Digital Short Shot With HVR-A1U at DVinfo.net

Alex Thames · May 14th, 2007, 07:41 PM

Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4qMrDZn57I (Full Version)

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjGqwGj2HPk (Balloon Sequence only)

Darren Cole · May 15th, 2007, 09:44 PM

good video i watched and though the footy looked real good. I did have troubles following the story a little but that is probably just me I am a little slow. So dont take that to heart. But I thought the angles look good and you moved the story along well. The lighting also looked good throught out did you light any of the parts or did you just use natural.

How do you like the A1u so far. I have had mine since fall it my first cam and i like it alot.

Alex Thames · May 16th, 2007, 01:46 AM

Well, the camera (which I lent out) is mine, the film not so much. But I did work with my friends on it.

Story, yeah - hard to follow because it wasn't strong to begin with. Feels more like a snipet of a convo/aside rather than a full self-enclosed piece/story.

No extra lighting was used anywhere. Outdoor scenes were all natural light. Elevator scene was available light from the elevator lights, which actually are no where near enough lighting. Hard to tell on YouTube, but in full resolution, or even standard resolution, you can see lots of noise. That's one downfall of the A1 camera, which I'm sure the V1 and Z1 do much better at. Even still, that's no excuse for poor lighting, but we simply didn't have a small on-board light to attach onto the camera, and we couldn't figure out how to use those bigger plug-in lights in an elevator (or anywhere else that doesn't have outlets).

Personally, I love the A1 overall, but I have small gripes about it. The biggest being horrible low light quality. I also don't like:
1. focus ring
2. low res LCD
3. only one assignable button
4. only one CMOS
5. red --> lilac problem
6. bottom-loading for tapes
7. many of the advanced features are tedious to use because you have to use the menus
8. zoom is too fast unless you mess with certain settings
9. no push to focus feature unless you use certain LANC controllers

George Ellis · May 16th, 2007, 06:21 AM

Alex, what did you guys tweak to get Youtube to hold that quality?

Alex Thames · May 16th, 2007, 08:01 AM

Err...nothing? What do you mean? It was simply uploaded to YouTube normally. The file was around 80+ megabytes though at 720x405 resolution (1.000 pixel aspect ratio) .wmv file. YouTube of course downscales the resolution. The quality doesn't look that great to me though, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.

May 14th, 2007, 07:41 PM	#1
Alex Thames Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: New York Posts: 508	Digital Short Shot With HVR-A1U Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4qMrDZn57I (Full Version) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjGqwGj2HPk (Balloon Sequence only)

May 15th, 2007, 09:44 PM	#2
Darren Cole Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Milwaukee Posts: 30	good video i watched and though the footy looked real good. I did have troubles following the story a little but that is probably just me I am a little slow. So dont take that to heart. But I thought the angles look good and you moved the story along well. The lighting also looked good throught out did you light any of the parts or did you just use natural. How do you like the A1u so far. I have had mine since fall it my first cam and i like it alot.

May 16th, 2007, 01:46 AM	#3
Alex Thames Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: New York Posts: 508	Well, the camera (which I lent out) is mine, the film not so much. But I did work with my friends on it. Story, yeah - hard to follow because it wasn't strong to begin with. Feels more like a snipet of a convo/aside rather than a full self-enclosed piece/story. No extra lighting was used anywhere. Outdoor scenes were all natural light. Elevator scene was available light from the elevator lights, which actually are no where near enough lighting. Hard to tell on YouTube, but in full resolution, or even standard resolution, you can see lots of noise. That's one downfall of the A1 camera, which I'm sure the V1 and Z1 do much better at. Even still, that's no excuse for poor lighting, but we simply didn't have a small on-board light to attach onto the camera, and we couldn't figure out how to use those bigger plug-in lights in an elevator (or anywhere else that doesn't have outlets). Personally, I love the A1 overall, but I have small gripes about it. The biggest being horrible low light quality. I also don't like: 1. focus ring 2. low res LCD 3. only one assignable button 4. only one CMOS 5. red --> lilac problem 6. bottom-loading for tapes 7. many of the advanced features are tedious to use because you have to use the menus 8. zoom is too fast unless you mess with certain settings 9. no push to focus feature unless you use certain LANC controllers

May 16th, 2007, 06:21 AM	#4
George Ellis Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Suwanee, GA Posts: 1,241	Alex, what did you guys tweak to get Youtube to hold that quality?

May 16th, 2007, 08:01 AM	#5
Alex Thames Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: New York Posts: 508	Err...nothing? What do you mean? It was simply uploaded to YouTube normally. The file was around 80+ megabytes though at 720x405 resolution (1.000 pixel aspect ratio) .wmv file. YouTube of course downscales the resolution. The quality doesn't look that great to me though, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.