Direct sunlight at DVinfo.net

Luis Ventura · September 16th, 2006, 04:20 AM

Hi there you guys,
I'm about to take a sunset with my GY-HD100, i know that direct sunlight can harm realy bad my Fujinon, but i can't find here one skyight that fits on my Fujinon. Do you know where to buy this filter? Is there a better filter to use? I have 2 Canon XL1s with skylight filters can i film the movement of the sun for about 1 hour before sunset?

Thank you for any help,

Luís Ventura Santos

Brian Drysdale · September 16th, 2006, 08:05 AM

The sun is still pretty bright an hour before sunset. You'll need neutral density (ND) filters if you want to film the sun itself, they come in 0.3ND - 1 stop, 0.6ND - 2 stops, 0.9ND - 3 stops, 1.2ND - 4 stops. Over 0.9ND, you're better using the pancro (mirror type) NDs. http://www.pancro.com/

I suspect you'll be needing the denser ones, or need to pack a few ND filters together.

However, if you also want the landscape to be correctly exposed in the same shot, you then need graduated ND filters. They come in various grades, the densities are as described above.

Be careful pointing the camera at the sun, you can easily damage it if you don't have ND filters on to protect it. Same goes for your eyes.

Luis Ventura · September 16th, 2006, 03:52 PM

Thank you Brian, I'll try that one with gradient density.

Luís Ventura Santos

David Scattergood · September 17th, 2006, 02:58 AM

Is it worthwhile purchasing a couple of ND filters over the ND filters found on the HD100 itself? Any recommendations (cheapish mind!).
I shot some footage in bright weather on Friday and had to use both of the ND filters on the camera plus some fairly heavy iris tweaking. The sky was the same colour blue I saw with my eyes but in some of the brighter shots the colours overall were almost 'cartoon like'? I was on a tight schedule so I couldn't wait till the light had changed in that particular location. I was using Paulo Ciccone's Tru Colour 3 setting on the SD 25p format by the way.

Brian Drysdale · September 17th, 2006, 05:46 AM

Extra ND filters well are worth having, for best quality you want to keep these 1/3" CCD HD cameras below f5.6 because of increasing diffraction above that stop. Also, you may want to shoot at a wider stop to reduce the DOF and be consistent in using this stop. The on board ND filters don't really give you a wide enough range of control to do this effectively.

The ND grades commonly found in a good filter kit are the 0.3, 0.6 and the 0.9. You can use them in combination.

Stephan Ahonen · September 17th, 2006, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Scattergood

The sky was the same colour blue I saw with my eyes but in some of the brighter shots the colours overall were almost 'cartoon like'? .... I was using Paulo Ciccone's Tru Colour 3 setting on the SD 25p format by the way.

Truecolor greatly boosts color saturation, it's possible you were running up against the limits of color saturation offered by the DV format, "clipping" chroma like an overexposed shot would be clipping luma. HDV has a greater range of color saturation than DV, and Truecolor is designed with this extra lattitude in mind, not the relatively narrower range of regular DV.

David Scattergood · September 17th, 2006, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Truecolor greatly boosts color saturation, it's possible you were running up against the limits of color saturation offered by the DV format, "clipping" chroma like an overexposed shot would be clipping luma. HDV has a greater range of color saturation than DV, and Truecolor is designed with this extra lattitude in mind, not the relatively narrower range of regular DV.

That'll explain it then Stephen...it was only really noticeable on one scene, but it was drastic enough to look almost like rotascope!
Are the majority of the scene recipe's posted on the sticky designed for HDV? Should I bear anything in mind when using the recipes in SD (take the colour ranges down a bit perhaps?)
The internal footage using Tru Colour worked a lot better - they were flashy malls/hotel receptions and full of strong colours anyway.

Quote:

The ND grades commonly found in a good filter kit are the 0.3, 0.6 and the 0.9. You can use them in combination.

Thanks Bryan - I'll look into investing in those as soon as possible. Are these kits relatively inexpensive?
To be honest the iris was set around the f5.6 stop, only slightly higher when both ND filters still didn't take down the glare (bright midday sun...I couldn't hang around for the light to change unfortunately).

September 16th, 2006, 04:20 AM	#1
Luis Ventura New Boot Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Espinho Portugal Posts: 21	Direct sunlight Hi there you guys, I'm about to take a sunset with my GY-HD100, i know that direct sunlight can harm realy bad my Fujinon, but i can't find here one skyight that fits on my Fujinon. Do you know where to buy this filter? Is there a better filter to use? I have 2 Canon XL1s with skylight filters can i film the movement of the sun for about 1 hour before sunset? Thank you for any help, Luís Ventura Santos

September 16th, 2006, 08:05 AM	#2
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,143	The sun is still pretty bright an hour before sunset. You'll need neutral density (ND) filters if you want to film the sun itself, they come in 0.3ND - 1 stop, 0.6ND - 2 stops, 0.9ND - 3 stops, 1.2ND - 4 stops. Over 0.9ND, you're better using the pancro (mirror type) NDs. http://www.pancro.com/ I suspect you'll be needing the denser ones, or need to pack a few ND filters together. However, if you also want the landscape to be correctly exposed in the same shot, you then need graduated ND filters. They come in various grades, the densities are as described above. Be careful pointing the camera at the sun, you can easily damage it if you don't have ND filters on to protect it. Same goes for your eyes.

September 16th, 2006, 03:52 PM	#3
Luis Ventura New Boot Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Espinho Portugal Posts: 21	Thank you Brian, I'll try that one with gradient density. Luís Ventura Santos

September 17th, 2006, 02:58 AM	#4
David Scattergood Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 755	Is it worthwhile purchasing a couple of ND filters over the ND filters found on the HD100 itself? Any recommendations (cheapish mind!). I shot some footage in bright weather on Friday and had to use both of the ND filters on the camera plus some fairly heavy iris tweaking. The sky was the same colour blue I saw with my eyes but in some of the brighter shots the colours overall were almost 'cartoon like'? I was on a tight schedule so I couldn't wait till the light had changed in that particular location. I was using Paulo Ciccone's Tru Colour 3 setting on the SD 25p format by the way.

September 17th, 2006, 05:46 AM	#5
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,143	Extra ND filters well are worth having, for best quality you want to keep these 1/3" CCD HD cameras below f5.6 because of increasing diffraction above that stop. Also, you may want to shoot at a wider stop to reduce the DOF and be consistent in using this stop. The on board ND filters don't really give you a wide enough range of control to do this effectively. The ND grades commonly found in a good filter kit are the 0.3, 0.6 and the 0.9. You can use them in combination.