HVX and The Rocky Mountain National Park at DVinfo.net

Hans Damkoehler · February 20th, 2006, 10:02 PM

Let me start out by saying I'm really no shooter ... I'm just trying to learn each and every day, and so I took our HVX up to the Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, CO for half-day excursion. Now, I couldn't find any wolves and there was narry a gnome to be found but I've included a link to about a minute's worth of a dissolve fest.

I wanted to see what the camera would do on its own. It's basically in full auto though I played with it alot just to see what I could do. I shot in 720/30PN to conserve space on my 4 gig P2's (and downloaded them to my PowerBook in the car while thawing my toes.)

Thought someone might be interested in what a regular guy might shoot (and get) with this camera.

Sorry for the large .H264 file ... it seemed to bloat when I uploaded it to my iDisk.

Enjoy and, please, comment and critique.

••• SORRY - I'VE EXCEEDED MY 10 GB MONTHLY LIMIT - WHOOPS! THANKS FOR THE INTEREST •••

Paul Lohbauer · February 21st, 2006, 12:30 AM

Beautiful footage, thanks for sharing it!

Robert Lane · February 21st, 2006, 12:35 AM

Hans my boy,

Glad to see you're getting some hands-on time with the camera!

So you're "no shooter" as you say. Big deal; what you don't know you can learn. What you don't understand you can ask about. And what you don't try or experiment with - you should!

I could spend hours - or days - giving you some tips but here's a few big ones to live by:

- Any kind of captured imagery be it stills or video, is always a combination of 3 basic things: Light, Exposure and Composition. Learn to master those 3 elements of shooting and you can create anything your mind can imagine.

Here's a handy mnemonic tool I copyrighted for my Photos in a Flash series; keep this is mind when you're out shooting:

"S.Li.C.E. in 5". Before you start shooting or, if you're already at your shoot location take 5 minutes and answer these questions for yourself:

- S - ubject. What is your subject? Define what your subject is first and plan your shoot around it.
- Li - ght. What light is on or being used for your subject? How many light sources are there and where are they coming from? What color temp are they? Can you control the light sources or are you at the mercy of available light? Can you compensate for too much or not enough light in a manner appropriate for the subject? Do you need to take your own light sources or is that not possible?
- C - omposition. This is often determined by the "look and feel" of what you want the final output to be. Pay attention to surroundings; are there things in the frame that either compete for attention or, add to the interest of your subject?
- E - xposure. This one may seem obvious, but there are times when "proper" exposure isn't proper. This too is also developed around the subject and look of the output.

That's literally just scratching the tip of the iceberg with respect to what things you should consider to create your imagery, but it's a start.

Lastly, work a bit more on composition and with all the cool stuff you have around you, I'd say you could create some HD stock footage you could sell. One example of stock footage that is sellable (or would be if you had more of it) is the mist/fog moving across the tops of the trees - THAT's sellable stock.

Keep it up.

Hans Damkoehler · February 21st, 2006, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Lane

"S.Li.C.E. in 5".

Hey Robert,

Good to hear from you and thanks for the "new"-monic ;o) I like it, easy to remember. Yeah, composition is something I'm really trying to figure out. I was amazed at how overwhelmed I was when I got about 100 yards out into the snow (I'm used to a studio) ... everything was interesting ... but conveying what my 22 megapixel eyes see in person through the lens of the camera ... there's the challenge!

Anyway, I'm loving the camera and wish I had more time to experiment with it when I was up in the park ... it was really cold ... that mist was actually blowing snow and I got nervous for the camera though all was fine in the end. Kinda wish I had one of those porta-brace heat bags. I thought about strapping it to my skis but figured I'd leave that for Steev to try! lol.

By the way, the direct to FCP via PowerBook thing is still working great. 4 interviews in a row this weekend without a hitch. Still can't thank you enough for that recommendation. I'd recommend that workflow to anyone.

Steev Dinkins · February 21st, 2006, 01:12 AM

Nice looking footage!!

Hans Damkoehler · February 21st, 2006, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steev Dinkins

Nice looking footage!!

Thanks Paul!

Thanks Steev!

