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-   -   Is ONE DAY learn and shoot possible? (hvx200) (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/panasonic-p2hd-dvcpro-hd-camcorders/68882-one-day-learn-shoot-possible-hvx200.html)

Thierry H. Fortier June 5th, 2006 07:53 AM

Is ONE DAY learn and shoot possible? (hvx200)
 
Hi... I have no experience with camera except professional digital slr... I have a low budget shoot plan for next week and we will not be able to engage a cameraman.

Do you think its realist I can rent the HVX200 by morning, learn it with the manual from 9am to 5pm and shoot at 6-7pm?

in the deal is include;

HVX200
mattebox
tripod
60gig hd
2 p2 cards

Its for a bicycle on greenscreen setup... with slowmotion too.

I have a pc laptop (centrino 1.8ghz) for use dvrack... is dvcpro hd is easy to transfert?
if not we have some G5 at job...

or should I use dvrack for digitize HDV in realtime?

thanks
thierry

Peter Jefferson June 5th, 2006 09:17 AM

well dude, id recomend u download the manual and start reading NOW...

Ive had my DVX100's for over 4 years now and to this day they still surprise me..

Federico Prieto June 5th, 2006 12:03 PM

I am not sure about...One thing is to know what to do with the differents camera buttons, how to make the white balance, etc.....And another very different is how think in takes, how to shot....how to make the pans.....etc......If it is just to shot a static take...may be you can do that without prob....

Thierry H. Fortier June 5th, 2006 12:31 PM

I think I will be ok with the composition... all static shot... maybe we will try some pan on shoulders (should I need a spiderbrace?) but its not our priority.

But all the buttons are another story... I will try to find the manual right now and study.

how about leaving the cam on auto mode?

I plan to put the shutter speed at around 100 or 120... for get less motion blur. I wonder too if I can get nice wideangle shot from the lens?! (I have the option to take a wide angle 82mm for the hvx200 for 40$ more)

Cole McDonald June 5th, 2006 01:06 PM

no auto for great footage:
Learn where and how to find these:

manual white balance
Focus
exposure
shutter
zebras

set the camera before hand to the framerate you'll be shooting and the shutter to your preferred setting (generally 1/48 for 24fps, 1/60 for 30fps). Don't used any of the interlaced modes (60i, 1080i) unless you plan on going to film and your film house requests you do so.

If you're running sound into the camera, do a short test of it to be sure you're getting good sound...use the zebras to help you expose the picture correctly. Don't let your whites blow out if at all possible. Move the camera slowly and smoothly, you'll get better looking footage. If you can rent it for a day before hand, do that and never let it leave your hands, shoot all day to get used to it. On set you want it to feel natural so you're not spending time looking for the controls.

Dean Sensui June 5th, 2006 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thierry H. Fortier
how about leaving the cam on auto mode?

I plan to put the shutter speed at around 100 or 120... for get less motion blur. I wonder too if I can get nice wideangle shot from the lens?! (I have the option to take a wide angle 82mm for the hvx200 for 40$ more)

"Auto" for greenscreen is to be absolutely avoided. Greenscreen demands consistent exposure and color to work properly, and auto-anything will foul that up.

You might not need the wide angle lens as the HVX200 already has a nice wide lens. Also, you will want to get a really good wide angle adapter if you're doing green screen work -- edges are important and cheap glass means lousy edges for mattes.

Good keying software will handle motion blur very nicely so you won't have to get too concerned with that unless you're after a particular effect.

In short -- getting up to speed with that particular camera isn't going to be easy. If you want great results, you'll have to find a way to get familiar enough with it. I've been doing this kind of work for years and I just spent the weekend getting to know just the basics of this camera.

Thierry H. Fortier June 5th, 2006 07:07 PM

ok... no auto. I swear! but I ear (meaning read) its better to shoot 1080i for greenscreen ntsc down convertion cause you get more definition for your key than 720p... their example look quite convincing..!

haaaaaa I wanna go Hawaii..!

I will get the camera in two days by morning 8h30am and will be shooting by 6pm. I downloaded the manual but cant find the manual for the external HD AJ-PCS060G... im sure its not too complexe.

What im more worrying about now is how to get the footage out of the cam to the computer...

I read I will need P2 Viewer, but on the p2 viewer download page they say to install the p2 drivers from the cam before install it... I dont have such driver...

I will have both G5 and PC at my job but I think they still have FCP HD v4.0

Actually I just need to read the p2 file in After Effects...

Is cineform easy? I think I can get the aspect HD trial for premiere pro... is it enough for be able to convert those p2 files?

I feel I dont have all the puzzle pieces right now... If somebody can explain me the workflow step by step just like if im retard I will be more than happy! like 1- take your firewire cable... 2- stuck it in your cam to pc.. ect...


sorry for all the questions
and thanks for your replys guys! :)

Dean Sensui June 5th, 2006 07:20 PM

Thierry...

