Canon A1 and Letus Extreme : Footage at DVinfo.net

Michael Friedman · December 25th, 2007, 05:07 AM

I took my dad down to the park today to help me test out my new rig.

I cut together some of the footage from the camera test. You can view it here.

Lenses (Canon EF):
50 1.4
100 Macro 2.8
Zoom 28-135 3.5

Jerome Terry · December 25th, 2007, 11:00 PM

Pretty cool. The exposure looks to me to be a little dark but this could be due to my monitor setup. Other than that I really liked the clip.
Jerome

Michael Friedman · December 26th, 2007, 12:36 AM

hmmm. I did crush the blacks a bit but the overall exposure should be good. Could be a Mac/PC gamma thing. I checked in in Final Cut, and on my HDTV (which should be the same as PC gamma). I'll have to check it on a Windows box...

Loren Simons · December 26th, 2007, 02:40 AM

Beautifully Done. Looked Very Very anti-home movie. The very look im going for, dare i say film? Good Job!

Harry Hannigan · December 26th, 2007, 03:05 AM

Just gorgeous, Michael. I'd love to see some other lenses, too.

Jimmy Moss · December 26th, 2007, 10:54 AM

I dont know which version of FCP your running, but I know that FCP Studio 2 actually compensates for PC gamma by itself. In other words, you want to set your computer to normal Mac gamma and when you open final cut pro it shows you the video at pc gamma.

So if you set your computer to PC gamma and then open FCP studio 2 its going to be out of wack. I made that mistake already.

but thats why you checked it on the external monitor, so it shouldn't matter.
Jimmy

Michael Friedman · December 26th, 2007, 12:25 PM

Thanks for the compliments guys. It is nice to know that I didn't build this monstrosity for nothing.

Michael Friedman · December 26th, 2007, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Moss

I dont know which version of FCP your running, but I know that FCP Studio 2 actually compensates for PC gamma by itself. In other words, you want to set your computer to normal Mac gamma and when you open final cut pro it shows you the video at pc gamma.

I do have the new version and I had heard about the Gamma. I have been trying every variation. I even play my cuts out through my XBOX on to my HDTV (which is where it looks _really_ different). I am going to have to ultimately decide what look to trust. It's funny, because playing back through an external monitor is not how a good portion of our work is shown these days. I watch a lot of shows on my laptop.

Joe Rizzo-Naudi · December 27th, 2007, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Friedman

Thanks for the compliments guys. It is nice to know that I didn't build this monstrosity for nothing.

Wow, it looks sort of average size until you look at the xha1 hidden away in there for perspective!

Loved the footage, Michael.

Roger Lee · December 27th, 2007, 06:22 PM

Nice looking footage. Thanks for sharing.

Nick Wilcox-Brown · December 29th, 2007, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Moss

I dont know which version of FCP your running, but I know that FCP Studio 2 actually compensates for PC gamma by itself. In other words, you want to set your computer to normal Mac gamma and when you open final cut pro it shows you the video at pc gamma.

So if you set your computer to PC gamma and then open FCP studio 2 its going to be out of wack. I made that mistake already.

I am still on 5.14, so have not had chance to check this for myself. However, I find the whole business of the movie industry lingering in the realms of Mac Gamma to be rather puzzling. The origins of the 1.8 gamma lie back in the days of original 80s black and white laserwriters and matching them to the offset press, but that is another story. The move to the current Mac Gamma of 2.2 goes back to around '98 / 99 when Macs started using PC components.

Apple's current recommendation for calibration of their cinema displays is Gamma 2.2, and native colour temperature, often abbreviated as 6500K, the same as PC settings. These fit with work that is going to be displayed on the web or indeed cross-platform.

My own side of the industry, photography, has been calibrating all monitors to the gamma 2.2 standard for nearly 10 years, since Adobe tried to bring in some uniformity with their Adobe RGB colour space.

I am guessing that at some point a calibration system will come to FCP as some sort of compliment or rival to the Matrox MXO. Currently this product (the MXO) seems to bringing some sense to industry in allowing the use of sensibly priced displays rather than the overpriced 'reference' monitors to check footage on a calibrated device. Again, with reference to photography, the photo industry has some amazing reference displays of its own, with higher resolution, covering a much wider colour space than achieved by the current generations of video and yet the price does not exceed US$5k. In many cases, it is less than half that.

Perhaps I am off track with my ideas here? Anyone care to comment?

Nice footage with the Letus BTW - I want one!

Graham Bernard · December 30th, 2007, 01:32 AM

Michael, very emotional footage. AND a great look too.

Q1 - Is that a DVTEC Pro shoulder device? Have you added additional padding? - If so - neat!

Q2 - Where on the A1 are you getting the supply to the monitor from? Do you now use the A1 flip-out monitor?

Q3 - What is that "lump" velcroed to the back plate?

Q4 - Is that a Rad Mic Rx high up on the mic?

Q5 - Did you shoot with this and/or tripod? Very steady work! - well done!

Grazie

Michael Friedman · December 30th, 2007, 01:59 AM

Quote: