When I digitalize footage that I've shot with the XL2 the quality is HORRIBLE

What am I doing wrong?

XL2 shot at 24p 16.9 2.3.3.2 pulldown

capturing with DV NTSC Easy Setup in final cut pro 7

the footage looks very pixelated and not high quality at all, here is an example.

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/21/picture1xnk.png

you can see the pixelation I'm talking about on his face.

Thanks!!

I don't think the issue is with how you're capturing, but rather it's with the lighting in the shot. I don't know the technical reasons behind it (color sampling maybe?) but in short DV cameras simply look terrible if they're shooting oversaturated red lighting... In my experience it just is what it is, unfortunately.

I shoot a ton of wedding receptions and whenever I encounter strong red lighting I just grit my teeth and brace myself for the resulting cruddy footage. =(

thanks for the quick response ryan I hope I'm doing something wrong cause everything I capture really just looks horrible!

heres another example if you look at the little tree in the middle or the tripod legs you can see the pixelation I'm talking about.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4526/picture3bm.png the lines just dont look clear and crispy looks disgusting when I look at the footage on the viewfinder it doesn't look anything like this

THANKS!

Hi Alex. Going by the appearance of the shots, I would bet that the pull-down is not being done properly. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with FCP so cannot advise you with that. Except maybe you could try shooting something in interlaced and see if there is any difference. That might help to confirm whether it is the pull-down that is causing it.

BTW, the outdoor shot also looks very soft. Are you using the ND filter on the camera? If not, that would explain it.

Richard

That second image of the tripod/tree shows that there's something else going on, other than the issue specifically with red lighting that I mentioned before. I agree that maybe it's something to do with the pulldown in FCP. If your Easy Setup was set to DV-NTSC 24p (23.98) then try setting it to DV-NTSC 24p (23.98) Advanced Pulldown Removal, or vice versa. Good luck!

I don't believe any of the easy setups work with the 2:3:3:2 pull down. You have to manually set it to that in the capture window. At least on 5.1 you had to.

i was guessing it might be the pulldown i tried setting it up in the easy set up but that didn't work. lets see if it works in the capture window

thanks again!

Red is a troublesome color for the XL2 though. I shot a lady in a red dress in broad daylight and the dress looks all pixely like that, and the only thing I could really do is desaturated the reds a little in post. So you might want to give that a try as well.

It's so weird though. How come it doesn't look like that in the viewfinder, or on a monitor?

I think it's just the nature of the color on computer monitors. I've seen it before when people use red for their credits so I don't know if it's a specific problem to the XL2, maybe it just records the reds hotter than most cams.

It's so weird though. How come it doesn't look like that in the viewfinder, or on a monitor?

Have you solved it yet?

Richard

are you using firewire?

Yes, I agree with everyone regarding the red light issue. Next time you can either crank down the red in your camera settings or just deal with it in post.

Regarding the pixelation and possible capture setting issue, you can quickly isolate the problem by connecting your camera directly to a monitor via your video cable. We should never put much reliance on the puny XL-2 viewfinder except for framing/focus; in fact, consider purchasing an external 7 inch monitor that mounts to your hot shoe - you'll find them sold used for around $350.

Good luck, Michael

Hey Alex,

If you still have not resolved your problem, let me know. I have the remedy to what ails your footage:) Can't fix the reds for you, unfortunately that damage was done by the lighting like everyone else has said, but I can definitely fix your interlacing problem.

Ry

I would check my settings when I am recording. Gain and f-stop can have a large impact on noise in the video. Also you might try doing a manual white balance.

Hey Alex,

If you're still around......

Sorry I didn't have much time to give you a full explanation before, but now I have a butt ton of renderin going on and some time to kill.

Here is my workflow:
Shoot 24PN at 16:9
Capture into FCP NTSC 29.97 Anamorphic
Reverse Telecine the footage in Cinema Tools to 23.98
Pull into FCP to edit in a 23.98P timeline

Make sure you always light your scene and think long and hard about outdoor lighting as well! I can't stress this enough! If you follow these simple guidelines then I guarantee that you will be more than pleased with the footage from your XL2.

I have even successfully uprezed XL2 footage to 720P with exceptional results. This entire demo reel was shot on the XL2 with the exception of one Green Screen shot at the end: Ryan Mueller Demo Reel on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/5144740)

Don't give up on the cam yet! I still love my XL2s.

Ry

Thanks for all your help Ryan I'll give that a try, I need to get cinama tools on the computer I'm using first though.

Still haven't fixed the problem, and yes I'm using firewire.

again when I connect the camera to a monitor and look at the footage, none of these errors exist, it looks flawless when I'm connected to a monitor so I'm still not sure if it's the whole problem with the red and the way I'm shooting or if its a problem with the way I'm getting it into FCP

thanks again everyone for all your help