Canon HV series -- various sample clips

Ben Troxell · July 21st, 2007, 11:15 PM

Nice video!

Eugenia Loli-Queru · July 22nd, 2007, 04:04 AM

A view of the Stanford campgrounds at Palo Alto, CA, USA. Video shot with a Canon HV20 HD camcorder, a fluid tripod head, an ND-6 filter, a polarizer and Tiffen's "soft" HDTV/FX-3 filter at 1/60 shutter speed but with variable exposure & apperture settings. 720p HD version of the video available at: http://hv20.info/yopu/stanford.wmv or via Flash video at http://one.revver.com/watch/338792

The video portion is licensed under the Creative Commons 'Attribution' 3.0 License. The audio portion was used after receiving permission by its artist, Rob Costlow. To license Rob's beautiful music please check RobCostlow.com.

Shayne Weyker · July 22nd, 2007, 02:06 PM

I saw the WMV version and it looked really nice. The sharpness you get at full zoom gets me excited about HD (esp. the mural). I think you did a great job picking filters for a professional look and composing beautiful shots.

On the editing side though side I think some of the still shots went on too long (palm trees especially) and would have liked the visual pace picked up a little more when you're not showing the really cool stuff. If you don't have more cool stuff to show then the piece should probably be shorter even if you have to fade the music early.

I'm not as sure about this but, maybe use more wide to medium to tight shot sequences with cuts or dissolves rather than long duration shots with camera moves or zooms.

--Shayne

http://weykervideo.com

Eugenia Loli-Queru · July 22nd, 2007, 03:17 PM

Thank you for the suggestions Shayne, appreciated. BTW, the video is not as sharp as it could be, because I used a digital diffusion/contrast filter which softens the image. I am reviewing the filter for an online magazine, so that trip to Stanford was all about using that filter... Without it, it would have been more "sharp", but at the same time more "video-like". I guess, it depends on the look you are after. :D

Shayne Weyker · July 22nd, 2007, 05:25 PM

Yeah I guess I didn't mean sharp edged as much as so much detail when zoomed way in vs. an equivalent amount of detail when zoomed out. On the mural shot you picked a subject with that that had really nice composition and stuff to see at all the way *and* all the way out.

You could do that with SD or HD I suppose, but having that new instant-AF feature and the extra upper limit on detail of HD helps I guess.

--Shayne

http://weykervideo.com

Eugenia Loli-Queru · July 22nd, 2007, 05:40 PM

>a subject with that that had really nice composition

Thank God for that polarizer too. ;-)

Fergus Anderson · July 25th, 2007, 03:15 PM

Hi all

I recently took some footage of the Red Arrows and have put a small sample here:

http://hv20.info/yopu/Red Arrows Sample.wmv

I am intending to edit about 4 mins of footage together in the coming days.

It was shot in 25p cine mode and high shutter speed (bright day). It wasnt a planned shoot really. I didnt walk to the best spot and didnt have any time to prepare - it was just a bit of impomtu filming, some parts turned out to be alright! All shot handheld.

Anyway here is a 40 sec clip showing some of the more shaky/closeup footage. It gives you an idea of what 25p/high shutter speed looks like when handheld at full telephoto and moving quick. The Sample is 42.8 MB in size (720p wm9 38 sec at 8mb/s).

Might be of interest to anyone into planes....

Eugenia Loli-Queru · July 25th, 2007, 07:05 PM

Amazing, thanks for sharing!

Ben Troxell · July 29th, 2007, 08:49 PM

Really smooth for 25p.

David Cole · August 3rd, 2007, 07:18 PM

"24p Tv 1/48th CP off available light consisted of a fluorescent fixture on the ceiling, and a few incandescences on the walls, sound was run out of a mixer to a hosa xlr to mini cable"

I understand most of your settings: 24p, shutter priority with the shutter set at 1/48th of a second. But what is "CP"? I've had REALLY noisy low light footage and can't figure out how you guys are getting such good results. I read about the posts how people are happy with the low light results from this camera. Any help?!

Thanks!

