I have a small green screen studio and came across something VERY annoying with the HV20.

I cannot see the entire frame in the viewfinder/eyepiece or external HD monitor (via component). It looks like its framed perfect in all three, but when I capture the footage later, I see the edge of my green screen!

This is pain staking to get it just right every time... I have to literally bring my machine into the studio and do a live capture to make sure I know what I'm getting...

Any tips ideas on how to get the camera or external monitor to actually show what is being recorded?

Thanks,

Scott

There's no way around this. The HV-20 overscans, both for the swing out LCD and the viewfinder. Presumably, Canon does this because the camera is intended for consumer use and many consumer televisions overscan (though most high-def televisions do not). This problem isn't unique to the HV-20 -- my VX2000 viewfinder and swing-out LCD overscan as well.

why not just crop the frame? your subject probably isn't moving past the edge of the green anyway... it gives you less to key as well, so you can keep your keys tighter

yeah i also have a little corner setup for greenscreen and it always captures more than the viewfinder, but I dont care...just garbage matte it.

You mentioned garbage matte... I have done this, but I'm trying to think of the real benefit... Seems like it takes me a while to get my eight points lined up, then key frame so my subject doesn't get clipped, yada yada yada...

I have only done it because I have been told to do it, so other than helping with my frame issue, why should I ALWAYS use a garbage matte when greenscreening?

well i dont know if theres a "benefit" for it...its just a necessity. capture the whole shot and make sure your actor doesnt go outside the green part. then in AE or whatever you use, just select the border of the green screen with your pen tool and your done with the garbage matte and it took all of...3 seconds.

If you use the same setup for your green screen shots, do a bit of trail and error to figure out what viewfinder view is to provide the green screen to the edges of the frame (e.g., say, viewfinder edge is 3 inches from the screen edge). Then use a temporary marker (tape, light stand, talents finger, etc.) at that point to help frame the shot, remove it, and proceed happy to know you have green screen to the real edges of the frame.

i use Motion for most of my green screen work, the garbage matte in FCP is a bit wonky. depending on the edge it might be easier to use the crop feature in the motion tab in FCP. i also usually orient the camera to best fill frame (ie turning it on it's side to capture a 9x16 frame for talking heads etc, then rotate and shrink it in fcp/motion)

The LCD of my XH-A1 LCD is just a little better than that of my HV-20. The LCD/viewfinder of an XL-H1 I recently used had the worst overscan I've ever seen. It's not just consumer cams.

Philip