...and I need some pointers.
First off, the manual lens is great, reminds me of the 16mm zooms we used in film school. And it's got distance markings on it. Now, the only question I have is this: for 16mm, we'd always look in the ASC manual, find the appropriate chart for the corresponding lens size and focul length, then mark our focus on the barrel. And, of course, that applied to 35mm also. So, with this Canon video lens, is there a place I can get focus charts for it? Why I ask is that "rule of thirds" focus thing -- you know, where the focus around a subject is strongest one third in front and two thirds behind. If I had the charts, I could set to a focal distance that would hold a few objects (within close range) in focus, rather than having to pull every two seconds.
Also, I would like to get the deepest/richest black levels possible. When I use a single source to light, I'd like the rest to drop off into blackness, but of course, being video, the blacks appear pretty pixel-ish or grainy. If I fool with color gain & sharpness, will this help?
First off, congrats with the camera and lens! That's the best possible package with that camera (not counting the mini-35 adapator). I really want one of those manual lenses. I hate the standard one.
I don't know about focus charts for that particular lens, but from working with pro lenses on betacams and such, it's pretty easy to eyeball it.
Getting really rich blacks is hard to do. I wouldn't mess with the color gain on the camera; it'll make things even noisier. Black promists may help a bit, but they also might make your image too muddy in the brighter areas. If you don't need to worry so much about depth of field, maybe you could use a really bright source light that's a few stops brighter than what you would normally use, and then just close the iris to the appropriate level.
But even if I do that, won't the "black" sections of the screen still come off as a fuzzy grey?
As a side note, I did some b&w tests, and they look amazing!! This camera is gonna pull off some early-Godard like b&w pictures. It's just the color I'm worried about.
Yeah...the blacks will always give you trouble, it's video. As far as the focus charts go....I guess I am confused. I used them too with 16mm, but only cause it was a shitty viewfinder camera I was using. With the XL-1...GB is right, you should have no problem just eyeballin' it....
Appreciate the help, boys. I need all I can get.
Here's the problem: the xl1s color viewfinder is the camera's Achilleus Heel. It has been said that it is unreliable as far as what you see is not always what is being recorded. It's no problem with a single subject, but say I'm doing a hand-held with two subjects that are about two feet apart. I wanna find a focal length where I can hold both in decent focus. Of course, if I could afford to pay a crew, I would just have the focus puller riding the knob (perhaps with a remote). But that isn't an option. So I figured if I had a chart of some kind (especially with no monitor on set), I could be SURE what I'm recording is in focus. ~whew~
BTW - I have some short films I'd like to put on the site, just for people to see -- it would be a laugh. But they're on VHS (or beta master). I have no clue how to go about this. PM me if you have suggestions/wanna help.
CECIL JEALOUS!! CECIL SMASH PUNY CAMERA!!!!
Do yourself a favor and find a monitor. I've shot a few things with the
XL1S and I loved it, but I had a monitor on set and it was invaluable. I had trouble with the blacks as well. If you haven't seen Persoanl Velocity rent it, it's very good, and Ellen Kuras does a commentary on it. She shot with PD150's but she talks about having a monitor on set and how valueable it really is. Borrow one, find the money to rent. Shoot on the weekend, rent on Friday pay one day rate and get it for the whole weekend.
Yeah, I'll have to for the serious work. But I also wanna do some improv stuff, and shoot tons of docs, and for that it's just gonna be me operating, and that's it. When I actually shoot another serious movie, I'll get a DP who knows how to light, 'cause I'm fairly useless at that.
Here's another one: what do I do if I wanna shoot 1.85:1 or 2.35:1? I know people mask the monitor, but what about the eyepiece? Or does the op just have to eyeball? Or, if you get the 35mm converter, I assume all your line marks are in the eyepiece...
16x9 is close enough (1.78:1), where you could compensate that way. for 2.35:1 I know people who have actually masked the matte box, or certainly eyeball it, and you could readjust, as necessary, in post with a picture in picture effect.
For 2:35:1, yeah, just eyeball it and then, if you were off a little bit in, you can adjust the image's placement within the 2:35:1 mask to cover any mistakes. The only time you'll really have trouble is with movement-heavy handheld shots.
I'd hightly suggest getting a monitor. I rent one when I can, and when I can't I use this old Comodore 64 monitor I found laying around. It actually works really well.
Are those wireless monitors? 'Cause I imagine a hooked-up monitor would get pretty cumbersome (especially with all the moving shots I do).
The Sony pro monitors that I rent -- I forget the numerical nomenclature, PVM-something or other -- have Anton Bauer battery attachments.
How much do those cost to rent (per day)?
