Well I'm going to kick this off very briefly since I need to spend time practicing and shooting, but I'll be posting screengrabs, footage, pics, and info on this thread exclusively, and due to information overload on forums, quite possibly only this thread for awhile.

I received the HVX200 on Thursday and although the price drop thing had me down, I decided to focus on the almighty glory of the situation; I have this unbelievable camera in my hands. I shot some initial test footage at sunset hour before the all daylight disappeared and checked it out and was very jazzed with just simple test.

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_Stock_Test01.mov

There's more footage but these files get huge. That file is encoded at a quarter of the original data rate in H.264, and is darker than my source due to my Cleaner settings.

So to race into my story, after being blown away by the bare camera lens, I threw on my 35mm imager hoping and praying for instant success, and this wasn't the case. The short story is for the last 48 hours I've been in optical experimental science nightmare land, and ironically all my tweaks with diopters and junk led me to using nothing but spacers and carefully placed distance and zoom/focus settings. I was able to more accurately perform this alignment last night after having a friend custom mill some parts for me. So cool! I'm realizing this is turning into an Alt Imaging type of thing, but I'm leading up to what is going to matter more here, the image.

Here's the folder of present test grabs and future test grabs:

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/35mm

Images after number 12 are with the new calibration.

In the screen grabs you can see the sharpness and clarity in HD.

I've encoded a downres'd 720 width version of some preliminary footage:

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_35mm_Test02.mov

I think the HD clarity is very sweet, and the crispness when sized to SD is God like.

I know there are many skeptics around who may pick everything to pieces, but I want to let people know how incredible I think this all is, and I have no complaints.

So everybody continue griping about CCD specs, P2 workflow disasters, noise, pricing, and other adventures in FUD and unhappiness.

I'm F**N STOKED!!! YESS!!!! Amazing, simply amazing. What an insane powerhouse combo.

http://web.mac.com/holyzoo1/iWeb/Site/Photos_04.html

-steeV

That Is So Good. Can you make me one of those?

and although the price drop thing had me down
Don't let that get you down. Call your dealer and ask for price protection. I believe Jan said that anyone who just bought the 8GB's should be eligible for the lower price.

That Is So Good. Can you make me one of those?

Thanks Cassidy. :) Contact Dan about the MPIC at www.dandiaconu.com

Alternatively, you can contact Jonathan about the G35 at www.cinemek.com

Steev !
This Is what I have been waiting to See !
I am on the G35 Line and trying for the HVX
(although I am still quite curious about the Andromeda...?)

What DOF !!!

Finally Someone has posted Beautiful & even dark footage !

YES !

Thanks,
J

Don't let that get you down. Call your dealer and ask for price protection. I believe Jan said that anyone who just bought the 8GB's should be eligible for the lower price.

Nice! Thanks Barry. I located Jan's statement. I'm in discussion with BHphoto about this, who at first simply stated, "The price is the same as it was sir." No, thanks, I'm not taking that for an answer. ;)

On with the show!!

More clips!

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_35mm_Test03.mov

Stock lens shots (24p 1/48 shutter, then fast shutter, then slow mo), encoded at 720p:

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_Stock_Test02.mov

Oh yeah, and 35mm test 2 in 720p:

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_35mm_Test02b.mov

Continuing on here, I did a test comparing HVX200 24pa to DV Tape upresed to 720p and even 1080, and I was surprised to see how good it looks. I had to do a double take here. So of course, the DVX100 has a slight lack of res on 16:9 as I can attest to, since I had been more acquainted with the XL2 prior to using the DVX. But now, the HVX200 is delivering an impressive DV 16:9 image, and this makes me totally rethink my sense of what I may shoot HD and what I may just tape to DV25 on tape for long roll times.

My post process would be the good 'ole log and capture, remove pulldown, color smooth 4:1:1 filter in FCP, then upscale to 720p. The image at that point is formidable and worthy. It's not as clear, crisp and colorful as the native HD from the HVX, that is for sure.

But hey, isn't that freakin cool?

Steev
I am totally impressed by this footage!!!
I am also excited about 35mm, but it is hard to find HVX footage with one.
The Micro 35 footage left me underwelmed
anf there has been no G35 footage + HVX yet
(Dan's Rig looks like the most equisite of them)

I feel the DOF almost cancels the Noise problem - what do you think?
also
What kinds of lenses are you using ?