-DC

Austin Meyers · August 3rd, 2007, 08:06 PM

CP is short for custom preset ie vivid, neutral, skin,... and custom

the first post i shot in Tv mode, the second set of clips i shot with CINE mode. the CINE mode handles the low light much better as it appears to limit the gain induced (at the expense of shutter speed), the gamma tweaks are better too for low light IMO. whereas the other program modes will induce more gain in order to keep the shutter faster.

the first clip i was locking the shutter with the camera pointed at a bright spot as to get the gain down as much as possible, and in cine mode i would just try to get the shutter to 1/24 and then lock the exposure

hope that makes sense...

Fergus Anderson · August 5th, 2007, 05:01 AM

Well I finally managed to grab some time last night to piece together some of my Red Arrows footage.

This edit is 3 mins 50 long. I have rendered to 720p VC-1 at 7.7mb/s from Vegas. The file is 224mb in size.

http://hv20.info/yopu/THE RED ARROWS 720p.wmv

It was shot in cine mode at 25p mostly around 120 shutter speed. As you will (quickly!) see it was all shot handheld and mostly at telephoto. It was not a planned shoot but I was fairly pleased with the footage.

It has been edited together with a sound track my brother created recently (he is available for project work currently) As you will see I had a play with some options in Vegas....

Let me know what you guys think.

Cheers

Rob Rollin · August 5th, 2007, 06:44 AM

Exellent work! I like the different looks alot, they all looked great!
Good music too!

Rob

Fergus Anderson · August 5th, 2007, 11:04 AM

Thanks Rob - I know some of the looks introduce lots of grain and bleeding etc but I just wanted to do something a little different. Glad you liked the music too :)

Thanks for your feedback

Fergus Anderson · August 7th, 2007, 10:57 AM

Here's a screenshot for the contrast settings for one of those extreme contrast scenes:

July 22nd, 2007, 04:04 AM	#197
Eugenia Loli-Queru Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA, USA Posts: 348	Stanford University A view of the Stanford campgrounds at Palo Alto, CA, USA. Video shot with a Canon HV20 HD camcorder, a fluid tripod head, an ND-6 filter, a polarizer and Tiffen's "soft" HDTV/FX-3 filter at 1/60 shutter speed but with variable exposure & apperture settings. 720p HD version of the video available at: http://hv20.info/yopu/stanford.wmv or via Flash video at http://one.revver.com/watch/338792 The video portion is licensed under the Creative Commons 'Attribution' 3.0 License. The audio portion was used after receiving permission by its artist, Rob Costlow. To license Rob's beautiful music please check RobCostlow.com.

July 25th, 2007, 03:15 PM	#202
Fergus Anderson Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 321	Red Arrows Sample (more to come) Hi all I recently took some footage of the Red Arrows and have put a small sample here: http://hv20.info/yopu/Red Arrows Sample.wmv I am intending to edit about 4 mins of footage together in the coming days. It was shot in 25p cine mode and high shutter speed (bright day). It wasnt a planned shoot really. I didnt walk to the best spot and didnt have any time to prepare - it was just a bit of impomtu filming, some parts turned out to be alright! All shot handheld. Anyway here is a 40 sec clip showing some of the more shaky/closeup footage. It gives you an idea of what 25p/high shutter speed looks like when handheld at full telephoto and moving quick. The Sample is 42.8 MB in size (720p wm9 38 sec at 8mb/s). Might be of interest to anyone into planes....

August 3rd, 2007, 07:18 PM	#205
David Cole Tourist Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: USA Posts: 1	Low light settings? "24p Tv 1/48th CP off available light consisted of a fluorescent fixture on the ceiling, and a few incandescences on the walls, sound was run out of a mixer to a hosa xlr to mini cable" I understand most of your settings: 24p, shutter priority with the shutter set at 1/48th of a second. But what is "CP"? I've had REALLY noisy low light footage and can't figure out how you guys are getting such good results. I read about the posts how people are happy with the low light results from this camera. Any help?! Thanks! -DC

