Jim Arthurs, visual effects artist at www.imageshoppe.com, put the HVX200 through its paces to see how well it would perform in chroma key situations.

His one-line review is: "Bluntly put, the results were spectacular, and ground-breaking for a camera in this price range."

His full report is here:
http://www.imageshoppe.com/HVX_bluescreen2.html

Thanks, Barry, for bringing this up over here... it was a fun series of tests, and I'm rather amazed how good this camera is for doing bluescreen/greenscreen work...

Glad to answer any questions about the work, or settings, or general bluescreen chat...

Jim Arthurs

Well, since you offered, what were your camera settings for this? Trying them out will be one of the first things I will want to do when my HVX finally arrives.

Thanks for posting your report. The footage looks great.

Kevin

Hi Kevin...

I just modified F6 to my liking... these are changed from default...

DETAIL LEVEL -3
CHROMA LEVEL +2
MASTER PED -2
GAMMA CINELIKE D
MATRIX NORM

The most important change is DETAIL LEVEL -3... there is a significant difference in your edge quality between 0 and -3. This prevents edge buildup between the screen color and subject.

If -3 is too soft, you can always add some sharpening back in after your matte is pulled.

Barry Green suggests Cine-V or Black Press if there are any concerns about noise...

Regards,

Jim Arthurs

Jim--Many thanks for sharing this information. I'll give these a try.

Kevin

Jim...

Nice job of pulling a key, especially with the fine hair detail.

What software did you use to extract the matte?

This is all very encouraging to me as I'm looking for a good keying solution and was wondering how good the HVX was at providing good footage.

Hi Dean,

I used the Keylight plugin that comes with the After Effects production bundle. One of my goals was to get a real production line workflow with these sort of medium and CU style shots.

It literally took only 5 minutes to tweak up a set of setting to work with all the shots, as no rotoscoping, external mattes, or split screening with multiple copies of the key pluging working on different areas of the frame.

On Monday we're shooting a greenscreen project and I'll report back with any issues there... this is a paying gig so being able to show the clients these initial tests was very helpful. The downside, of sorts, is that bar is pretty high now on the job in regards to the matting... :)

Regards,

Jim Arthurs

Jim,
Thanks for the test results. A producer friend recently
bought the HVX and these test have eased his mind a bit. I will be helping him as tech so the set-up info is also helpful.
Thanks

Glad to help... just remember on the shoot that the screen is the most important thing to have set right, along with enough side/rim light to counter-act the effects of spill on the talent.

It's very helpful to visualize what your final lighting looks like by flying in a large black in front of the screen... if your subject is lit correctly with a black background, then you're set.

Screen quality comes down to: even illumination, correct level of exposure, and color saturation. If you have a tight green ball in the proper vectorscope pocket and a nice flat line on the waveform monitor, you're golden. Do NOT underexpose overall, with the goal of pulling up levels in post, as this will reveal the faults of the codec.

Jim Arthurs

Hi Dean,

I used the Keylight plugin that comes with the After Effects production bundle. One of my goals was to get a real production line workflow with these sort of medium and CU style shots.


Hi Jim...

Good to know that you're using Keylight. I just recently upgraded to the production bundle of AE specifically for Keylight. I was impressed by what I saw when an Adobe representative demo'd AE and Keylight at NAB and took advantage of the special show pricing right on the spot.

I'm certain your clients will be very happy with the results, considering how your initial screen tests turned out. It definitely does NOT have the cheesy look of bluescreened video!

Thanks!