Jarred Land and Barry Green are going to conduct an HVX Boot Camp here in Hawaii on the 18th and 19th of July. That's as good an excuse as any to come out here!

I think you saw the greenscreen example that specified settings for the HVX?
http://www.imageshoppe.com/HVX_bluescreen2.html

I was looking at that, too and it was impressive. That was done with 1080i. And I've seen elsewhere in which 1080i was compared to 720p, and 1080i held more detail.

Also, another good tutorial is by Andrew Kramer:

http://www.creativecow.net/articles/...rkey/index.htm

He also sells a tutorial DVD which is well worth the price.

I'm also new to this camera, having gotten mine on Saturday. I found the "on" button five minutes ago... I think Barry mentioned that there's about 80 possible setting combinations on just format and frame rates, plus gamma options, etc. So this is far from a grab-and-go item for the inexperienced.

Thierry H. Fortier June 5th, 2006 08:45 PM

haha! if only I could... carrying the kids! :) yes, you got it right... it was that example I saw! and I did the test of keying both the layers in the photoshop document... The uncompress one was definitively better and sharper but both became similar downsized to sd. then no problem for my shoot with dvcproHD!

Cole, what do you think about that test? (if you have some time to spend of course!)

zzzZZZmgoing to bed...

Cole McDonald June 5th, 2006 10:43 PM

shooting which test? I missed something somewhere...sorry.

Dean Sensui June 5th, 2006 10:47 PM

Cole...

This test: http://www.imageshoppe.com/HVX_bluescreen2.html

The lighting isn't intended to provide realistic results. But what's most important is how detail held up and how he managed to avoid making the edges look artificial.

K. Forman June 6th, 2006 06:23 AM

I had received my brand new XL1s the morning of my step daughters cheerleading competition, charged the betteries on the way, and read the manual while my wife drove. The shoot went off ok. The first thing I learned, was I shoulda got a tripod.

As long as you don't need to do anything too fancy, you should do fine. Just make sure you light the subject and screen evenly.

Thierry H. Fortier June 6th, 2006 06:32 AM

thanks keith! now I have premiere pro 2 and cineform aspectHD 4.1 installed, all in tryout mode, and I cant get that mxf file to load in premiere pro... damn.. whats wrong?!

Jan Crittenden Livingston June 6th, 2006 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thierry H. Fortier
I read I will need P2 Viewer, but on the p2 viewer download page they say to install the p2 drivers from the cam before install it... I dont have such driver...

I will have both G5 and PC at my job but I think they still have FCP HD v4.0

Actually I just need to read the p2 file in After Effects...

Is cineform easy? I think I can get the aspect HD trial for premiere pro... is it enough for be able to convert those p2 files?

Thierry, this is pretty complex camera and the workflow is very different than what people are used to. Frankly there is no way that I would put myself in to the position you have. It could have disasterous results. You really need to be on solid ground before you start trying to be creative.

You need to have your workflow figured out and tested ahead of time. Basicaly, the P2 card is inserted into the P2 Store once the card is full. It then transfers and you can reformat the card, so that you may continue to record. The P2 Store will take about an hour to transfer to the Mac once it is full, maybe a little longer on a Mac than a PC as it transfers over USB2.

Your Mac has to be fully updated and be running at least FCP 5.04 with OS at 10.04. You only need the PC and P2 viewer if you want to look at the footage outside of FCP. Be aware that most PC laptops do not have the processor power to look at full HD without dropping frames, I have only seen success with the new round of dual processors.

Once you have transferred all of your files, then you can import them to FCP. Shane Ross has a very nice tutorial elsewhere, that would be worth watching, he also has a blog that has many insights to the workflow on the computer side.

If you really have to do this, work to get the best imaging from the camera and get the files from the camera onto the P2 store and transferred to the computer. Make sure that you keep the folders and files intact. Worry about importing to FCP later. The task of capturing footage ad transferring is enough to your head busy. If you want to check your footage you can do that with the P2 Viewer on the PC and you can use the PC to transfer your files to a hard drive for importing and editing later.

Good Luck,

Jan

Thierry H. Fortier June 6th, 2006 06:59 AM

wow... thanks Jan for the infos... you are right... everything is complex right now... I feel we still at the begining of the p2 era and the workflow is not yet very solid (too much apps!only drivers should be enough!)

I will pass every hours until the shoot to get all thoses details fix. your help is very precious guys! I will call the renting company and try to get the cam sooner...

I cant get the p2 drivers cause I dont have the serial number... (its not mine!) I will try to get that...

After Effects is not a real time software... I dont need real-time playback. from the description on cineform site, I should be able to run the codec from AE if Aspect HD is installed. Now the only thing I miss is the p2 drivrs and p2 viewer for make cineform work. (I hope!)

I have a mxf sample file for do my test of compatibility...

Sad we only have old version of fcp at job... and system 10.03...

haaaa that leasy tech department! they dont care about creativ people! ;P

thanks for all your help guys! cant wait to hold the camera for real!


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