XL1s With Mini35 400, which of the following treatments work the best
 

hi, this is my first post, but ive been reding it for a while and i found this forum to be very educational and the plp to be very unselfishly helpful so first of all my thanks to you all.

now my ?; which would be the better approach (quality wise)to shoot for Music Video/film like apearance using xls1 and mini 35?

a:) 60i then work on post with dvfilm maker or magic bullets to deinterlace or even turn to 24p.

b:)Frame mode and color correction or other post treatment( which?if not much to ask)

c:)Frame mode 30p and also magic bullets or dvfilm maker treatments in post.

im shooting a video soon and ill be using canon ef lenses and a argeniux 20-120 cine zoom if i find a way to attach the support for it :) thanks for all.

Option a:

I would say the best process with the XL1 is to shoot 60i and achieve your 24p or 30p in post. Frame mode on the XL1 "effectively" is 30p with a 25% hit on resolution, but programs like Magic or DvFilm will work best with interlaced footage. I wouldn't settle for less resolution personally.

Frame mode is great if your stuff will only be seen online on someone's computer but broadcasted the results could look a little different.

For both the speed and the money I would go for DvFilm using 60i, then use Magic Bullet or Color Finesse for After Effects to do some color correction.

The best thing you can honestly do is try a test and shoot some 60i and frame mode footage and run through DvFilm demo version.

Hope this helped?!

The Seinfeld/Amex short films I worked on were shot with this setup and Frame mode, then uprezzed afterwards. It looked good. I still maintain that the Frame mode looks better than de-interlacing software, even with the loss of resolution.

If you have any reason to think you will be printing to film, I would say to shoot interlaced.

But, seeing as 99.9% of everything we shoot will never see a film print, go with frame mode. It may not be the best choice mathematically, but I have to agree with Charles, it just feels better.

But, as with anything, I would say do some tests.

-Luis

I agree deinterlacing can produce some ugly results (Cinelook plugin for After Effects would be one of them) but there are so many ways to deinterlace 60i interlaced video so just remember that not all deinterlacing software is built the same. Results also greatly depend on the nature of the movement in your footage - I guess for all the reasons I just listed frame mode is probably the simplest!? hehe

It should be noted however that the Amex spot was shot using the mini35 adapter system (which I also own and shoot with) and a long time ago Mizell the rep. for ZGC said that the mini35 could resolve more lines than using standard lenses - maybe for this reason (???) the Canon in frame mode when used with the mini35 uprezzed looked fine? Just a thought - I don't know.

Luis if you want to try some really amazing, free and interesting open source video post production filters email me and I'll let you know how and where to get them. These post production filters are written and provided for free by people like you and me who want high quality results without the retail price and version fixes along the way. I've made VX1000 footage look like post card quality with some of the filters available.

XL1-XL1s w/mini35
 

Is there a difference detween using a XL1 vs using a XL1s with the mini35? My buddie has a mini on his XL1 and I need to know if I should rent a XL1s to achieve better picture quality or does it really matter? I know the 1s has more in camera image controls than the 1 and I've seen some stuff he's shot with the 1....Looks Great. I guess it's a matter of being spoiled in wanting to use the newer electronics of the XL1s compared to the 1....So, as for rental cost sake, is there that much of a difference?

The S model should be slightly better, but it all depends. I like the
S model because it has things like custom presets, no auto
shutdown and variable zebra stripes.

For all the "new" things on the S model click here

I believe also that significant improvements were made with the low light capabilities of the S producing images with less visable noise in them. But that doesn't necessarily mean it will be an issue for you anyway. Use your buddy's XL1 and save some money.

xl2 + mini35 +16.9 = ?
 

Planning to get an XL2 with a mini35 adapter.. I will get a PAL version of XL2 and I obviously plan to shoot in 16:9... will the lens on the mini35 affect this somehow, if I film in 16:9 mode through the camera? will that work like a charm? =)

You're in good shape, Andreas. The Mini35 will indeed work like a charm. The 16:9 mode on the XL2 uses the full width of the 1/3" chip so you have complete side to side coverage. It's actually very close to the framing you would achieve on a 35mm film camera shooting 1:85.

XL2 Platform Problems
 

Hey guys, I just got the Xl2 platform to convert my 300 series XL1s mini35 to use my Xl2 with. Unfortunately I am having an issue removing the original platform. I got off two of the screws, but the second two just would not budge. I tried my best to get them off, but now they seem stripped! What can I do?

-Dave Frank

Hello Frank,

As I said to you on the phone, just let me know if you were able to disassemble the smaller components inside the platform and re-assemble them inside the new XL2 platform. I have a new support bridge and a set of screws ready to go to you as soon as you can confirm it is all you need. I will deal with the problem parts when you have had a chance to return them to me.

Best regards,

Guy,

Just shipped it out. Hope everything goes well.

-David Frank