Hi,
I will soon be shooting some footage of dairy-farms and farming products on a Sony HDV ZIE camera. Ive never shot in HD before and I am wondering will I be letting myself in for a huge headache by choosing HD over DV. Is HD alot more difficult to handle?Or is it just a matter of getting the settings right? Any tips on what I should do is greatly appreciated... essentially I just want crystal clear footage on the camera when I finish the shoot!
Many thanks,
PalAcE.
Sony HDV Z1E
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acgold7
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Re: Sony HDV Z1E
The Z1 is one of the best cams ever made in that price range. It's brilliant on its own -- just leave everything on Auto until you get comfortable with it. Experiment a bit and make sure you read the manual from cover to cover... a few times.
Learning composition and using a tripod at all times are far more important than the exact settings in the cam.
Learning composition and using a tripod at all times are far more important than the exact settings in the cam.
Adam
Re: Sony HDV Z1E
Lucky man having a Z1 ! it's a legendary machine. Its built tough, dependable, and is absolutely a classic machine, and one of the machines that started the HD revolution. (with the FX1).
HD stuff - focus tends to be more critical and generally i would concentrate hard as Adam said on composition, keeping the cam as steady as you can, don't wave it around too much. You've shot DV stuff before, but HD tends to demand even more rigorously good technique.
Stuff like : Use a monopod or a tripod if you can, don't zoom during a take, slow steady movements always good. Watch some TV reporter stuff, you know the sort of thing - a piece of some local event, and ignore the content, but observe the composition used by the camera-operator, the slow pan's (if any), the lack of any sudden movement at all.
Think about each shot you're going to capture. Get up high, stay down low - all good things to mix it up a bit. Keep the cuts (in the edit) as short as you can really. It's VERY easy to bore people and i mean that in a constructive way. People's attention span is really very short when it comes to wathcing video and film. A scene can often be one second or less. Watch a music video - the cuts are often INCREDIBLY short. Like maybe 10 frames or something. Some videos are a succession of 0.5second cuts. It's part of keeping you entertained (subliminally) - the camera moves on to the next scene JUST as your eye/brain can recognise whats its seeing in the current 0.5second scene.
All the best on your foray into HD - let us know how you get on with it all.
HD stuff - focus tends to be more critical and generally i would concentrate hard as Adam said on composition, keeping the cam as steady as you can, don't wave it around too much. You've shot DV stuff before, but HD tends to demand even more rigorously good technique.
Stuff like : Use a monopod or a tripod if you can, don't zoom during a take, slow steady movements always good. Watch some TV reporter stuff, you know the sort of thing - a piece of some local event, and ignore the content, but observe the composition used by the camera-operator, the slow pan's (if any), the lack of any sudden movement at all.
Think about each shot you're going to capture. Get up high, stay down low - all good things to mix it up a bit. Keep the cuts (in the edit) as short as you can really. It's VERY easy to bore people and i mean that in a constructive way. People's attention span is really very short when it comes to wathcing video and film. A scene can often be one second or less. Watch a music video - the cuts are often INCREDIBLY short. Like maybe 10 frames or something. Some videos are a succession of 0.5second cuts. It's part of keeping you entertained (subliminally) - the camera moves on to the next scene JUST as your eye/brain can recognise whats its seeing in the current 0.5second scene.
All the best on your foray into HD - let us know how you get on with it all.
Re: Sony HDV Z1E
palaceat4am,
I agree with everything that has been said above except about time between cuts and zooming.
I assume that your work will have some sort of voice over narrative, so very rapid cuts may not be appropriate, particularly if it is intended at a learning audience. The cuts should allow the visuals to move along with the information in the narrative. Of course they must be reinforced by the spoken word and not just be what is described in words. Bear in mind that HDV will present the viewer with more detail than is usually available with SD so it may take a little longer to lose interest.
