Canon XH series -- various sample clips

Brian Reynolds · November 6th, 2007, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Weiss

They aren't vibing too well with the ye olde barbarian swordsman..unless of course your project is entitled "Barbarian Timeshare"...which would be awesome. The possibilities are endless.

lmao!

i know one word replies aren't very useful, but i can't help myself... amidst all the techie talk here i got a good chuckle

Ben Waller · November 9th, 2007, 12:25 AM

So, here's the first in a long line to come. I've included a media fire link as well as a youtube link. feel free to comment here or on youtube. The mediafire link will be much better quality, and it is only 16 megs.

Let me know!

"The Traveler"
What is real? What isn't real? Where does the world behind the camera become the world in front of the camera?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNXhPl0EPeo

http://www.mediafire.com/?3251rgpbvm0

Graham Bernard · November 9th, 2007, 01:04 AM

Ben! Great stuff!

Liked your use of the colour-ways: Beach>Darks>Leaves

Didn't like the mugging jump cut.

Liked the envelope hand-over.

Didn't like the low mic level "chat" on the beach. Do we hear or don't we hear?

Liked the music.

LIKED the dolly-work? Was that a dolly?

Didn't like the too sharp initial move.

Didn't like the non-continuity of the one-handed Mobile phone and the two hand-Laptop user.

LOVED the silhouette against the LEAVES! Great choice!!

Kinda needed a real snappy cut to man-in-street-scape mobile. Happened too late?

But yes, very funny punchline!
Great simple story of a suspension of belief in time/space - liked it!!

More please!!!

Grazie

Ben Waller · November 9th, 2007, 01:17 AM

Actually, my brother has a scion, which has a hatchback, so I laid in the back of the car and held the camera sideways, as low to the ground, and as steady as possible. Half my body was in the car, and the other half was out. And I noticed the two-handed thing too, it's just been cloudy the last four days in LA and I gave up waiting for it!

Thanks for the advice too! It's so nice to be able to have a fresh eye on things. I can't thank this board enough for that.

Garrett Low · November 15th, 2007, 01:30 PM

Hi Roger,

I've been getting into doing more of these types of projects, dance shows, plays, etc. with dark surroundings and bright, quickly changing lighting. I shoot using a slighly tweeked VividRGB (lower the red gain slightly) and try to go with full manual. On the white balance if you can get into the sight early during the tech call you can have the lighting tech turn down the house lights and turn stage lights to typical white spots. Then use the white manual white balance shooting at a white page. I've also use auto exposure when I know the action is going to be crazy and the lighting will have extreme changes at very high rates. In those cases I usually use a small negative AE shift which seems to help keep the brights from getting blown out. Then in post I really monitor the luma levels to make sure they stay within broadcast limits.

Another hint I found to be really usefull is if you are using manual iris don't go below the max f stop at your most extreme zoom. In other words, at full zoom the lense will only go to F 3.5 but when in wide it will go to f 1.6. I you set at f 1.6 when widen then start to zoom you'll notice you loose a few stops.

As far as gain the lower the better but I have had to shoot with as much as +6. I find going up to +3 doesn't yield totally objectionable results and it's always better to get good brightness and contrast and sacrafice alittle noise and grain. And, I find that if you're going to downconvert to SD it almost becomes unnoticeable.

Another really usefull thing is to go to a dress rehearsal and shoot tons of test footage making slight variatons in your settings. Make sure you record the timecode and what changes you made so you can go back and view which setting yields the best results. I'm a believer that my camera work should be tansparent. The lighting director had a vision in mind when they set up the show and I want to try to capture as much of that as possible. That means that I try to make as little adjustments to picture settings as possible once the performance starts.

Danny Hensley · November 30th, 2007, 10:12 PM

http://ia360613.us.archive.org/1/ite...05/powder2.wmv

right click, save as...file is large

Well I just bought my A1 recently and finally found sometime to go and shoot in the backyard. Take a look, any criticisms are welcome. Keep in mind that this is the first time I have ever had a camera to myself to shoot my own personal stuff.

Alessandro Garabaghi · November 30th, 2007, 10:28 PM

Look good, and congrats on get the XH A1.

The only thing is some of the shoots look slightly out of focus. You must be using the Auto Focus on some shots too because as your hand shakes it focuses on different points. The shot of the shed looked good, and the shot of the tree and dog look good also. There was one shot in the beginning where the dog is walking down the stairs and the wood look a little weird / noises / washed out.

Overall its looks good, but slightly bland color wise and noisy. Keep messing with and im sure you will get it right.

What were you export settings? The file was really big.

Danny Hensley · November 30th, 2007, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alessandro Garabaghi

Look good, and congrats on get the XH A1.

The only thing is some of the shoots look slightly out of focus. You must be using the Auto Focus on some shots too because as your hand shakes it focuses on different points. The shot of the shed looked good, and the shot of the tree and dog look good also. There was one shot in the beginning where the dog is walking down the stairs and the wood look a little weird / noises / washed out.

Overall its looks good, but slightly bland color wise and noisy. Keep messing with and im sure you will get it right.

What were you export settings? The file was really big.

I just exported as a wmv 6.7mbps 1080i

do you have any suggestions in that area?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it

Alessandro Garabaghi · November 30th, 2007, 10:48 PM

well, im still learning the exporting game my self, but here is one i found thats is good for the web.

Video:
H.264, 3mbit max, 3mbit target, 2pass VBR, 480 x 270, 29.97fps (or w/e ur timeline is in),

Audio:
AAC, 160kbps, 48hz, stereo

Got about 1min 12secs of HDV footage to about 28megs.

Danny Hensley · November 30th, 2007, 11:41 PM

well I tried that setting, but it made a few things look a little off...I'll keep working at it though

Thanks again Alessandro

Steve Yager · December 3rd, 2007, 12:19 PM

My newest sketch:

www.eldersofthedarktower.com

warning: not safe for work

Bryce Olejniczak · December 4th, 2007, 02:33 PM

Here's my first video I'm posting that I shot with my A1. Just looking for some feedback... I did this drug PSA for a class.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?cqzddxjbltg

Brent Goodale · December 4th, 2007, 07:22 PM

wow.............

Jerrod Cordell · December 5th, 2007, 04:01 AM

lmao! That was funny as hell. I love how the animated dude sounds like Towliee from South Park. lol.

Todd Smaretsky · December 5th, 2007, 05:43 AM

Very funny stuff bro. Clever. Easily could be an SNL skit; one of the better ones. This is just a personal thing here: didn't need so much swearing; but apart from that, very humorous. Good idea, great timing, great acting.

November 9th, 2007, 12:25 AM	#227
Ben Waller New Boot Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 12	First Post to the Board (Finally) So, here's the first in a long line to come. I've included a media fire link as well as a youtube link. feel free to comment here or on youtube. The mediafire link will be much better quality, and it is only 16 megs. Let me know! "The Traveler" What is real? What isn't real? Where does the world behind the camera become the world in front of the camera? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNXhPl0EPeo http://www.mediafire.com/?3251rgpbvm0

November 9th, 2007, 01:04 AM	#228
Graham Bernard Old Boot Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: London UK Posts: 3,633	Ben! Great stuff! Liked your use of the colour-ways: Beach>Darks>Leaves Didn't like the mugging jump cut. Liked the envelope hand-over. Didn't like the low mic level "chat" on the beach. Do we hear or don't we hear? Liked the music. LIKED the dolly-work? Was that a dolly? Didn't like the too sharp initial move. Didn't like the non-continuity of the one-handed Mobile phone and the two hand-Laptop user. LOVED the silhouette against the LEAVES! Great choice!! Kinda needed a real snappy cut to man-in-street-scape mobile. Happened too late? But yes, very funny punchline! Great simple story of a suspension of belief in time/space - liked it!! More please!!! Grazie Last edited by Graham Bernard; November 9th, 2007 at 01:06 AM. Reason: silly syntax!

November 9th, 2007, 01:17 AM	#229
Ben Waller New Boot Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 12	No Dolly Actually, my brother has a scion, which has a hatchback, so I laid in the back of the car and held the camera sideways, as low to the ground, and as steady as possible. Half my body was in the car, and the other half was out. And I noticed the two-handed thing too, it's just been cloudy the last four days in LA and I gave up waiting for it! Thanks for the advice too! It's so nice to be able to have a fresh eye on things. I can't thank this board enough for that.

