Feedback on xl2 footage

[Tim Bickford]

Here is some footage I took with my XL2 the other day. http://www.powellcontrolsinc.com/The...he_River_3.wmv This footage is raw (no post correction). I was simply just experimenting. I used " The Contrasty Look- Set Gain to -3db By Brian Harris" I started about 1 hour before sunset. Used the built in ND filters 24P, shutter = 48, manual focus, image stabilizer = off. I used the "default" white balance for outdoors.


Preset:

[Presets]
Preset Name = contrstB
Gamma = 1
Knee = 2
Black = 2
NR = 0
VDetail = 1
Color Matrix = 1
Color Gain = 2
Color Phase = 2
Red = 1
Green = 0
Blue = 3
SetupLevel = 0
Sharpness = -4
Coring = 0
MasterPed = -3
Description = Contrasty Look - B Set Gain to -3db By Brian Harris

I'm just a newbe looking for some feedback.

Thanks....

Tim

[Jesse Redman]

The link doesn't return a file :)

[Greg Boston]

It looked pretty good. Maybe a little too soft for my taste but I like the color rendition. I know you said raw footage but the shot of the yellow house was way too long especially since there was no movement in the frame.

I'm really surprised that sharpness to -4 made it look that soft.

-gb-

[Adam Bray]

Like greg said. Looked good to me but maybe a tad soft for my taste also.

[Ash Greyson]

The sharpness setting wont make footage look that soft. Either there is a funky filter on it, or there is a compression issue. There appears to be some odd aberrations in the footage. I shoot with sharpness at -6 and coring at +6 sometimes and footage never gets that soft...




ash =o)

[Tim Bickford]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, some of the shots were too long. I should have made them shorter before I posted it. Also - these shots where not really intended to interesting - I was just practicing.

Here is where my inexperience shows... When you say "soft" what do you mean? I sometimes have a difficult time judging proper focus when using the eye-piece. Perhaps you all mean "soft" in the sense of lack of sharp detail or slightly out of focus.

Ash - can you elaborate on "aberrations"?

Thank you again for taking that time to watch + provide feedback.

Tim

[Lou Bruno]

How come you raised the IRE level?

[Tim Bickford]

Originally Posted by Lou Bruno

How come you raised the IRE level?

It was getting near dark. I wanted to get as much exposure as possible without over exposing.

[Roger Rosales]

Great footage Tim. Like most peoeple have said, a bit to soft, but you really captured a good chunk of what the XL2 is capable of. Nice choice of models an what not, good composition.

I really liked the atmoshphere you portrayed visually, musically and both combined. The best part is, it's all raw footage put together with no CC or any other form of image color editing (correct?).

Great work.

[Tim Bickford]

Roger,

Thank you. I really appreciate your comments. I've had my XL2 for almost 1 year and have finally gotton to the point where I'm starting to feel somewhat comfortable with it.

I sometimes have a difficult time fine tunning the manual focus. Perhaps that is why my footage looks soft. I'm assuming by "soft" that everyone means no sharp detail. I think it's time to bring the old commodore 1702 monitor out in the field with me.

Thanks again.

Tim

[Adam Bray]

Originally Posted by Tim Bickford

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, some of the shots were too long. I should have made them shorter before I posted it. Also - these shots where not really intended to interesting - I was just practicing.

Here is where my inexperience shows... When you say "soft" what do you mean? I sometimes have a difficult time judging proper focus when using the eye-piece. Perhaps you all mean "soft" in the sense of lack of sharp detail or slightly out of focus.

Ash - can you elaborate on "aberrations"?

Thank you again for taking that time to watch + provide feedback.

Tim

For example, look at the top of the tree in the opening screne on the left hand side. There's no detail in it. Could be a compression issue or focus. I don't think it's focus. Look at the sign in the front yard of the yellow house. You can't make out any of the words or letters.
There's also some flickering on the right side border of the screen and some along the bottom twords the end. Not sure if that's just my computer or not.

What kind of tripod were you using? I notice the camera was getting blown around in the bird scenes in what appeared to be a very light wind.

[Tim Bickford]

Adam Thanks..

I'll have to take some more footage + triple check the preset to make sure that it is the one that I stated in this post.

I really think it may be my manual focus skills. It's been a struggle for me to get good at manual focus with the onboard monitor - especially in "sun down" conditions. By the way - the image looks the same (soft) on my NTSC monitor direct from the P-Pro timeline.

As for the tripod:

I have old Linhof tripod with a Gitzo head. The Gitzo was made for a "Box Camera" The tripod is beefy... but the head is not for a video camera. I just ordered a Manfatto 503. I hope to get it Saturday.

Thanks for the comments.

Tim

[Greg Boston]

Tim,

In order to set critical focus, you should zoom all the way into your subject, focus, then back out to frame the shot. When you zoom back out, if the image doesn't hold focus, then the lens has a back focus issue and on the auto lens, you can't set it yourself.

The softness does not appear to be a focus issue. It's like you had a Fog Effect filter on the lens.

-gb-

[Jarrod Whaley]

The softness looks like a compression issue to me. I'm no compression expert by any means, but there's just something about the softness that doesn't look at all optical.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Tim,

do not feel to bad about focus issues!! While I love both my canons I must say that the focusing of them is not easy!! I would try the focus preset that Ash has put on the preset list!! Without having fu 1000 I think it works very well. I have it set as preset 3 and then 1 and 2 are my most used presets. I hit 3 , focus, then switch to 2 and I am ready to go.

If compressed for the web it is bound to be softer!


I liked the music, the static shots should be about 4 to 6 seconds max.


I still liked what you did!!