Thanks and PLEASE Keep it coming,
John

Steev
I am totally impressed by this footage!!!

:D :D :D

I feel the DOF almost cancels the Noise problem - what do you think? What kinds of lenses are you using ?

Regarding the noise problem, I wouldn't say the DOF helps or hurts the noise. Although perceptually the noise and bokeh may just all seem to lump together as being the parts of the image to not pay attention to as much. ;)

One final note about the noise situation. Here's an inside secret (okay well it's inside because I haven't really heard it mentioned anywhere). Psst.. everybody... psst... *whispering* the camera.. it does have noise... *in certain situations*. When I finally could test the camera out, warts and all, there is potential for:

A) Grain noise in low light and in incorrect white balancing.
B) Block noise in dark areas in low light

If ya do have noise, here's what I've found. Cinelike D can eliminate any Block noise and turn it into the Grain noise type, with more overall grain in the dark areas. Cinelike D also acts as what I'd call black stretch as it is on the XL2. Compare:

Cinelike V (http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/Cinelike_V.jpg)

Cinelike D (http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/Cinelike_D.jpg)

I like the look of Cinelike D more though. So I tested if I could generally match the Cinelike V look with Color Correction on Cinelike D. And I'd say, yes, close enough. So why use Cinelike V at all? I decided to keep Cinelike V for my test shots because I didn't want to have to screw with CC on every clip to get the look I wanted. The look I want is Cinelike V for the most part. And the trade off is some block noise in areas at times.

*Key point here* The block noise or grain noise is an issue for the picky perfectionist looking at footage under a microscope. The reality is with actual content within motion picture, any noise that may seldom occur is organic and isn't going to matter to an audience. But I think it's important to be aware of it, and if you personally can't stand block noise, go with a different setting and crush blacks later on all your footage.

Additionally if I needed more detail out of dark areas, I'd use Cinelike D.

Man I almost forgot - lenses. Nikon primes - 35mm f/2, 55mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.4, and a gorgeous 105mm f/2.8 micro nikkor which produces mere slivers of dof as seen above, and at the end of this clip (http://www.holyzoo.com/content/mpic/video/Holy_Zoo_MPIC_Video_Test7.mov).

Steev,
the 105mm f/2.8 micro nikkor is SWEEEET!
Thank you so much for posting this !
Keep it up - it is the most hopefull footage I have seen !


BTW: I think you should post this footage to the Cinemek site
/ J

(I hope it's okay if I post this on the G35 forum, We aint seen no HVX/35mm footage yet, and even thoug it is using Dan's SuperDuper MPIC, I think it is valuable for folks to see)...Now if only the G35 will compare favorably :?

Posting elsewhere is totally okay with me. Regarding G35 quality being on par with this, I'd say you'll be in for the same adrenaline rush. And to be honest, RedRockMicro users are going to be freakin out with joy as well. Gotta keep it real here. They all kick ass - MPIC, G35, M2, Letus35, and even SG35 from what I've seen. Build quality, design, and ergonomics is the main difference beyond image quality variation.

Just gotta get the device calibrated correctly and working with the camera and get familiar with all the little tweaky things that will be standing in the way - there are lots. It's worth the tweak though.

Steev,
thanks for uploading these files.
Man, I can't believe how tight that DOF is on the 35mm, nice.

Question,
I'm concerned and this has been brought up many times, but after seeing some of your footage, I have to ask:

Noise, and compression artifacts.

First of all, I realize this is compressed internet mov files.

Looking at your HVX200_35mm_Test03.mov clip.

The shot was in moderate light, but it appears to have excessive noise and compression artifacts. Are you seeing this in your raw footage?

Is it possible to take like a shorter clip of the phone footage and upload just the raw file?

thxs, Steve

Noise, and compression artifacts.

Thanks for the good words. :) So this is probably going to be the first and last time I address the noise situation with raw footage, so here it is.

Two clips - 1 decent lighting (snowball clip), and 1 with lower lighting and heavily shadowed areas (phone booth clip). Both of these have gone through the flop filter in FCP and recompressed to DVCPRO HD. Personally I don't see much of a difference between these and the original. So the "generational loss" is minimal. I could not and would not do this with HDV. It would not be worth showing you. I'd have to do uncompressed or somethin, and the files would be 200-300MB, instead of 20-30MB.