November 30th, 2007, 10:12 PM	#231
Danny Hensley New Boot Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Spokane, WA Posts: 8	Powder http://ia360613.us.archive.org/1/ite...05/powder2.wmv right click, save as...file is large Well I just bought my A1 recently and finally found sometime to go and shoot in the backyard. Take a look, any criticisms are welcome. Keep in mind that this is the first time I have ever had a camera to myself to shoot my own personal stuff.

December 3rd, 2007, 12:19 PM	#236
Steve Yager Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 157	On location A1 w/ Lowel lights My newest sketch: www.eldersofthedarktower.com warning: not safe for work

November 15th, 2007, 01:30 PM	#230
Garrett Low Trustee Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Novato, CA Posts: 1,774	Hi Roger, I've been getting into doing more of these types of projects, dance shows, plays, etc. with dark surroundings and bright, quickly changing lighting. I shoot using a slighly tweeked VividRGB (lower the red gain slightly) and try to go with full manual. On the white balance if you can get into the sight early during the tech call you can have the lighting tech turn down the house lights and turn stage lights to typical white spots. Then use the white manual white balance shooting at a white page. I've also use auto exposure when I know the action is going to be crazy and the lighting will have extreme changes at very high rates. In those cases I usually use a small negative AE shift which seems to help keep the brights from getting blown out. Then in post I really monitor the luma levels to make sure they stay within broadcast limits. Another hint I found to be really usefull is if you are using manual iris don't go below the max f stop at your most extreme zoom. In other words, at full zoom the lense will only go to F 3.5 but when in wide it will go to f 1.6. I you set at f 1.6 when widen then start to zoom you'll notice you loose a few stops. As far as gain the lower the better but I have had to shoot with as much as +6. I find going up to +3 doesn't yield totally objectionable results and it's always better to get good brightness and contrast and sacrafice alittle noise and grain. And, I find that if you're going to downconvert to SD it almost becomes unnoticeable. Another really usefull thing is to go to a dress rehearsal and shoot tons of test footage making slight variatons in your settings. Make sure you record the timecode and what changes you made so you can go back and view which setting yields the best results. I'm a believer that my camera work should be tansparent. The lighting director had a vision in mind when they set up the show and I want to try to capture as much of that as possible. That means that I try to make as little adjustments to picture settings as possible once the performance starts.

November 30th, 2007, 10:28 PM	#232
Alessandro Garabaghi Regular Crew Join Date: May 2007 Location: Orlando, Fl Posts: 132	Look good, and congrats on get the XH A1. The only thing is some of the shoots look slightly out of focus. You must be using the Auto Focus on some shots too because as your hand shakes it focuses on different points. The shot of the shed looked good, and the shot of the tree and dog look good also. There was one shot in the beginning where the dog is walking down the stairs and the wood look a little weird / noises / washed out. Overall its looks good, but slightly bland color wise and noisy. Keep messing with and im sure you will get it right. What were you export settings? The file was really big.

November 30th, 2007, 10:48 PM	#234
Alessandro Garabaghi Regular Crew Join Date: May 2007 Location: Orlando, Fl Posts: 132	well, im still learning the exporting game my self, but here is one i found thats is good for the web. Video: H.264, 3mbit max, 3mbit target, 2pass VBR, 480 x 270, 29.97fps (or w/e ur timeline is in), Audio: AAC, 160kbps, 48hz, stereo Got about 1min 12secs of HDV footage to about 28megs.

November 30th, 2007, 11:41 PM	#235
Danny Hensley New Boot Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Spokane, WA Posts: 8	well I tried that setting, but it made a few things look a little off...I'll keep working at it though Thanks again Alessandro

December 4th, 2007, 02:33 PM	#237
Bryce Olejniczak Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Marquette, MI Posts: 65	Short PSA with XH-A1 Here's my first video I'm posting that I shot with my A1. Just looking for some feedback... I did this drug PSA for a class. http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?cqzddxjbltg

December 4th, 2007, 07:22 PM	#238
Brent Goodale Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 31	wow.............

December 5th, 2007, 04:01 AM	#239
Jerrod Cordell Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Titusville, FL Posts: 136	lmao! That was funny as hell. I love how the animated dude sounds like Towliee from South Park. lol.

December 5th, 2007, 05:43 AM	#240
Todd Smaretsky Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 36	Very funny stuff bro. Clever. Easily could be an SNL skit; one of the better ones. This is just a personal thing here: didn't need so much swearing; but apart from that, very humorous. Good idea, great timing, great acting.