Hello All - I just got the HVR-Z7U and am going to be shooting / producing a documentary piece as my first official project with it. What camera settings should I use? The content I will be shooting will be character interviews and ballet dance practice - in studio. I guess the big question I have is should I go for the film look using the HDV Interlaced 24A mode OR one of the other interlaced / progressive modes?

Any and all guidance and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Dennis,

You'll get all sorts of opinions. If it was me, I would shoot in normal interlaced HDV format. Downconvert to SD on capture. Edit on an SD timeline and master to normal DVD. Save the HDV tapes should a Blu-Ray version ever be required.

24p and progressive modes blow about as hard as the people who rave about them.

24p and progressive modes blow about as hard as the people who rave about them.

Anyways...

I shot a 30 min. observational documentary film this summer in Italy on the Z7. I used 30p, and had MAJOR issues with gain settings. The first half of the summer I struggled to eliminate a bizarre noise problem that I was getting on my blacks. Do a bunch of tests on yours, and figure out how to really eliminate all that flutter in the shadows. Sony jacked everything up at least +6 to make low light level test look better than they are (critics squealed with joy about the industry's NEW PD170...uhhh, not even close).

I captured in HDV, and used a timeline codec of ProRes 442 (because HQ is useless for HDV). I found this to be great, and my output to DVD Studio Pro was perfect. I used ProRes 442 because I knew I would use either Magic Bullet Looks or Nattress Film Effects to finish. It really helped those render speeds.

30p looked great for my images, but any time I was dealing with rapid movement...I was always surprised by how slow a movement could be and still achieve a strobe effect. For ballet...forget it. One jump & spin and you have "Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2". If I were you, I'd shoot 60i (and obviously HDV).

I hope you see something in this post that helps you. Feel free to ask further questions about my experience.