By the way, Steev, I really enjoyed your post. Still trying to figure out how you did some of that stuff at the end in FCP. Just a really intriguing edit ... it's currently on my iPod! And, is that your music? I tried to check on your site but couldn't quite tell. Of course I'm still having nightmares after viewing your last Music Video! ;o)

By the way, did you see that the MPIC is up to $3600? I think you may have stirred up an interest there ... :o)

Anyway, thanks for the post.

Steev Dinkins · February 21st, 2006, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Damkoehler

By the way, Steev, I really enjoyed your post. Still trying to figure out how you did some of that stuff at the end in FCP. Just a really intriguing edit ... it's currently on my iPod! And, is that your music?

Thanks Hans. This is all way off topic, but for the "Nak" video, I used FCP and After Effects for the vid. The music and the video were created from scratch, so yeah, the music is mine. I created that along with 9 other tracks in 2004. The album is called Astronaut Lunchbox, currently not released on a label yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Damkoehler

By the way, did you see that the MPIC is up to $3600? I think you may have stirred up an interest there ... :o)

Actually Dan originally priced it at $4500 via email quote early 2005, then finally brought it down to $2000 for what turned out to be merely a few orders (mine included), then he hiked his price up to $8000! :O I don't think any were sold at that price. He's brought it back down to a middle point at $3600.

Jay Dee · February 21st, 2006, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steev Dinkins

Actually Dan originally priced it at $4500 via email quote early 2005, then finally brought it down to $2000 for what turned out to be merely a few orders (mine included), then he hiked his price up to $8000! :O I don't think any were sold at that price. He's brought it back down to a middle point at $3600.

a little off-topic too, but at that price you might want to check out the MovieTube... www.movietube.com
It's a great piece of equipment with a static groundglass (well not really a groundglass but a microcrystaline wax job or something)
It won an award in germany.

Anyhow, i'm not affiliated with the company, just sharing a little info.

JD

Steev Dinkins · February 21st, 2006, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay Dee

a little off-topic too, but at that price you might want to check out the MovieTube... www.movietube.com
It's a great piece of equipment with a static groundglass (well not really a groundglass but a microcrystaline wax job or something)
It won an award in germany.

Anyhow, i'm not affiliated with the company, just sharing a little info.

JD

Yeah, I'm skeptical of all products with a static design product at this point. P+S Technik, Dan Diaconu, Red Rock Micro, Cinemek, and Letus35 all use a moving element design. I wonder if that's why the MovieTube never actually ended up in the hands of anyone on this board. It's kind of the Area51 product of 35mm imagers. For years now, people waited for it to actually surface, but the product seems sort of like a myth. I'm sure it looks great... for a static device. ;)

Jay Dee · February 23rd, 2006, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steev Dinkins

Yeah, I'm skeptical of all products with a static design product at this point. P+S Technik, Dan Diaconu, Red Rock Micro, Cinemek, and Letus35 all use a moving element design. I wonder if that's why the MovieTube never actually ended up in the hands of anyone on this board. It's kind of the Area51 product of 35mm imagers. For years now, people waited for it to actually surface, but the product seems sort of like a myth. I'm sure it looks great... for a static device. ;)

Well
I own one and I am a forum member... how about that? ;)
It's available and has been since june last year... maybe it's not so well known because the makers don't post (freely advertise?) here.
But you can check their site out and contact them for more info... they're friendly guys and the product is great.

JD

Steev Dinkins · February 23rd, 2006, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay Dee

I own one and I am a forum member... how about that? ;)

Cool! I'd love to see footage you're getting. Believe me, I love the idea of a static design. I just haven't seen anything that is devoid of static grain artifacts.

Nikial Kabel · February 23rd, 2006, 04:16 PM

Can someone please re-host this footage?

Vincent Rozenberg · February 23rd, 2006, 04:56 PM

Very very nice footage Hans! Congrats!

@Jay Dee: Yeah, can you please provide us some footage? Im very curious 'bout the results!

Jay Dee · February 28th, 2006, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vincent Rozenberg

Very very nice footage Hans! Congrats!

@Jay Dee: Yeah, can you please provide us some footage? Im very curious 'bout the results!

sorry guys, i can't post any footage for the moment.
check this clip by Christopher Haering which shows the movietube qulity quite well:
http://www.hmanvisions.com/clips_2005_7.html
the vignetting has been added in post (!)