*note* These are about 30MB each and probably won't progressively download well - download to disk.

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_35mm_Test04_DVCPROHD.mov

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_35mm_Test05_DVCPROHD.mov

So at this point, with everything I've seen, and you've seen, I think we can all agree that encodes for web distribution on H.264 and WMV can't let you critically evaluate noise. It's a nice way of sharing footage in HD, at a quality level that would have been impossible 2 years ago. Most likely I'll be encoding at 720x504 at most for web distribution because it just looks nicer. It's a big stretch to get 720p not to mention 1080p (YEAH RIGHT) looking good for web distribution.

Final word (I keep saying that don't I?) - I'm cool with it all. To quote Public Enemy and Anthrax, Bring The NoiSE (http://www.holyzoo.com/000/audio/random/Bring_The_Noise.mp3)!! Yeah, y'all come on here we go againn..

Perosnally I think it looks great. The thing I've noticed is, the average viewer isn't going to give a damn. They'll say something like, wow those are nice colors or, wow I like that rack focus, not, oh that looks noisey and full of artifacts. I couldn't be more happy with the footage I've seen so far and especially your 35mm attempts, It's truly inspiring.

It's really very interesting to me,

I see the Noise, and in a certain way I have to agree with other forum members who call the HVX a medium/high def camera,
But...
I Don't think I Care
Steev, the footage that has been posted is so beautiful.
I am inclined to agree with you - bring on the noise.

Presenting.. The Polar Bear

http://www.holyzoo.com/media/video/Holy_Zoo-Polar_Bear_1Mbs.mov

Hi Steev.
Now that you tried your new LCD with the HVX, what about the difference beetween component and YC? Still necessary?
Thanks
Alvise

Steev


HAHAHHAHA You are a funny man. A funny man with a lot of stuffed animals :)

Hi Steev. Now that you tried your new LCD with the HVX, what about the difference beetween component and YC? Still necessary?

The Marshall and Component HD in vs S-video. Every once in awhile there are things that I get defiantly adamant about. This is one of them. Component HD input is a MUST! If you have to borrow money, or charge on a credit card, you will not regret this purchase. $1350 at BHphoto - buy and cry once, and know you have it covered.

Another 35mm grab - http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_35mm_023.jpg

So I finally got playin around with more HVX200 stock lens shooting.

Sunset timelapse was gorgeous - I should have stayed longer though - http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_012.jpg

Tripod spin on the horizon skyline with zero motion glitch, very smooth:
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_014.jpg
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_015.jpg

Some camera-in-car shots while driving. I had the shutter on 1/12th for these, so some nice blurring effects are possible. If I didn't want blur, I just gotta find more light, since I refuse to gain up.

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_018.jpg
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_019.jpg
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_020.jpg
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_021.jpg
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_025.jpg

More video clips:

35mm:
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_35mm_Test06.mov

Stock Lens:
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_Stock_Test03.mov

35mm around sunset time (I should have been zoomed in more):
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_35mm_Test07.mov

Steev, is it just me, but based off your recent HVX200 footage, this camera has the best color rendition I've seen on a sub 10K camera.

Thanks for sharing.
Also, it looks like it's capable of less noise once set correctly for the scene.

Agreed,

Esp the Sunset Clip -

NOTICE: The Noise disappears in the darkds when there is Higher contrast and you have some part of the frame Well lit/with strong Light !!!

Infact Steev's footage helped push me over the edge with this Camera !
Thanks. Keep it coming !

Cheers,
J

Steev, thanks for your WONDERFUL clips. They're all jaw-droppers !
My request ;

* Could you post some 1080/24p clip at original 1920x1080 size ? (with MPIC of course)
* Could you stop down the lens to, say f16 or f22 ? (w/MPIC, 1080/24p would be great)

Thanks a lot

Wow, that was my 1st post here.. I didn't realize.

Steev, upon above request, DVCPRO HD QuickTime would be so appreciated !

Nice tat! http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_026.jpg

So, about 1080, for better or worse, it's not what this cam is all about. This is okay with me, because 720p24N is my preferred mode for the look I want, able to do multiple frame rates, and the efficiency to achieve 40 minutes on two 8GB cards.

