HD-100U and the Shutter

[Brian Duke]

Hey,

I am just playing around with the shutter and I getting different techniques on it. When really low, like 6 or 12 it looks like the battle sequence in "Saving Private Ryan" or beginning battle scene "Gladiator."

Can anyone explain what it does, or the purpose of the shutter when you go either way. It seems that there is less light the higher I set the shutter for, which means I don't have to use the F stop to turn down the amount of light coming in. Anyone can give me some tips here on what the shutter does and means, and perhaps some usefull ideas on various shotting techniques.

Thanks

[Luis Otero]

In reallity, you should be running it (under normal circumstances) at 1/48 if the frames per second setting is at 24 since it resembles more the way the film is exposed to the light in 35mm cameras. The explanation can be really technical, but in a nutshell, it will expose the CCDs to what is equivalent of 180 degrees blade on the shuttle of a 35mm camera. So, that is your best case scenario.

However, in order to achieve a desired aesthetic effects, it can be lowered. It will give you more judder/strobbing, so it can be used for special ocasions when you whant that specific effect. However, IMHO, do not over use it since your audience will be dizzy after 10 seconds! So, the the higher the shutter speed, the CCD is less expossed to the light at any particular frame and will tend to look less filmic over 1/48 for a 24 fps setting.

In Saing Private Ryan, they used 1/100 to obtain the effect you saw on the movie, on top of doing bleach bypass.

If you need more information than the one offered, just ask and we all in this community will try to be as helpfull as possible.

Luis

[Brian Duke]

Thanks

I just set the shutter to record TV footage, around 1/60 to get rid of the blinking bars using the variable. Normally I have it at 1/48, but on my camera I get the "Saving private Ryan" when I go lower, at around 6 or 12. What is the advanced of going higher?

[Luis Otero]

If that is your application (filming a TV) you are right, 1/60 should be used since the frame rate for TV in North America is 30. In geneal, it is always double of the frame rate.

The advantage of going higer is to shoot high speed events, such as sport, since each frame will contain more precise snap shot of what is happening ion real time. You will need more light, but it wil show way clear to the audience.

By the way, progressive scanning, frame rate and lighting quality are the three main component to make a digital camera footage to resemble a filmic appearance: film = 24 fps, progresive scanning, excellent planning and execution of lighting th scene; soap opera = 30 fps, interlaced scanning and flat lighting. The HD100 gives you 24fps, progressive scanning and the lighting is a craft you need to read and practice until mastered to achieve that filmic look.

Another point of advise, go and see Tim Dashwood's thread called "HD100 Gamma/Colour Tests + DVX100 Match Settings" and use Wide Latitude settings as he suggests in his recipes. That will give you a way different look to your footage.

Hope this helps...

Regards,

Luis

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

Normally I have it at 1/48, but on my camera I get the "Saving private Ryan" when I go lower, at around 6 or 12. What is the advanced of going higher?

I think you need to watch Saving Private Ryan again. Setting your shutter to 1/12 will not give you the "sharp" look of Saving Private Ryan or the coliseum battles in Gladiator.

In Saving Private Ryan, Janusz Kaminski employed 90degree and 45degree shutters. That is why you can see every little bit of dirt in the air when an explosion happens.
So let do the math:
Normally a film camera shutter it set to 180degrees and therefore exposes for 1/48th of a second.
If we set the shutter to 90 degrees we are now exposing for 1/96th of a second (or in the case of a video camera set to 1/100). We will also lose 1 stop of exposure.
If we set the shutter to 45 degrees, we are now exposing for 1/192nd of a second (set to 1/200th for video cameras) and losing 2 stops of exposure.

This is only one aspect of the look of Saving Private Ryan. Kaminski also had a 35mm camera modified so that the film advanced before the shutter had completely closed - thereby creating "streaks" in the highlights. I guess you have to have the budget of a Steven Spielberg film to convince Panavision to break one of their cameras for you!

Kaminski also used the bleach bypass technique (aka "skip-bleach") which gives the film a very contrasty look. I have created a bleach-bypass recipe for the HD100:
MASTER BLK -1
BLACK COMPRESS 1
KNEE MANUAL
LEVEL 100%
WHITE CLIP 108%
CINELIKE OFF
COLOR MATRIX STANDARD
GAMMA STANDARD
LEVEL MAX
COLOR GAIN -8
R GAIN -2
R ROT -2
G GAIN 1
G GAIN 1
B GAIN 2
B ROT. -3

Now, if you are confusing the short-shutter look of the SPR and the coliseum scenes in Gladiator with some shots in the opening battle of Gladiator then 1/12th will probably give you that look.

One day when Ridley Scott and John Mathieson were shooting the battle between the Roman Legions and Germanic Tribes, it started snowing and they were losing their light. So instead of packing up for the day, they opened the shutters to 180degrees, and shot at 8 frames per second, giving them almost an extra 2 stops of exposure.
They then step printed that back to 24 fps for the final print - giving really looooong motion blurs.
So lets do the math for this:
We know that 180 degrees at 24fps equals exposures of 1/48 of a second per frame. So that means that shooting 8 frames per second should give us exposures of 1/16th of a second per frame. Luckily, in digital video, you don't need to worry about step printing back to 24fps because the process in done for you live.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Tim Dashwood

Now, if you are confusing the short-shutter look of the SPR and the coliseum scenes in Gladiator with some shots in the opening battle of Gladiator then 1/12th will probably give you that look.

I think that is what I'm thinking off. A lot of flashback footage use the low settings ont he shutter. Gladiator is one of my favorite films, and I do need to watch it again. =)

Thanks for all the information. Will set my camera to the settings provided and do some test shots.

HEy What does the Knee do exactly on the HD100? I tried to move it but I see no difference.

Always a great help Tim =)