Ah, here it is: The Sony PVM 8041 field monitor. I get them for about forty five or fifty a day, but as mentioned above, if you rent on a Friday, you can keep it until Monday. Also, most rental places will give you a three day week -- pay for three days, keep for five -- UNLESS you rent it on a Tuesday, in which case that last day will fall on a Saturday and you'll get to keep it until the following Monday! I love exploiting the policies of rental facilities!
Cool, mucho thanks.
I've got another q: what's a comfortable shutter speed to shoot at, and why would I screw with the shutter speed (besides to get the strobe effect, or to compensate for low light)?
1/60 is the best all around.
1/30 looks really cool, though, depending on what you want to do, but on the XL=1s it's not actually a real shutter speed .... it's a digital simulation of one.
Right, I forgot about that.
So why would I adjust the shutter to, say, 1/800 or more? What would that achieve?
nothing that you couldn't achieve in post. In my experience, in-camera effects for digital cameras are probably better left untouched. But that's just my opinion, experiementing the with camera may be your best bet.
So... I've been doing some tests, and realizing just how bad I am with the camera. I wanna shoot in mostly natural or practical light (for the most part because I have no other lights), and I know there must be a better technique for this, 'cause my stuff looks horrible. Can anybody recommend any good video books that might help? Or some fresh approaches to this -- I realize you need lots of light to make video look good, but there just has to be a way to shoot DARK scenes... I mean, they look terrible!!
Sadly filters and lights, i.e. things that cause money. Sorry I don't know of any books. I never seem to find good solid info on such matters. Try using practical lights, with low wattage bulbs. It sucks because what you see in your head for a scene and what you actually shoot are never the same and it can be a real bummer.
Well, filters are a place to start. I have a polarizer, a uv, and a couple nd's. Besides pro-mist filters, are there any others that I should get?
Does anybody know how much Kino lights cost? We used them on another video shoot I was on, and they worked great.
From what I've heard, those filters are the ones to use for video.
Don't know the cost on renting kinos, shouldn't be too bad. Check out www.kinoflo.com
thanks
don't use light gain if you want better blacks. anything above +12db on the xl1s looks like shiiiit
i wasn't able to get the manual lens on mine, which i dearly wanted, and the zoom drone gets a bit annoying in quiet scenes. the electronic motor delay isn't as bad as you'd think, though
i think the XL1 is the worst mini dv camera -- picture quality is poor -- way too "sharp" and oversaturated -- the design of the camera is exteremly awkward to operate -- it's built like garbage -- its not very "sturdy"., on and on and on.... ill take the pd-150 any day of the week.
Oh thanks, that's great advice. I guess I'll junk my whole camera package I just bought. Whooo, it's a good thing I talked to you.
Right. I'm gonna listen to the guy that defends Minority Report.
I used to sing the praises of promist filters, but I don't anymore. I think they make the image too muddy. If you're going to use one, I'd suggest not going any higher than 1/4 filtration. And also, they give an effect that's actually pretty easy to approximate in post production. But you should try them out, see what you think.
At the place I rent equipment from, kino flos go for $40 or, for the double bank, $60 (p/day). That includes the c-stand and extra bulbs, so you can alternate between tungsten and daylight balanced bulbs.
Hmm, $40 a day is good I suppose, but not for my no-budget stuff. I need to buy some lights, then I'll have them all the time. It costs more up front, but then I won't have to worry about having them back at a certain time.
Ghostboy, in your opinion, what are some of the best-results lights to use with this camera?
One thing to remember about lighting for video is that less is more, unlike film lighting packages where you have to overlight and meter - video lighting tends to make things look flat on screen, you have to differentiate between your subject and your setting, and don't use white lights without gels unless you want hot spots on the image.
But a great cheap way to light is to go to home depot and fo rforty bucks you get lights stands with two lamps, and you can gel it, as these are overtly bright lights, go to a wrapping paper store or whatever and get colored cellophane wrapping, its cheap and you can use it to diffuse, alternate a cool and a warm color to create a nice neutral on camera.
Also get a white piece of foam core board to bounce the light, this cuts out hot spots and allows for more natural lighting. This is when you aren't using a rooms natural lighting as it is.
There's a book called the "5 C's of Cineamatography" or something of the like, it is made for film, but can be adapted well for video, you just have to do tests to get the best look.
And if your running editing on a Mac then download Lucas freeware for after image adjustment it works wonders.
Yeah, Michael beat me to my answer. I bought my first light kit at Home Depot...a couple of 500w work lights, and handful of clip lights. Spent about fifty bucks. That was four years ago, and I still use them! Even on projects where I've had a full lighting kit, they've come in handy. You can also make your own barn doors out of tin foil, and make sure you have plenty of gel. The great thing about DV is that you can adjust the color temperature and everything so easily.