There is a slight vignetting on the Optex. But it's way out of the TV safe area. AND the Optex attachment adds 33% wide to you original lens wich is a great bonus. You are however limited in the tele range. The last third of the zoom is lost in vertical smear...

How to render CG Material
 

Hi all,

I am just wondering if anyone here has any experience with generating CG animations and compositing them over field-mode (i.e. interlaced) DV footage from a PAL XL1.
We have some live footage that needs, erm, augmenting, and I now am wondering whether to render the fields with odd fields first or even fields first - Premiere tells me PAL DV is even (lower) fields first, but Avid Xpress DV 3.5 tells me it's odd (upper) field first. Or should we save some time and render progressive anyway?

Anyone have an answer to this particular q?

Many thanks,

Kailee.

Go to DV.com. They have had several articals on CG, fields, and the like. I'm working on the same type of project, only real actors in a CG world. I hope your programs work quicker than my Infini-D!
Best wishes,
Keith

DV is lower field first (100% sure for PAL). Now the question is
whether this is even or odd.... That I do not know. A simple test
might be in order? You can also do progressive I think, which
should lower render times as well. Just do a 30 second test
or something first to make sure everything looks okay. Please
let us know how your results go.

Strongly recommend you go with NTSC for now. Unless you feel like rendering everything from PAL to NTSC by software, which is going to cramp your lifestyle a bit. You can always sell your camera later and buy a PAL unit when you're ready to shoot that movie. Hope this helps,

XL-1 used for IMAG at concert series
 

Hello. I had never done this before and was a bit apprehensive of what the image would look like. But the XL's, with their 525 lines, did very well providing a 20'x25' IMAG LCD screen with a clean signal through 200 ft of cable. Both myself and the screen provider were pleasantly surprised. If possible though, try to feed it with a high quality Y/C component signal and MANUALLY white balance the camera(s). This was achieved by splitting the Y/C carriers with a Y/C to 2-BNC y-adapter through two separate true 75 ohm BNC cables and rejoining them at the truck with another y-adapter maintaining the cleanest signal possible, short of Firewire, from the XL. I didn't try it with a single composite BNC return but it may very well have worked. So anyone with a possible job with an XL for IMAG, no problem.

Sound Level
 

Is there a sound/editing guru amongst us?

Here is the situation: I am editing together some sound and video. The sounds are recorded at various levels, some public domain, and some orginally recorded at the site. Some are also yet to be recorded, which is what I am going to do.

My question(s) is/are, at what level should one record at? I want to level the audio before I start manipulating it to taste (editing).

Is this a taste question? Record at whatever level...

Anyways, I hope I phrased my dilemma correctly.

This is new!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers!

Derrick

I do not claim to be a guru, but I will offer a couple thoughts. In part it depends on what you plan to do with the edited video, and what kind of material you have (rock music, classical, voice, etc.)

A general guide is to set the average record level to about -12 dB on the XL1, and to avoid clipping on transients (level reaching 0 dB). With wide dynamic range material you may want to use a lower average level to keep some headroom for transients.

However, if you are matching existing material you may want to try match you new recording those average levels (if they sound OK to you). Be aware that audio form most consumer camcorders will be crap, with tons of AGC-induced compression to the point of having no dynamic range. Essentially useless for quality sound.

* * THANKS * *
 

Don,

Thanks for the information. I'm a neophyte to recording sounds. I will be recording some dialogue too, and your post is pointing me towards someone that has their own equipment.

I am trying to do everything on my short dv, so I can learn and know. However, I do want it to sound superb! Some of the recording I can do myself. The dialogue may be best done by someone who knows and can impart their knowledge to me on the fly. Obstacles, you gotta hate/love and overcome them!

Adobe Premiere and Avid XPress have some sound level minipulators that I can adjust.

Thanks for taking time to provide me with some valuable feedback.

I'll be back...

Cheers!

Derrick

Any idea where in LA rents film lens/adapter for xl1s?
 

I'd like to rent something like the mini35 or similar adapter for the XL1-s plus a prime lens set. Anyone know of any packages in the LA area? Haven't found anyone local with the adapter for rent yet. Thanks.

I believe Birns & Sawyer rent it. Give them a try http://www.birnsandsawyer.com/index.asp if not they may know who does.

Jeff

Battery Belt Pack-NiMiH or Li-ion?
 

Hi all,
I am new to this, and was wondring if there was a battery belt pack that used batteries w/no memeory effect?

Thanks

Hi,

There seemed to be no shortage of manufacturers making belts in this country when I was shopping for a belt a few months ago, so no doubt you'll find a choice of sources in your part of the world.

Prices vary widely, depending on the type of battery. I went for NiCd for a budget solution on the grounds that today's NiCds are far less affected by memory effect than they used to be. You just need a complete discharge/charge cycle now and again.

The question of whether to store your batteries fully or partly charged has been discussed here before, without a conclusion being reached. :)

Al

LiIon would be my choice. Try to find a wholesaler, they may sell to you. Sometimes you can save $60.00 on a 3 hr. batt. The last one I bought was a Lenmar 5550mAh for $59.99( for my XL-1). Very happy with it.

Keep looking

SP7 experiences
 

Has any one out there had experience with the SP7 shoulder brace. I do mostly outdoor shooting and I use the 1.6X extender quite a bit to bring me in closer on wildlife subjects. A recent trip to the rocky mountain high country reminded me of how windy it can get on top of a mountain. The body of the XL1s acts like a sail in wind gusts making steady video impossible (especially with the extender on full zoom). Will the SP7 help? Is it heavy? How much can I expect to pay?