PDX10 Happy User/ Questions

[Steve Tapping]

First time out shooting with my PDX10P and It's safe to say I'm pretty happy with the results, however I am yet to see the full potential.
Frame link(Altered in Vegas)
--------> http://a.domaindlx.com/eightamps/HCivic.jpg

I have a few questions though. Seeing I want to get the most out of this fine camera, I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions for shooting surf shots. Like what custom presents? The look I want for surf shots is plenty of colour and perfect exposure. I would expect that abtaining perfect colours, (due to the black & white viewfinder), would be hard without the lcd. Sunny beach scenes make for a hard time with the lcd & I'm not sure if a lcd hood would help in such strong light.
Would you advise against the program AE settings? I have not fully used any of these yet. I flicked through them while I was shooting & did not like what it gave.
Sony favouring Red is a good thing for surf shots due to the blue of the water is quite often over powering. So I am not sure about custom presets for this camera.


Another problem I came along was to do with the exporting. After capturing the clips editing them & so on. I exported them back to tape using premiere to see how they would come up on my Widescreen TV. The picture seemed to lose something, I know the picture will never be as good as it looks on a computer monitor, however I was slightly dissapointed with what it output. I may have something wrong in the menu settings or exporting it wrong I'm not sure.
So how does everyone export their final production. To achieve the absolute best results?

Also Do people leave Lo Cut on or Off?

Greatly appreciate anyones help

Thanks


Steve

[Jan Roovers]

<<<-- Originally posted by Steve Tapping:
The look I want for surf shots is plenty of colour and perfect exposure. I would expect that abtaining perfect colours, (due to the black & white viewfinder), would be hard without the lcd. Sunny beach scenes make for a hard time with the lcd & I'm not sure if a lcd hood would help in such strong light.
-->>>

The sea has a very strong reflection which can be very coloured. This can spoil your Whitebalance. It is a known problem. It is worth while to preset your whitebalance at a more neutral scene. It makes a big difference. Better is a white surface or paper.
Sea an beach scenes have a brighter average as standard. So I advise to use the manual exposure. ( I prefer that for all my shootings!)



<<<-- Originally posted by Steve Tapping:
Would you advise against the program AE settings? I have not fully used any of these yet. I flicked through them while I was shooting & did not like what it gave.
-->>>

In automated mode you must use the beachsetting to compensate for the brighter average and may be experiment with the daylight setting. But I prefer manual settings.


<<<-- Originally posted by Steve Tapping:
Another problem I came along was to do with the exporting. After capturing the clips editing them & so on. I exported them back to tape using premiere to see how they would come up on my Widescreen TV.
-->>>

If you have not edited the scene the colours should remain the same as the original iff copied through firewall. How do you export?


<<<--Originally posted by Steve Tapping:
Also Do people leave Lo Cut on or Off?
-->>>

This is effective against noise. With sea and wind it is worth will to use it. Else not.
Surfing means wind. Certainly you need a windscreen. I use the Mikemuff www.mikemuff.com. But there are alternatives to.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Hi Steve, congrats on the new camera! I have taken to using the LCD screen with a Petrol hood for most of my shots, although I still like the viewfinder for judging focus and contrast.

For shooting the sea I would agree with Jan that you should use manual exposure and zebra patterns to set exposure. You should start getting used the manual controls and after awhile you'll have a good idea of where to set them. As far as the custom presets, well that's purely a matter of personal tastes. Look back in the PDX-10 forum for a discussion on this topic. I generally use one of the builtin white balance settings and then use WB shift and color level custom presets to tweak the image from there. Then of course I play around further with color correction while editing. Like everything else, there are really no magic formulas, you just need to experiment around until you find the sort of "look" that you're after.

The 16:9 footage should look really good on a widescreen TV if everything is setup properly. I don't use Premiere anymore so I can't give specific advice. But I'm suspicious of your setup since the image you posted is a strange size (400x306) and is also letterboxed into a 4:3 frame. Are you sure you're editing and exporting it as anamorphic 16:9? When viewed on a regular TV the exported footage should fill the entire 4:3 frame and appear to be "squished" where things are taller and skinnier than they should be. If it appears letterboxed on a 4:3 TV then something is configured wrong in Premiere. Also, what sort of connection to you have to your widescreen TV? S-video? Component video? This can make a difference in image quality as well.

[Chris Long]

<<<-- Originally posted by Steve Tapping :
Sony favouring Red is a good thing for surf shots due to the blue of the water is quite often over powering.

Also Do people leave Lo Cut on or Off?-->>>


I am confused about the Sony favouring red issue, because to my eye Sonys tend to exhibit a cold look--more blue. I have seen people post opinions both ways, though. I go so far as to compensate a bit in the custom presets, using a warmer WB setting, and a bit more color saturation.


Also, I've used the Lo Cut to good effect a few times, but it can only do so much. I was filming myself hang gliding at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina this summer, and no amount of Lo Cut would have helped with that wind!! (15-30 mph steady breeze from offshore) I needed some sort of a muff/windsock/windstopper/etc to cut it. Completely made the audio unusable. Still haven't gotten one, though. Open to suggestions.

[Steve Tapping]

First of all thank you for your time and answering my questions. I really do appreciate it alot.

I feel that the only way to achieve the best image possible is through trial and error. I am going to have to use this camera everyday under totally different lighting conditions to master it. Like you said Boyd I'm not going to find a magic formula if I am going to constantly be shooting different environments.

Although audio is not essential at beach scences(rather lifestyle shots), It will be used occasionally so Jay I may invest in a "Mic muff"

I also might try an lcd hood, but I am not expecting great results under such sunlight. I might be surprised. My previous cameras lcd's have been terrible under strong sun.

I have played around with zebra pattern and it seems to be great for correct exposure. Should it be set on 100 for beach shots?

Now, the main problem. Exporting.
The frame I posted was just one in vegas with altered size & letterbox added.

The connection I am using and tried is RC cables & S-Video.
I'm shooting in 16:9

Capturing could but shouldn't be part of a problem. I open up Premiere and select:
DV - PAL
Widescreen 48kHz
SCREEN SHOWN:----http://a.domaindlx.com/eightamps/Project-Settings.jpg


Do I have the pixel aspect ratio wrong?
should it be Anamorphic 8:3 (1.896)


Also should the Editing mode be Video for Windows instead of DV PLAYBACK.

I wish I had an apple/Final Cut Pro this would all be easier.

& when I export it. I just do file/Export Timeline/Export To Tape.

I think there is something wrong with my project settings.
If anyone could take the time and tell me what the best project settings are it would be greatly appreciated.

HERE ARE MY CURRENT PROJECT SETTINGS:---- http://a.domaindlx.com/eightamps/Settings-Viewer.jpg


Thanks for reading and replying.

Steve

[Julian Luttrell]

It's very hard to offer any specific advice here, because the frame you posted is not the result of the export you describe (you say it has been resized and had bars added in Vegas).

Can you post a frame of the export itself that demonstrates the problem you are seeing?

Regards,

Julian

[Steve Tapping]

The problem is on the TV.
After exporting the video back onto tape.
It seems to lose a bit of quality.
Noticible quality.