What do you think this was shot with?

[Damon Gaskin]

I am admiring the guys work and someone just replied to me that it was shot with a 40K camera and assisted tripod. I love the quality of the video so I am wondering what you guys thought? Is it Red One or another quality camera? I have a HDV cam and am not thinking it is the settings but I am just curious what anyone here would have to think or say. It to be honest is probably the best looking online video I have ever seen...


http://runryder.com/helicopter/t397817p2/

It is the clip on the bottom of the page

Thanks...

[Ray Bell]

could have been an HV30

[Damon Gaskin]

Thanks for the reply Ray. I am thinking though that it was a bit higher ended to be honest.. Just because I have seen the guy before with a huge camera and though he was a bit of a jerk when I pulled out mine(the big camera thing) I still thought this video clip was excellent quality..

[Dave Blackhurst]

Got a pic of him with his camera? Footage looked great, but no clues on the website as to what it was shot with...

Size is far from everything nowdays... it's becoming more about the skill of the camera op as even "consumer" HD cams get better and better...

[Damon Gaskin]

Hi Dave!

Unfortunately no. LOL He is very hush hush from what it seems(I think he is afraid of competition, which to a certain extent I don't blame him with the economy) but I know the last camera I saw him toting was along the size of the EX camera's and it had that "look". But the footage from last year I saw him post does not compare in the slightest with this stuff as far as the "overall picture quality" of this clip as far as detail and realism(at least from my eyes). I shoot with a FX7 and I did some vid from last year and here is the link to the little page of small tinkering I have done. If you wish, check out the helicopter clips(the Marcus Kim clip I think is the better of the two heli clips but the Bobby Watts is also heli).

http://rchelidigest.blip.tv/


Those were done with the FX on if I remember shutter speed 1/150 or something around there. I didn't do any color corrections on these posted, but I have since then done a cinegamma setting in the camera and the colors are alot more vibrant, but they still don't compare to how that just "looks". I can't really put it into words... LOL

It couldn't be the encoder making it look like that(I am thinking) and that is why I am believing it is the camera itself? I think I can follow the machines pretty well and have gotten much better even since I did those recordings, but I have never observed an online clip to look like that. Actually to be honest, not much HD I have seen with the exception of maybe a largescreen movie look that detailed, though it doesn't look "videoish" as this clip does and looks more like a movie as those look on my clips. Could it be that I shot in manual and he shot in auto? I am thinking not because at the speed of the machine, I would have thought it would have lost focus once or twice?

As a matter of fact, now that I think of it, not much looks like "video" that I shoot...LOL That is compared to how traditional video looks..

But thanks for the reply, this just has be a bit stumped and I figured I would come to you guys since you all are in the know...

D

[Chris Burgess]

a few things i noticed....

1. maybe a polarizing filter? watch the sky as he moves from an almost level shot to high up in the air. the sky goes to a deep blue which i see with my stuff when i use polarizers.

2. that video runs a fairly high bitrate for a .wmv file but flash would be better.

3. a high shutter speed on a bright day (like that one) would clean up alot of motion blur (and i mean HIGH shutter, think 1/500 and up)

slight touches in post would also help bring out colors, etc

not saying i know exactly what this person did but those are my observations from watching the clip. i don't think it has to be some super expensive cam to do what he did, you can have a nice cam but if you don't know what you are doing, you don't know what you are doing...

[Damon Gaskin]

Hmm interesting comments.. I started playing with the settings on my camera. I have to admit that I never have gone to that high of a shutter speed. I have gone up to 1/250 to play around but never on my heli vids. I will try things this weekend as I will being going to the field.

Points taken...

But if you don't ask you never know. And for what it's worth, I guess he must not have known what he was doing either because his video looked just like mine last year...

[Dave Blackhurst]

There's a learning curve, and that's where it may take some time to get the best video out of your camera.

The nice thing is once you "get it", it becomes easier and the equipment matters less...

[Damon Gaskin]

Thanks David.

That is to be honest very true. If I had not asked this question, I would never have even thought about going into the camera and creating a picture profile, thus "already" improving my images. To be honest I had begun to become depressed about how "flat" the images looked and just figured this was the nature of the camera. I was extremely wrong.

I will post a before and after picture but it has greatly improved to say the least. My tracking skills because my gf is videoing more has become somewhat lax but I will certainly get out there and try once more.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Keep in mind there are actually two major areas you're dealing with...

First is to get the "best" image when aquiring it - things like adding a polarizer on hazy days and getting the exposure and focus "right".

THEN, the fun in post begins! If you look at outtakes on commercial DVDs you'll see a lot of footage that looks flat and ugly... that was the "before post" condition...

I always like to watch all that "extra" stuff on DVDs to see what the movie I just watched looked like along the development process... there are a LOT of experts at each stage adding to the "magic", and you have to remember when you're shooting "end to end" you have to wear a lot of hats. At least it sounds like you've got a camera OP!

[Damon Gaskin]

Yes, I do that also with commercial discs. And she certainly has become quite good. I have been working on the heli so I have not had an opportunity to pull stills, but I have one more part to repair and then I will pull some vid from footage I took this weekend and a few weeks ago for comparison of the untouched. Be back in a bit...


D

[Damon Gaskin]

Here are two new pics. The first is with the old settings the second is with the new. I still have to do alot of changes but this is positive progress and I have learned alot about the camera already. Neither of the photos have been edited/enhanced with the exception of de-interlacing.