Pro 3D Handheld Camcorder comparison review

[Paul Newman]

May I suggest testing Robuskey? I find it far far better than any of the AE tools - very fast and very clean - available for win and mac and supports many applications such as AE, FCPX etc .

Paul :-)

[Bruce Schultz]

There is a big difference between a chroma key and a matte. Chroma keys are subtractive processes and mattes are additive. What that means in practice is that a chroma key is either on or off at any given point and cannot reproduce subtleties like transparent articles or smoke as well as an additive process like a matte can. Things like fine hair detail always have a cut out look with a chroma key - it's what they used to use on the weatherman for local TV. Nowadays, the two terms seem to be used interchangeably though.

Here is a link to the Ultimatte white paper about this, I'm not recommending Ultimatte but it looks like on their download page you can still download and try it. To carefully select your compositing tool is an important step in achieving a truly organic composite. Look for one that uses this type of additive process and you will be happy with the results.

Ultimatte vs ChromaKey

[Leonard Levy]

Nice comparison, but I would like to see a little more attention to user abilities to control the image while shooting.

My experience is very limited with the JVC but an early version I saw at NAB 2 years ago showed that all functions had to be accessed from the touch screen which meant changing anything including iris was difficult . I might be wrong about that now. The Sony had way to little control which you mentioned. The Z10000 while not ideal by any means still offered the most user control for a professional shooter. It was enough to get the job done and I agree that its smaller IA makes it the best choice these days for a low priced 3D professional shooter. My biggest questions about it are of course editing ( that's kept me away so far) and image quality. How does it compare to the 3DA1? Better in low light but how much worse when the 3DA1 is at its best? Is it OK on a big TV?

I was surprised when you said noise was important in 3D as it seems to me that noise often cancels out in 3D and you can get away with surprisingly high levels of gain when you need it.

[Wolfgang Schmid]

Quality differences between the TD10 - or here called the 3DA1 - are minor to the Z10K, at least if you do not consider the tools you have to adjust the Z10K. I am talking about both the control that is offered by the Z10K, but also about the possibility to build your own scene files and generate your own look.

I agree that noise tends to cancel out in 3D - that is also my eperience from using both the TD10 and the Z10K.

Editing - well, I see not really an issue here. I use Vegas Pro 10/11 and that is fine, also Vegas Moviestudio HD Platinum is fine yet. For the Mac world it may be another story.

[Matt Faw]

Originally Posted by Paul Newman

May I suggest testing Robuskey?

Originally Posted by Bruce Schultz

Ultimatte vs ChromaKey

Thanks Paul and Bruce for your recommendations. I will look deeper into both solutions.

Bruce, you inspired me to go back and finesse the key, to remove the green spill. These 2D cuts of the interviews are just part of my thank you to the interviewees, rather than anything I'll show to a distributor, but I spent enough time on them, that I may as well do the key right, and practice these solutions for later, when it really matters. Thanks again!

[Walter Brokx]

Interesting article.
One sidenote: 3D-ONE Professional 3D camera systems : Home introduced their full HD CP 31 camera before Panasonic did.
It was even available before Panasonic announced their AG-3DA1.
But somehow they didn't get the news out as effective as Panasonic later did...