the image is clearer and crispier. The image difference is similar to a glass with water in it, and the same glass with a tot of whiskey. One is clear and crisp, the other slightly murky.

Tape

PD 150 uses mini DV or DVCAM tapes one can use both tapes to shoot DVCAM. Recommend SONY excellence mini DV or PDVM-40 ME. The PDVM-40 ME is more expensive tape that has a hard dust/shock proof cover.

Tests to film

If possible shoot tests with the wardrobe being used and the location. Paying attention to colour and patterns. Usually the DV image is up-rez to 2.k before going to film but there are various techniques to transfer video to film.

Anamorphic

DV cameras chip is 1:133 (4:3) so when the camera is set to 1:177 (16:9) Mode resolution is lost top and bottom. It is possible to use an anamorphic lens to shoot 1:177 (16:9) in this way the whole chip is used, rendering full resolution.

Anamorphic Lens

Pro's

  • Full resolution & 25% extra picture area.

Con's

  • Cannot view the correct aspect ratio with the camera viewfinder or LCD.
  • The Anamorphic lens tends to flare alot.
  • Cannot use wide-angle lenses or telephoto.
  • Cannot get very close focus without distortion.
  • Cant use series 9 filters.

Camera 16:9

Pro's

  • Can use wide-angle lenses and telephoto.
  • Can achieve close focus with minimum distortion.
  • When using wide angle very little flare.
  • Viewfinder has correct aspect ratio.
  • Can use series 9 filters UV, polariser etc.

Visuals Group Technical Department.

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