August 3rd, 2007, 08:06 PM	#206
Austin Meyers Contributor Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: austin, tx Posts: 300	CP is short for custom preset ie vivid, neutral, skin,... and custom the first post i shot in Tv mode, the second set of clips i shot with CINE mode. the CINE mode handles the low light much better as it appears to limit the gain induced (at the expense of shutter speed), the gamma tweaks are better too for low light IMO. whereas the other program modes will induce more gain in order to keep the shutter faster. the first clip i was locking the shutter with the camera pointed at a bright spot as to get the gain down as much as possible, and in cine mode i would just try to get the shutter to 1/24 and then lock the exposure hope that makes sense... __________________ Compositing is my life right now. IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3596782/

August 5th, 2007, 05:01 AM	#207
Fergus Anderson Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 321	Full RED ARROWS Footage (graded) Well I finally managed to grab some time last night to piece together some of my Red Arrows footage. This edit is 3 mins 50 long. I have rendered to 720p VC-1 at 7.7mb/s from Vegas. The file is 224mb in size. http://hv20.info/yopu/THE RED ARROWS 720p.wmv It was shot in cine mode at 25p mostly around 120 shutter speed. As you will (quickly!) see it was all shot handheld and mostly at telephoto. It was not a planned shoot but I was fairly pleased with the footage. It has been edited together with a sound track my brother created recently (he is available for project work currently) As you will see I had a play with some options in Vegas.... Let me know what you guys think. Cheers Last edited by Fergus Anderson; August 5th, 2007 at 05:38 AM.

July 21st, 2007, 11:15 PM	#196
Ben Troxell Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: PA Posts: 31	Nice video!

July 22nd, 2007, 02:06 PM	#198
Shayne Weyker Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Columbia, Maryland Posts: 83	I saw the WMV version and it looked really nice. The sharpness you get at full zoom gets me excited about HD (esp. the mural). I think you did a great job picking filters for a professional look and composing beautiful shots. On the editing side though side I think some of the still shots went on too long (palm trees especially) and would have liked the visual pace picked up a little more when you're not showing the really cool stuff. If you don't have more cool stuff to show then the piece should probably be shorter even if you have to fade the music early. I'm not as sure about this but, maybe use more wide to medium to tight shot sequences with cuts or dissolves rather than long duration shots with camera moves or zooms. --Shayne http://weykervideo.com

July 22nd, 2007, 03:17 PM	#199
Eugenia Loli-Queru Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA, USA Posts: 348	Thank you for the suggestions Shayne, appreciated. BTW, the video is not as sharp as it could be, because I used a digital diffusion/contrast filter which softens the image. I am reviewing the filter for an online magazine, so that trip to Stanford was all about using that filter... Without it, it would have been more "sharp", but at the same time more "video-like". I guess, it depends on the look you are after. :D

July 22nd, 2007, 05:25 PM	#200
Shayne Weyker Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Columbia, Maryland Posts: 83	Yeah I guess I didn't mean sharp edged as much as so much detail when zoomed way in vs. an equivalent amount of detail when zoomed out. On the mural shot you picked a subject with that that had really nice composition and stuff to see at all the way and all the way out. You could do that with SD or HD I suppose, but having that new instant-AF feature and the extra upper limit on detail of HD helps I guess. --Shayne http://weykervideo.com

July 22nd, 2007, 05:40 PM	#201
Eugenia Loli-Queru Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA, USA Posts: 348	>a subject with that that had really nice composition Thank God for that polarizer too. ;-)

July 25th, 2007, 07:05 PM	#203
Eugenia Loli-Queru Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA, USA Posts: 348	Amazing, thanks for sharing!

July 29th, 2007, 08:49 PM	#204
Ben Troxell Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: PA Posts: 31	Really smooth for 25p.

August 5th, 2007, 06:44 AM	#208
Rob Rollin New Boot Join Date: May 2007 Location: Stockholm Posts: 7	Exellent work! I like the different looks alot, they all looked great! Good music too! Rob

August 5th, 2007, 11:04 AM	#209
Fergus Anderson Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 321	Thanks Rob - I know some of the looks introduce lots of grain and bleeding etc but I just wanted to do something a little different. Glad you liked the music too :) Thanks for your feedback

August 7th, 2007, 10:57 AM	#210
Fergus Anderson Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 321	Here's a screenshot for the contrast settings for one of those extreme contrast scenes: