What are the different ways of shooting b&w ? Is it true that shooting b&w in camera will be easier on the hdv codec ? Is it true that the green channel has full resolution , but the blue and red not ? What are YOUR favorite ways of getting great b&w images out of the fx1/z1. All ideas welcome. thanks -Kurth

I haven't tried this, so experiment yourself. If you shoot B&W in-cam, there are lots of filters made for B&W photography that become viable. Just look at B&H in the filters section for filters for black and white photography.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=113

Also, I'm sure that the reduction in color data can't hurt in the compression. The only downside is that you can't go back to color if you change your mind.

Doesn't the FX1/Z1 have a way of pulling certain colours out? That's something cool you could look into doing depending on your type of project.

Yes, the "color correct" function can isolate either one or two specific colors within a black and white image.

The same function can be used to "revise" two colors also, and although it hasn't received a lot of attention it seems to be a potentially powerful tool. With the limited colorspace in HDV, there may be some advantage to making basic adjustments in color before recording to tape.

I think you mean luma vs the 2 chormas not green vs red/blue. The image comes off the ccd's as 4:4:4 rgb but is converted to YUV at 4:2:0 because peoples eyes are more sensitive to brightness changes rather than colour changes.

So when you shoot B/W in camera it should be dropoing the colour information before it hits the mpeg 2 engine. This should mean that their is more available data for the luma (b/w) channel and should equal more detail.

If your going for pure b/w with no colour what so ever and not planning on doing much..ummm... colour correcting (well theirs no colour, what should i be calling it then?) then shooting b/w in camera could be perferable. Now if you want to do some sort of FX like being selective with a colour (see movie payback, all kind of blusih) then you might be better off shooting colour and doing b/w and colour correcting in post - this is a much more time consuming process.

Thats just my take on it, hope it helps and good luck.

thanks Keith - so it will help motion artifacting in hdv to shoot incamera b&w?

Kurth,

Motion artifacting is a seperate issue. But yes, shooting B&W in camera will reduce the amount of data that needs to be compressed. And with HDV, you need all the help you can get. I've shot a couple projects with the FX1 in B&W. And it is a noticeably superior image.

If you're shooting B&W, I would suggest that you use the CinemaTone gamma setting, and over expose by about half a stop. This should give you stronger blacks and whiter whites.

If you haven't had a chance to read my post concerning the making of "Hip Hop's Dead", you should as it was shot in B&W.

You can find it here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=58762

thanks Jon . Any other suggestions for working with the footage in post . I use fcp 5. Kurth

Sorry Kurth, I'm not an editor...

Jon - finally got the time to read your post on shooting the "Hip Hop's Dead ". I thought you said you weren't an editor ! Yes , I've been using Mr. Nattress' filters for over a year but have not tried them in b&w.That will be a good place to start. thanks again for your time. Kurth

Kurth,

I'm really not an editor. But I do have a little experience in desktop post. Don't get me wrong, I know how to use FCP and piece things together. But that's a far cry from being an editor. The same as anyone can pick up a a camera and get a picture. But that's nowhere near being a cinematographer!

Anyway, glad you enjoyed the article. There will be some still frames and and a QT version posted in the articles section soon.

Oh and Keith, in film we call it timing...