I think one of them was your roommate at some point in life. Have to admit though, college was mainly a blur though.

well, 1) he still is my roommate 2) your still in college. I think your lifes a blur, come to the sober side!

Outdoor Shots DOF
 

Hey Guys,

This is my first post of a sample clip. I have really enjoyed learning by reading comments and critiques. Thought I might submit a clip I put together last week. Love the XH-A1. Learning the controls, but not quickly enough since I have a corporate video job coming up in a couple of weeks. Any comments, critiques are welcome. As always, it is a large file so give it a couple of minutes before clicking the play button. Thanks.

Here is the link:

http://web.mac.com/tomkubicki/Kubick...ter_Creek.html

Looked like a beautiful place to visit with nice golden lighting. I would suggest using a tripod and loosing the quick zooms. Some scenes looked a little out of focus so pay a little more attention to that.

Good point
 

Mark,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I wish I had my tripod with me. Couldn't resist the opportunity. Half of the time I was standing on a snow covered slope.

Great stuff on your site
 

Mark,

I visited your site and previewed some of your clips. This is great stuff. Did you use XH-A1 for the clips posted on your site? Just curious. Great work

Tom,

Thanks for the site visit. No HD, I use and SD Panasonic DVC30 camera. I have stuck with SD because I produce SD DVDs and this format is easier to use on my editing system. I am interested in HD and like viewing others work. I would suggest going over to vimeo.com and viewing some of the HD videos posted there on the HD channel which feature some really nice work. You also may want to sign up with them. It is free with 500mb weekly uploads. I think you have a good eye from viewing your video. Just need to practice on compostion and detail. Its good to develop a pattern to setting up a shot if your a "set up" kind of shooter vs. a run and gun type. You can probably guess I am a "set up" type. When I see what I like I set my white balance first, then try to frame the shot to present the best asthetic view, then focus first using auto then manual to fine tune the focus, then its on to "zebras" for setting exposure. 99% of the time I am locked down on a tripod. I usually use really slow zooms which to me is more pleasing. Just a few tips. Hope it helps. You have a great camera and I am sure you will enjoy it. Keep posting.

frogspawn on vimeo
 

Be honest.

I can take it.

:-)

http://www.vimeo.com/745654

ha ha, is like a frog party... I would so use some of this stuff for visuals in a show, it's awesome!

Nothing wrong with it. The only thing was that I thought the background audio was looped. Is that true?

Underwater?
 

Do you have a housing for the U/W stuff?

Should be on National Geographic Channel. Except maybe the 4-way with the girl and three guys! LOL.

Thanks for the comments. If anyone has suggestions about how it could be improved I'd be pleased to have them.

I left out the more pornographic shots and tried to make it family viewing!

The sound is a live recording. So it's in real time but I did cheat a bit by adding snippets here and there for the shots that weren't miked.

The sound was recorded simultaneously with the water level shots. I used two miniature mics taped to a coathanger to record the stereo sound. Recording onto a Fostex FR2 LE sound recorder.

There's a bit of my hand splashing around in the bath in the shot of the crowd of frogs hopping around as it seemed too quiet. All the other splashes are real time recordings.

The film was actually shot with two cameras, an XH A1 and my older camera, a Sony A1E.

I bought a secondhand 'sport housing' which isn't made for the A1E but works with a minor modification.

V-Amp TV first episode
 

Shot some video segments for my brother's online music magazine, Amplifier Magazine.

http://www.vimeo.com/757267

It's the XH-A1, but standard def, unfortunately. I'm doing other stuff in HDV as I continue to learn about the camera, lighting, sound, editing, etc. Any recommendations for where to host full-size HDV clips? Dreamhost maybe?

Anyway, if you like this clip or are a fan of indie pop music, you'll probably enjoy his mag: www.amplifiermagazine.com.

--Greg

Lighting lighting lighting....
 

Might try adding some 'creative lighting' to the interview shot... You can also create some depth if you can get her off that wall a little bit and move the camera way back and zoom in so that she is framed on one your thirds... A backlight on her will help separate her from the background.. If you could add a party gel on the light lighting the background it would probably suit this venue much better...

I can't tell if you white balance is off too or if that was a look you were going for...

Also, I think your audio levels might be clipping...

Thanks for the input, Doug. I agree with your lighting comments. Problem is, the room is about 12 feet wide so there's no room to pull her away from the wall and no room for a backlight.

And I used a warm card so it's not true white balanced. Didn't notice any audio clipping--will have to check it again.

My First Try Short Clip
 

Hello All,

This is my first try at shooting some footage and editing into a finished and short clip. I used auto focus for all of it because I need a LOT more time with manual focus. I captured with Cineform HD and into Vegas 8 and then rendered to mpeg4 640x480. Cineform to folder and then open each file into Vegas....is that the correct way to get the files into Vegas? Any feedback and suggestions are appreciated!






http://www.dropshots.com/erinheere#d...03-05/22:54:58

Answered my own question
 

Ok as a result of endless searching here, I think I found how to do Vimeo which is very cool....as soon as I render I'll post the link to the same video only it will be in high def....thanks

vimeo
 

here's the clip on vimeo

http://www.vimeo.com/763167

based on settings recommended for the site...peace

protected :-\

Clip is public now sorry
 

Hey Bill,

The clip is public now so anyone can view it...sorry about that. I rendered to MainConcept Mpeg4 with all the settings that Eugenia Loli recommended. I noticed some weird blurring that occurs in the very beginning that is not on the original footage. I tried a bunch of different settings but it still ends up with the same results. Frustrating! I shot in 24F so maybe there is some setting I need to change. peace

Macro Footage with XH A1 & indiSLIDER
 

Hi everyone!

This is my first post, but I've been visiting for a few months.

I did this piece with the indislider 36" and XH A1. My Letus35 Extreme is on it's way (ordered Feb 20th), and I just can't wait.

Let me know what you think, and what I could have done differently.

http://www.vimeo.com/769216

-Dmitry

very nice footage, i really want and indiSlider now=o which macro u use? A cinivate or redrock or something else?

Thank you Loren!

I suppose I mislabeled the post, it's not actually a macro lens...

The footage was shot with the stock Canon XH-A1 lens, which is a 4.5-90mm 20x zoom. It works out to be a 32.5mm-650mm in the 35mm world. I searched the forum and the genius minds here have already figured out the 35mm focal lengths for each zoom number (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...light=a1+lens).

I've ordered a Letus35 Extreme about 2 weeks ago (Feb20), and it should be in the mail any day now..they usually ship 2-3 weeks after you place your order.

I've followed Steven Dempsey's example and got an indiSLIDERpro 36" after seeing his original "Snow Motion" footage (http://www.vimeo.com/709560).

Tim at http://www.indifocus.com is the gentleman to talk to about the slider, and he's incredibly nice, and will go to any length to answer any questions you might have. Since placing my original order for the slider, I've also picked up a set of 18" support rails, and a follow-focus.

So far I've been buying used Nikon SLR lenses and have come up with:

24mm f/2.8
50mm f/1.8
60mm f/2.8 Macro
135mm f/2.8

I'm still looking around for an 85mm and possibly a 105mm.

Sorry for the long post, I didn't have time to write a short one.

-Dmitry

hahaha alright thanks! thats good to hear as I'm thinking about buying indifocus gear, and also my dad at his work is thinking about it too! Thanks for your input!

Outdoor Music Festival
 

I had a great opportunity to get my A1 outdoors for the first time this last weekend for a music festival put on by our local Symphony and other musical groups. It was my first time using the VIVIDRGB preset too. Target was a sponsor so you'll see lots of red shirts which vividrgb saturates quite a bit. Also, I had to down-convert to SD so it's a little soft on focus - my new PC for HD editing arrives Saturday. (drool...) Other than that, I'm really pleased with the look of the color.

http://www.vimeo.com/782029

-Brendan

Man, I'm hungry!
 

Man, I'm hungry! What's for dinner?

Nice video.

Makes me wish I had been able to come over and visit.

I liked it.

Colin

Ultra Macro Compilation (HDV cropped to DV)
 

Hey Everyone,

Here is a quick, one minute clip showcasing the footage I was able to get from the "Indie Ultra Macro" D.I.Y. effect.

The footage was originally HDV (1920x1080), cropped to DV (720x480).

It's all raw, minus the last clip which I color-corrected a bit.

Let me know what you think!

Halved Version [H.264] (18MB) 360x240

http://www.LoftonFilms.com/videos/HD...tempt1.SM2.MOV

Full NTSC DV [H.264] (109MB) 720x480

http://www.LoftonFilms.com/videos/HD...ttempt1.SM.MOV

Thanks,

John

I liked it - Nice effects and music. Looks like you have to keep that lens very clean though. I seemed to notice some dirt here and there but then I imagine that is quite difficult when the set up focuses so close. nice job.

very close! I love macro stuff. What kind of DIY have you concocted?

that indieslider would work fantastically with your macro setup.

Trish

DIY Indie Ultra Macro
 

Thanks Jim, Trish!

I call it the "Indie Ultra Macro"

I made a 2 minute video about how I created it (for under $10, too!)

Check it out:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/116424...e_ultra_macro/

Also, I have some high rez stills on the thread I created, dedicated to the Indie Ultra Macro:

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=117204

Thanks!

John

Not sure if any one cares, but we've been posting new videos up from the WOXY SXSW sessions.

www.vimeo.com/woxy

These are NOT with the XH-A1, but with the HV-30's. I do plan on combining the two and I'll update with the first project that does.

Cheers,
Kevin

jurassic bird video survey
 

hello everyone,
I shot this video of a bird about a month ago and don't really know how to show it (being an amateur myself I just got this camera 5months ago and letus 4 months ago) so I experimented and added some background music to this video to see what can happen,
but this video has made some mixed reviews or comments per say....

so by watching this video

some say I don't get it..(what ??)
and some say I got it......(haha)

this is a 7 day survey so let's see what the outcome is...

say "yes" if you get it
say "no" if you don't get it

www.vimeo.com/773403

thank you and let's all have some fun.......

Ricci, I loved it!

To me it makes perfect sense, and I really enjoyed the suspense.

The bird seems to stalk through the water in a menacing way, and just as it looks like something is about to happen, it dramatically shifts pace and goes off to pick at the water in a cute and non-threatening way.

Very nicely done, and you've got a great eye for picking out the emotional detail of a piece of footage (in my opinion).

-Dmitry

I don't think that opinions on any short can be so black and white. I think people either like it for what it is or they don't. Whether or not they "get it" is really subjective.

Kevin,

I'm no expert myself, but you did ask for feedback :)

I liked the how you started the video (could have don't without the camera jerks) up to the part where you show the title "The Kills". After that, I didn't care much for the video as a music video. I guess MTV has spoiled most of us into expecting music videos to be a certain way? But I found it quite boring. Sorry, just my two cents (which don't hold mcuh weight).

I did find notice the video has interlace lines showing. Did you deinterlace when you encoded?

Story Telling XHA1 and Letus35 Extreme
 

I shot this stuff a while back, when I just received my Letus35 Extreme, but never got a change to edit and post this many months later.

I've written more about the background of this video in my blog (which you can get to from the link to the video), but essentially, this is my attempt to tell a story. Now none of this was actually planned. Nor did I have the music in mind or anything. Personally, I love the end result, but then we all love our work.

I'd be really interested in hearing from others. Be nice, be brutal, tell me what you really think.

http://exposureroom.com/members/skum...49eca99ed7e4a/

Hello Shiv,

Beautiful filmwork! Great colors too!
Can you reveal some details about how you made the video?

I'm very curious about how you checked if you had the right focus setting?
Did you use the magnifier on the little LCD or did you use a bigger screen?
Whick color settings (preset) did you use? The colors are great!

Oh yes...I'm using VIMEO until now but this website also has great features for showing video!

I only can say: make more of this!

Hey, Gert,

Thanks for the positive feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. There is a blog associated with the video that actually answers some of your questions :)

I did that intentionally because it's never enough for us folks to just see a video :) We've got some many questions about it as well.

I was using the camera's LCD for this. No external monitor. It wasn't really easy to do and takes a lot of squinting and getting used to. With time it actually gets easier. Remember what you're seeing here are the "good takes" :).

No preset was used. I simply used levels in post. Bump up the blacks a bit and compress the highs.

Stedicam and Dolly Shots
 

Hey!
I'm posting the test of my Stedicam and homemade dolly (from Billy's Blueprints)
Feel free to comment.

Greg

http://www.vimeo.com/798449