Super 16 mode on F5 & F55

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Duane Adam

The samples I've seen of the PMW300 have the look of my old EX1r which I think looks dated and details likes leaves look smeary

I own a PMW200 and not a 300 but I assume they look the same and what I can tell you is that with a decent setup and 50mbps 4:2:2 footage, it's a pretty darned nice picture, especially for the money. The 35mbps footage is marginally better than the EX1R in my opinion but throw the extra bits at it and the game changes significantly.

I have other issues with the camera but picture quality for price is NOT one of them.

And yes, I'm looking very seriously at an F55 purchase this year for narrative interviews but the 200 or something similar will remain my run-and-gun for the foreseeable future.

[James Ewen]

Hi Bo,

There are many out there, RB do a very good one that can screw on the lens. Have a look at the link and scroll down the page. I do not work for RB, just like their products.

Ronford-Baker Engineering Company Limited - Designers & Manufactures of Academy Award winning professional Film, Television , Video, Grip & allied equipment.

ARRI, Chrosziel, they all have there own version.

There are some Chinese ones that also work but tend to strap the lens to the support rather than screw in.

Regards,

James

[Mark Kenfield]

Obviously the B4 option is worth looking into if you have some substantial investments in ENG glass. However you can pick up some very solid S16mm zooms for $8000 (a figure that covers Doug's proposed PMW-300 or a nice used B4 lens), and I think the S16mm glass would pair far more smoothly with the F5(5) than trying to shoehorn a B4 on to it or deal with the limitations of a small-chip camera.

[Doug Jensen]

A lot of this video was shot with 2K Center Scan and 240 fps HFR.

Sturbridge Ice Races -- SHORT VERSION on Vimeo

[Duane Adam]

Looks great Doug. What codec(s) did you use?

[Doug Jensen]

Everything was recorded to the R5 raw recorder. So if the clip is slow-mo, it's 2K raw @ 240 fps. If the clip is not slow-mo (and has audio) it's 4K raw @ 24 fps.

[Tom Roper]

Hi Doug,

The clips look great. The question I have, if my deliverable is going to be 1080HD, and I want to use the F55 center scan mode for xavc slow motion 180 fps, is it better to choose 2K and crop the edges in post, or shoot in HD? In other words, if I shoot HD center scan, will it crop the sides off, or will it rescale the 2k to HD leaving black bars at the top and bottom?

[Doug Jensen]

Tom,

I will choose to shoot in HD instead of 2K anytime I have the choice between those two. Personally, I have no use for 2K because it just means I'm recording extra pixels that are going to have to be chopped of at some point along the way. I see no benefit whatsoever for my needs. The only reason I record 2K to the RAW recorder when doing HFR is because HD is not an option. However, when recording HFR to the SxS cards, then HD is an option and that is my choice.

If you shoot Center Scan with the F55 it will simply take the center 1920x1080 pixels. It will not take the center 2048x1080 pixels and anamorphically squeeze the image to fit a 1920x1080 image, nor will it letter box the video. Center Scan looks great.

[Tom Roper]

Thanks Doug for that thorough and complete explanation.

[Robin Probyn]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Tom,

I will choose to shoot in HD instead of 2K anytime I have the choice between those two. Personally, I have no use for 2K because it just means I'm recording extra pixels that are going to have to be chopped of at some point along the way. I see no benefit whatsoever for my needs. The only reason I record 2K to the RAW recorder when doing HFR is because HD is not an option. However, when recording HFR to the SxS cards, then HD is an option and that is my choice.

If you shoot Center Scan with the F55 it will simply take the center 1920x1080 pixels. It will not take the center 2048x1080 pixels and anamorphically squeeze the image to fit a 1920x1080 image, nor will it letter box the video. Center Scan looks great.

Hi Doug

Thanks for your posts.. so the 2k raw you shot for HFR is 17-9.. if thats going into a HD 16-9 program.. how do you deal with that in post.. thanks again

[Doug Jensen]

Dealing with the 17:9 aspect ratio is easy and takes no extra effort.

If I'm shooting 2K RAW, I will always grade the footage in Davinci Resolve first and then export a ProRes HQ file for editing in Premiere CS. If I create a 1920x1080 timeline in Davinci Resolve and choose "Image Scaling > Scale Full Frame with Crop" then the 64 unwanted pixels on each side of the 2048x1080 image are automatically cropped off and the output file is 1920x1080. It's just a preferences setting, and nothing more is needed. And since pixels are just being cropped off, there is no image rescaling being done or anything else that would harm the picture quality. Imagine taking an 8"x10" print and using a pair of scissors to trim an inch off the sides. What you have left is exactly the same as it was before.

[Robin Probyn]

Ok thanks Doug

[John Cummings]

Silly question perhaps, but can you assign center crop to a preset?
If so, can you switch while rolling or do you have to stop and do more of a menu "system change."
For example, going from a medium shot in an interview situation to a close up. That would be a very cool thing to do on the fly.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

An assignable button has been highly requested, but as of today you can not assign it to a button. And even if you could, it is hard to know if it would be selectable whilst shooting.

But a great suggestion.

[Doug Jensen]

Just to add to what Dennis has already said, it does require a change on the menus --- and you cannot change that menu while you are rolling. Even if you have the menu up on the screen and it's all set to change on the fly, the settings gray out as soon as the record button is pressed. I had a shoot on Saturday where I would have loved to switch back and forth "live" but it can't be done. Maybe in the future, but not today.