Steev Dinkins · February 28th, 2006, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay Dee

sorry guys, i can't post any footage for the moment.
check this clip by Christopher Haering which shows the movietube qulity quite well:
http://www.hmanvisions.com/clips_2005_7.html
the vignetting has been added in post (!)

Thanks for the link. Awesome work by Haering for sure, as been seen before from him. Gorgeous. Unfortunately, it's hard to discern any level of static grain at that size and video compression.

I definitely like the idea of a static adapter *with* corrected image flip too. That must be a treat. :)

February 20th, 2006, 10:02 PM	#1
Hans Damkoehler Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Highlands Ranch, CO Posts: 115	HVX and The Rocky Mountain National Park Let me start out by saying I'm really no shooter ... I'm just trying to learn each and every day, and so I took our HVX up to the Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, CO for half-day excursion. Now, I couldn't find any wolves and there was narry a gnome to be found but I've included a link to about a minute's worth of a dissolve fest. I wanted to see what the camera would do on its own. It's basically in full auto though I played with it alot just to see what I could do. I shot in 720/30PN to conserve space on my 4 gig P2's (and downloaded them to my PowerBook in the car while thawing my toes.) Thought someone might be interested in what a regular guy might shoot (and get) with this camera. Sorry for the large .H264 file ... it seemed to bloat when I uploaded it to my iDisk. Enjoy and, please, comment and critique. ••• SORRY - I'VE EXCEEDED MY 10 GB MONTHLY LIMIT - WHOOPS! THANKS FOR THE INTEREST ••• __________________ Hans Damkoehler fcp.video.editor@me.com Last edited by Hans Damkoehler; February 21st, 2006 at 08:07 PM.

February 21st, 2006, 12:30 AM	#2
Paul Lohbauer Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 40	Beautiful footage, thanks for sharing it! __________________ Paul Lohbauer ProMediaDigitalVideo.com

February 21st, 2006, 01:12 AM	#5
Steev Dinkins Major Player Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 613	Nice looking footage!! __________________ www.holyzoo.com

February 21st, 2006, 12:35 AM	#3
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,823 Images: 15	Hans my boy, Glad to see you're getting some hands-on time with the camera! So you're "no shooter" as you say. Big deal; what you don't know you can learn. What you don't understand you can ask about. And what you don't try or experiment with - you should! I could spend hours - or days - giving you some tips but here's a few big ones to live by: - Any kind of captured imagery be it stills or video, is always a combination of 3 basic things: Light, Exposure and Composition. Learn to master those 3 elements of shooting and you can create anything your mind can imagine. Here's a handy mnemonic tool I copyrighted for my Photos in a Flash series; keep this is mind when you're out shooting: "S.Li.C.E. in 5". Before you start shooting or, if you're already at your shoot location take 5 minutes and answer these questions for yourself: - S - ubject. What is your subject? Define what your subject is first and plan your shoot around it. - Li - ght. What light is on or being used for your subject? How many light sources are there and where are they coming from? What color temp are they? Can you control the light sources or are you at the mercy of available light? Can you compensate for too much or not enough light in a manner appropriate for the subject? Do you need to take your own light sources or is that not possible? - C - omposition. This is often determined by the "look and feel" of what you want the final output to be. Pay attention to surroundings; are there things in the frame that either compete for attention or, add to the interest of your subject? - E - xposure. This one may seem obvious, but there are times when "proper" exposure isn't proper. This too is also developed around the subject and look of the output. That's literally just scratching the tip of the iceberg with respect to what things you should consider to create your imagery, but it's a start. Lastly, work a bit more on composition and with all the cool stuff you have around you, I'd say you could create some HD stock footage you could sell. One example of stock footage that is sellable (or would be if you had more of it) is the mist/fog moving across the tops of the trees - THAT's sellable stock. Keep it up.

February 23rd, 2006, 04:16 PM	#12
Nikial Kabel Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hollywood, CA Posts: 37	Can someone please re-host this footage?

February 23rd, 2006, 04:56 PM	#13
Vincent Rozenberg Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 475	Very very nice footage Hans! Congrats! @Jay Dee: Yeah, can you please provide us some footage? Im very curious 'bout the results!