Check out these interesting comparisons, all from HVX200 to P2:

DV25
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_027_DV25.jpg

DVCPRO HD - 720p24N
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_027_720p24N.jpg

DVCPRO HD - 1080p24
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/screengrabs/HVX200_027_1080p24.jpg

Now, I'm pretty impressed with DV25 blown up to 1080. It looks even nicer blown up to 720p. Regarding the quality difference between 720 and 1080? It's not enough for me to justify 2.5 times the file size to get 1080. So I won't be shooting any 1080 at all and hence won't be posting those massive raw files either. ;)


* Could you stop down the lens to, say f16 or f22 ? (w/MPIC, 1080/24p would be great)

Shivuya, and all who may read here, stopping down the lens on a 35mm imager very far is something you should NEVER do. I've tested this a bunch and I've come to the following conclusion. I'll use the 35mm rig for very shallow dof shots only. If I need deeper dof of variable dof, the best I can do is use the stock HVX. This is an important point. The shallow dof on wide open primes on these 35mm rigs will NOT give you every look you want. Many times it's overkill in its mere slivers of areas you can focus on, you can't adjust it very much, and focusing is like performing surgery. I'll be enjoying shooting on the stock lens a whole bunch, and pop in the 35mm for shots that justify it.

*Added note... I didn't mention why. The reason you don't want to stop down these lenses is that you add noise and grain to the image in varying degrees and at f8, f11, or certainly at f16 or farther, it's a wreck, disaster, destruction. So to me, anything that adds undesireable noise and grain to my image, past the initial nice shallow dof and clarity from being wide open, I can't justify the stop down and introduce noise for the sake of increasing dof.

Stay tuned for more eye candy!

hmm, hence HVX is called Medium Def camera... 720, pretty good for the price of the cam but 1080, not up to par other camera (H1) does offer ;-(


stopping down the lens on a 35mm imager very far is something you should NEVER do..... The reason you don't want to stop down these lenses is that you add noise and grain to the image in varying degrees and at f8, f11, or certainly at f16 or farther, it's a wreck, disaster, destruction.

That's bad. I imagined or hoped Dan's MPIC (or G35 VIBE version) could let us do that ! I always wanted the choice to open / close the iris for DOF aesthetics... so the real solution to this would be the RED camera then.

hmm, hence HVX is called Medium Def camera... 720, pretty good for the price of the cam but 1080, not up to par other camera (H1) does offer ;-(

720p is HD. Don't freak out. And if you are just trying to win a resolution race, go buy the Canon.

That's bad. I imagined or hoped Dan's MPIC (or G35 VIBE version) could let us do that ! I always wanted the choice to open / close the iris for DOF aesthetics... so the real solution to this would be the RED camera then.

Yes, go raise $200k and buy the Red camera. Or go shoot film for that matter. This is indie stuff here. Sounds like you are hard to please in general, so good luck man. Sour grapes or a god send? I'm still blown away by what's possible.

Yes, go raise $200k and buy the Red camera. Or go shoot film for christ's sake. This is indie stuff here. Sounds like you are hard to please in general, so good luck man. Sour grapes or a god send?

All right, now, let's keep it civil. He was just giving feedback, let's not bring Jesus into this just yet:)

And the 1080 freeze frame of the blue box with stars looked good to me:)

All right, now, let's keep it civil. He was just giving feedback, let's not bring Jesus into this just yet:)

And the 1080 freeze frame of the blue box with stars looked good to me:)

:) Yes yes. Jesus can wait a little longer.

*News Flash* I just spoke to Brian at RedRock and he set me straight on controlling dof. It appears that the M2 can handle smaller apertures without artifacting. Who knew? Well the guys at Red Rock knew. Very intriguing, aint it?

Steev,

Your stuff looks amazing! Thanks for the great footage!

What is your process in FCP for color. All your stuff looks so good and I'm wondering in you have a general process. Certain filters, certain settings, etc. I know you adjust for each shot but do you have a general list of favorite settings? Do you use Magic Bullet?

Thanks

Steev, Your stuff looks amazing! Thanks for the great footage!

Thanks Brian, much appreciated.

