GL / XM assorted posts, 2003

[Gilbert Xiong]

I just purchased the Canon VL-3 off of Dell's "peripheral/software" site for $39.59 shipped to my door. If anyone else is interested, check it out now while they have their free shipping.

- Gil

[Chris Hurd]

That's a pretty good deal!

[Gilbert Xiong]

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Hurd : That's a pretty good deal! -->>>

I found it unusual that dealtimes.com or something like that had dell.com on their site.

I currently have a VL-10 and needed something with less power.

[Ignacio Artiñano]

Sorry, I almost forgot it, over a GL2/XM.

Ignacio

[Bjørn Sørensen]

I will soon buy a camcorder and likes the Sony PDX10 because of it's 16:9 functions. But... I want to make video's for websites and will be using Cleaner 6 for compression.

My question: How important is it to shoot in FrameMode when shooting for web? What is the difference in this case from shooting in "normal" mode?

The Sony PDX10 has no frame mode so maybe I should concentrate on my second choice - the Canon XM2 ?

Bjorn

[Bob Harotunian]

Still a bit unsure about how to tackle this scene. Using a GL-2, I'd like to zoom in, maunual focus on subject's face (maybe 50' away), zoom out slightly to fill frame and then slowly zoom out as subject approaches and walks through camera. I've experimented with this and it seems that the camera holds focus through the approach. But others have said that this shot requires a follow focus (turning focus ring while zooming out). On another forum, someone said that the GL1,2 cannot zoom and focus at the same time. Any definitive help from GL-2 users would be really appreciated.
Bob

[Chris Hurd]

<< someone said that the GL1,2 cannot zoom and focus at the same time >>

No prosumer (non-professional) DV camcorder can zoom and focus at the same time... that's a limitation of these servo zoom lenses. This is common to all of them.

There is no follow focus available for the GL1 / GL2, but switch to a manual lens on the XL1 / XL1S and you have a variety of options readily available.

[Rob Lohman]

If you are going to produce low resolution web video (50% or
below normal resolution) you do not need frame mode. If however
you are going to offer full resolution video or maybe do so in the
not too distant future frame mode is highly recommended (otherwise
you will see interlacing lines when playing back on a computer).

[Barry Goyette]

Bob

While Chris is correct regarding the functioning of the camera, I don't think you will have a problem here. If you were going in the other direction (zooming in while you try to focus on someone moving toward you) it would be difficult. But with the gl2, the chip's size works in your favor, giving you a great deal of depth of field, that will increase as you zoom wider.

If your subject is centered, I think that your best bet will be to use auto focus, as long as you are zooming wider, it should have no problem tracking your subject.

If your subject is not centered, try the manual focus procedure you described. As long as you are in relatively bright light, my guess is that it will still work, you can try to manually tweak the focus, but I don't think you'll need it.

I'd do a test beforehand to see which method works best.

Barry

[Michael Buendia]

is there a proper way to white balance (manually) on the gl2? are there any restrictions? sometimes i get it to lock and other times i can't. for example: for a warmer look i sometimes white balance out on the field using my blues jeans. from set up to set up i like to re balance. sometimes it locks and other times it doesn't! what gives?

does the stop on the lens have any effect on whether or not it will lock? should i be a minimum distance from the object i'm white balancing from? should i be zoomed in, zoomed out, focused or out of focus?

mb4

[Jeff Donald]

I would try to WB to an untextured material. Blue Jeans might be producing a moire pattern that is confusing the camera's WB. Search Warm Cards and you'll find posts on a commercially available product also instructions on making your own warm WB cards.

Manual WB will not work throughout an infinite range. The color temperature of the ambient light, combined with the color of your jeans may exceed the WB range of your camera. It may balance to a lighter or paler shade of blue.

[Tom Hardwick]

I might add that manual white balancing is independant of focal length, focus or aperture/shutter speed settings. Yo can white balance on a grey card of course - in fact you can white balance on any shade of black, right through to white.

Some modern white papers aren't suitable though and the same goes for white shirts, as "whiteners" have often been added to boost the apparent whiteness to our eyes.

tom.

[Jeff Donald]

The whiteners are actually blue in color. If you've ever shot a flash picture of an interior white wall and it appears blue in your photo, that's why. It looks white to human vision, but film and white balance see blue. If you white balance to the wall or paper etc. it will warm your image.

[Jason Balich]

Hello Everyone,

I just finished a course in special effects compositing for film and broadcast using "discreet combustion & Flame". The only problem is that i was using a DV pro ($30,000) and a digital converter to bring the video onto the flame UNIX machine to edit. Now, i want to continue making demo reel material and want to get a good digital camera. SO far the GL2 seems to be in my price range -even though it is a large purchase.

In your opinion with the quality of video I could capture (and degradation with compression = 4.1.1 threshold). Could i still use this to make good broadcast quality material for my demo reel to submit to post production houses? I have a slide show on my portfolio site to give u an idea of my first run at video compositing.

http://www.littlebearmedia.com/video.htm

I appreciate any and all suggestions.

[Adrian van der Park]

I've screened hundreds of demos at my various gigs over the years. And just so you know I'm not talking out my ass, I'm a pro vfx artist with credits on many tv and films.

first thoughts...

-have another go at the black levels of your elements in your composited plate. Those are the first things that scream "composite photography" to anyone. Look at the blacks on your sand dune, then look at the blacks on your elements. Should be a simple levels/gamma adjustment.

- you should feather the edges, or better yet, use a bluescreen and then resample the footage in something like magic bullet so you can pull a decent key. Otherwise, you'll need a tool like z-matte for afterfx to clean up mattelines from DV's crapola chroma info. Learn to use multiple colourkeys, one for a holdout matte, then one to tighten up the edges.

-Make your stuff bigger... very difficult to tell skill of composite photography from such small elements. Get bold with your shot design.

DVCpro and all them dv formats are still 8bit with compression. They are all more or less the same, until you get into HD and DBeta. You have minimal ability to push the colour and levels around, but it is possible with a bit more care. Get a 3 chipper camera, shoot lots, learn and get good. When you pull in the dv clip, break it for frames RIGHT away. tiffs or targas are fine. It's totally doable to make a show reel from this. I've seen demos that have great shots, and if you want to know the power of high skill and small tools, have a look at "405 the movie."
There is a rash of starwars fan dv movies as well, and a lot of them make the mistake of poor compositing with 3d elements. Usually washed out blacks and colour correction. Ignore most of those. It's like playing chess against a dumb person... eventually you'll make dumb moves yourself.

Combustion is an interesting package. Workflow a lot like after effects, but with a discreet 'skin' on it. I prefer DFusion and then Shake for desktop compositing. They have much better colour correctors imo. You can do pro level work in combustion, but it's just my preference for the other packages mentioned. At my last place of work, we had 3 infernos and flame, and a slew of DFusion seats. I prefered the DFusion cause it let me check my cg renders on my windows workstation and build the node flow as the renders came in.

Adrian


<<<-- Originally posted by Jason Balich : Hello Everyone,

I just finished a course in special effects compositing for film and broadcast using "discreet combustion & Flame". The only problem is that i was using a DV pro ($30,000) and a digital converter to bring the video onto the flame UNIX machine to edit. Now, i want to continue making demo reel material and want to get a good digital camera. SO far the GL2 seems to be in my price range -even though it is a large purchase.

In your opinion with the quality of video I could capture (and degradation with compression = 4.1.1 threshold). Could i still use this to make good broadcast quality material for my demo reel to submit to post production houses? I have a slide show on my portfolio site to give u an idea of my first run at video compositing.

http://www.littlebearmedia.com/video.htm

I appreciate any and all suggestions. -->>>