Using EX1 as b-cam with Varicam 2700
 

Hey guys,

I have a project that I'm shooting primarily on the Varicam 2700. In certain situations, however, I need a smaller camera, and after some preliminary testing it looks like the Ex1 has the best shot of looking like the Varicam (for a smaller camera, of course). I've been playing around with the Paint menu on the EX1 to get it to look as much like the FilmRec on the Varicam as possible, which is going pretty well.

The question I have is this: The whole show is 720 24pn, but I'm wondering if I should shoot the Ex1 at 720 or 1080. I'm not worried about post workflow -- just want the best image quality. If I shot 1080 it would eventually get downconverted to 720, so I'm not sure that there's really anything to be gained by shooting 720, and I guess in theory by shooting 720 instead of 1080 there should be less compression, though I know the EX is very good in this respect.

Anyway, if anyone has any advice regarding resolution, and paint settings, that would be great.

Thanks!

Peter

Shoot HQ 1080 and go down from there, also depends on what you use to down convert. Also what is the final delivery media. If SD, average person will never tell which is which. Check the picture profile recipes at top of forum, good help there.

720 will let in more light than 1080 (better for night shooting).

There's a post on the Picture Profiles thread that shows how you can setup an EX1/EX3 to look similar to the HVX200. Maybe that would help?

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/1008414-post422.html

Thanks Jason. What do you recommend for downconverting? I was just going to do it in FCP: drop it into a ProRes timeline with the Varicam stuff. Is there a better way?

The final deliverable will be HD -- 1080. There is obviously an argument to be made for keeping this material in native 1080 and uprezzing all the 720 material, but the vast majority of the show is all 720 and it seems to make the most sense to do the upres all at once. I am open to suggestions, of course :)

Peter

Thanks Mitchell! I wil check out the Picture Profile.

The camera was great, though it's a little uncomfortable handholding for 3 hours of verite. I did notice some rolling shutter issues when panning from one person talking to another, which is too bad. I'm guessing it won't be very noticeable, but it's there if you look for it. Other than that, a great camera, though the ergonomics need some work.

Peter

Dont know what will look best but I would record in 720 because it would give the smallest compressionin. As I understand the EX1 and EX3 will record with 35 mbs whatever you choose 720 or 1080. I use the EX3 together with HPX2100 and have no problems matching them. I just use the BBC filesetting for the EX3 for knee and gamma.
The HPX 2100 have less pixels than the EX1 so the sharpness would be the greatest difference. The best way to find out would be to make some tests yourself.

Thanks Bo. Is there a link somewhere to the BBC file setting?