What is your process in FCP for color. All your stuff looks so good and I'm wondering in you have a general process. Certain filters, certain settings, etc. I know you adjust for each shot but do you have a general list of favorite settings? Do you use Magic Bullet?

Amazingly enough, a lot of this material is stock HVX200 (with Cine setttings) with no color correction at all. White balance is crucial for accuracy, but some wrong white balance has come out interesting too. On other shots I'll correct for incorrect white balance with the 3-way CC filter in FCP to taste. I had a bunch of fun with the green foliage shot with throwing the blacks to violet and I was amazed that it didn't all fall apart. That shot I emphasized the green on shadow as well - cranked over to green as much as possible without destroying the image, then took the highlight color into some blue. I'm blown away with DVCPRO HD 4:2:2.

Regarding Magic Bullet, actually I have yet to put any Magic Bullet Editors Look Suite stuff on any of this. Can you imagine! :) I'd probably go there for white and/or black diffusion for sure. And I'd choose to do that in post instead of ProMist filters on acquisition most likely. The camera already looks gorgeous and not overly sharp and video-ish.

Man that is a mean looking setup you have there sir. Love that Marshall and the 35 adapter.

Yes, go raise $200k and buy the Red camera. Or go shoot film for christ's sake. This is indie stuff here. Sounds like you are hard to please in general, so good luck man. Sour grapes or a god send?

I'm a Buddhist, man.

Thanks Steev,

Thanks AMAZING color for the camera without much tweaking.

Another question. You were using primes on the 35mm adapter stuff, right? I noticed a fair amount of breathing when you pulled focus. I thought that lens breathing only occured with a zoom lens. I'm not a photography nut, so I don't know a ton, but I thought there was no lens breathing when pulling focus with prime lens. I guess I'm wrong though? You need cine lens?

I noticed a fair amount of breathing when you pulled focus. I thought that lens breathing only occured with a zoom lens. I'm not a photography nut, so I don't know a ton, but I thought there was no lens breathing when pulling focus with prime lens. I guess I'm wrong though? You need cine lens?

Brian, yes, these are Nikon still camera primes. As has been beat to a pulp in the Alternative Imaging forum, Cine lenses come closest to having no breathing while racking focus. I say "come closest" because even these lenses breathe to some degree. Still camera lenses have no reason not to breathe really. And I'd argue that's why they cost $500-$1000 each, instead of $14,000-$20,000 each. More points of reality for the indie aspect of all this. The can of worms is dense when trying to climb up the state of the art cinematography tree. The mini35 was the first to allow both high end Cinema mount PL lenses as well as less expensive lenses like Nikons. RedRockMicro had followed suit by allowing use of PL, which opened the door to getting used older cinema lenses like Angenieux and Lomo. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that. I've never seen or used any cine lenses.

My thoughts are:
A) My shots in an edit won't last longer than 3 seconds
B) So the audience won't care
C) I can dolly or jib the shot to add overall movement that would make the breathing look intentional
D) As we get into this, we start wanting the whole real deal, but remember, this is indie stuff; dunno about you, but 2 years ago I was only putzing around with a Canon GL1. So all of this is a Quantum Leap ahead.

Steev,

Your demos has had a huge impact in my decision making of buying this cam. I found however the slow motion demo way too steppy *basket ball match*. I hope it has more to do with codec issues etc. Great contribution.

Your demos has had a huge impact in my decision making of buying this cam. I found however the slow motion demo way too steppy *basket ball match*. I hope it has more to do with codec issues etc. Great contribution.

Thanks Alexandre. Regarding the slow motion, I must admit I'm surprised to hear you describe it as "steppy". Certainly the footage earlier in the clip run at normal speed is steppy due to fast shutter speed. However, we all have different perceptions. So, I can think of this. As you see the normal speed had fast shutter speed, then I switched over to over crank and left the shutter the same. If I had slowed down the shutter speed for the slow motion, you'd get some motion blur happening, which may be the look you're after.

In short, I'd say, if you have enough light, or not too much light, or the means to control it through filters or light control, you can get the look you're after with the HVX. It's amazingly variable. You'll notice a number of tests so far with high shutter speed, since I was curious how it looks, and how DVCPRO HD handles highly unique frames that high shutter speed results in.

Another test for how DVCPRO HD handles complex motion:

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_Stock_Test09.mov

Steev... dude... did the polar bear get ahold of your camera or something? :)

Steev... dude... did the polar bear get ahold of your camera or something? :)

Ha ha ha.. Yes, Barry, that's exactly what that looks like!

So I had my mill master friend Warren intrigued enough to make a prototype skater dolly, yes indeed, and he just finished it today!

The stock HVX lens was a breeze to work with:

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_Stock_Test10_BottleDolly.mov

The 35mm MPIC proved to be very very challenging as I expected, but I think I got some good shots dollying and pulling focus. My back freakin hurts now.

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_35mm_Test11.mov

Now I need to get Warren to fashion a bowl mount for this thing now, so I can use my Bogen 519 head on it.

-steev

Pic of the skater prototype.

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/images/IMG_4355.jpg

Nifty.

And the dog seems to like it too...

@ Steev: That footage of the skater dolly is looking good! Are you just making it for yourself or planing to take it in production/sell it?

I'm working with Warren to fine tune things and get to a finished device. Any one interested, please private message me for details on the how, when, how much, etc. After this he may be tackling a steadicam-like stabilizer as well.

My thoughts are:
A) My shots in an edit won't last longer than 3 seconds
B) So the audience won't care
C) I can dolly or jib the shot to add overall movement that would make the breathing look intentional
D) As we get into this, we start wanting the whole real deal, but remember, this is indie stuff; dunno about you, but 2 years ago I was only putzing around with a Canon GL1. So all of this is a Quantum Leap ahead.

Ditto - I think breathing is a DP issue. Almost no viewer is going to care IMO. If it really bugs you then it could be fixed in After Effects or Shake to look rock solid - theoretically. I haven't done it, but it doesn't seem too tough.

Steev,

Thanks for posting so much good stuff! The noise "controversy" dried up pretty quickly with the introduction of your footage and a few recent tests by Barry Green. What's the magic to getting such clean low light footage? The crushed blacks are sweeeet! Did you do a little color work in post or is this all straight from camera? Please share your magic settings.
Wow, I'm just amazed by this camera. I've been putting it off, but time to whip out the visa card. Keep up the good work!

Edit: Re-read beginning of thread and think I found my answer. I was specifically wondering about settings/post for the skater dolly shots. I really like that look.

Steev,

Thanks for posting so much good stuff! The noise "controversy" dried up pretty quickly with the introduction of your footage and a few recent tests by Barry Green. What's the magic to getting such clean low light footage? The crushed blacks are sweeeet! Did you do a little color work in post or is this all straight from camera? Please share your magic settings.
Wow, I'm just amazed by this camera. I've been putting it off, but time to whip out the visa card. Keep up the good work!

Edit: Re-read beginning of thread and think I found my answer. I was specifically wondering about settings/post for the skater dolly shots. I really like that look.

Thanks Damon! All clips so far have been stock HVX200 with Cine Matrix and Gamma with all other settings at 0. On some, but not all, I've also done some tweaking with 3-way Color Correction in Final Cut Pro. I haven't used Magic Bullet or DFT Tools yet. Things should get pretty fun in After Effects too. :D

Note added: The settings for the Skater Dolly shots were as decribed above, and lighting for the bottle shots was just a single Arri 650 light with a purple gel. The animal shots was using a single 200 watt Lowel Pro-Light.

More test stuff - http://www.holyzoo.com/content/hvx200/video/HVX200_35mm_Test12.mov

Workin on an abstract music video now to one of the Astronaut Lunchbox tunes. ;)

Steev,

The results you are getting are just staggeringly good. I'm very impressed.
So, my goal is to mimic your setup. I've been in touch with Dan, but I was wondering if you could answer some questions before I order the device from him?

Will attaching the device to the the camera require me to modify the camera in any way (such as drilling holes etc.)?

You mentioned something about having a friend custom mill some parts to make the device work. What are the details concering this?

As I understand it, the device allows you to mount any Nikon lens (although only for still film cameras, not digital), does it also work with other brands? And what about autofocus lenses?

Will shooting with the stock lens work with the device attached, or do you need to remove it first?

You mentioned that an empty filter ring provided the right spacing between the camera and the device. What kind of ring do you use?


Sorry about the barrage of questions, but your results have got me firing on all cylinders.

Very grateful for any answers you can provide.

Thank you!

- Jens