As far as zooming is concerned, once the novelty of tromboning the zoom has worn off, it can be used to focus the viewers' attention. By gentle use of the zoom rocker on my FX1E, I can get from wide to tele in as long as 2 minutes 24 seconds. When you can move in (or out) this slow, it can reveal visual information at the same pace as a detailed description. The tricky part is to push the rocker without jarring the camera, - it must obviously be locked down on a tripod. The zoom on the remote will not go that slow.
Another tip is to study the picture profiles descriptions. You can adjust these to create and repeat whatever you want as a look for your footage without having to mess around in post.
Good luck, it is (still) a great camera. Mine is now 5 1/2 years old and still gives good service.
Steve
I agree with everything that has been said above except about time between cuts and zooming.
I assume that your work will have some sort of voice over narrative, so very rapid cuts may not be appropriate, particularly if it is intended at a learning audience. The cuts should allow the visuals to move along with the information in the narrative. Of course they must be reinforced by the spoken word and not just be what is described in words. Bear in mind that HDV will present the viewer with more detail than is usually available with SD so it may take a little longer to lose interest.
As far as zooming is concerned, once the novelty of tromboning the zoom has worn off, it can be used to focus the viewers' attention. By gentle use of the zoom rocker on my FX1E, I can get from wide to tele in as long as 2 minutes 24 seconds. When you can move in (or out) this slow, it can reveal visual information at the same pace as a detailed description. The tricky part is to push the rocker without jarring the camera, - it must obviously be locked down on a tripod. The zoom on the remote will not go that slow.
Another tip is to study the picture profiles descriptions. You can adjust these to create and repeat whatever you want as a look for your footage without having to mess around in post.
Good luck, it is (still) a great camera. Mine is now 5 1/2 years old and still gives good service.
Steve
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palaceat4am
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 16 Jul 2010 12:13
- Location: Ireland
Re: Sony HDV Z1E
Wow,
Gentlemen great advice, thanks a million. It is a super camera. Ive shot an hour of test footage and the quality is really great!I know people who have told me that the Z1 is not a "turn on and go" camera, but literally thats what I did. I adjusted settings as I went along but generally speaking I just jumped in with it and started shooting!Its very true about moving the camera fast( panning etc), I tried panning with speed and when I viewed the captured footage I was getting a bit of motion blur of some sort!Is there a way around this?And what about those shoots where fast motion is needed?Does that mean the z1 would not be good in these conditions?? All in all its a fantastic camera, and I thought the jump from DV to HDV would be scary...truth is its just as easy to edit with HDV as it was with DV(at least thats what I have found). Video takes longer to process but its well...WELL worth the wait!!!
Any more suggestions on my little hiccups are very welcome.
Thanks again,
pAlAcE.
Gentlemen great advice, thanks a million. It is a super camera. Ive shot an hour of test footage and the quality is really great!I know people who have told me that the Z1 is not a "turn on and go" camera, but literally thats what I did. I adjusted settings as I went along but generally speaking I just jumped in with it and started shooting!Its very true about moving the camera fast( panning etc), I tried panning with speed and when I viewed the captured footage I was getting a bit of motion blur of some sort!Is there a way around this?And what about those shoots where fast motion is needed?Does that mean the z1 would not be good in these conditions?? All in all its a fantastic camera, and I thought the jump from DV to HDV would be scary...truth is its just as easy to edit with HDV as it was with DV(at least thats what I have found). Video takes longer to process but its well...WELL worth the wait!!!
Any more suggestions on my little hiccups are very welcome.
Thanks again,
pAlAcE.
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palaceat4am
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 16 Jul 2010 12:13
- Location: Ireland
Re: Sony HDV Z1E
PS : Yes the video I will be composing will be done so with the aid of voice over!
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palaceat4am
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 16 Jul 2010 12:13
- Location: Ireland
Re: Sony HDV Z1E
What are the picture profile description?I seen the button for them on the z1 but I have no idea what it does?!steve wrote:palaceat4am,
Another tip is to study the picture profiles descriptions. You can adjust these to create and repeat whatever you want as a look for your footage without having to mess around in post.
Steve
Re: Sony HDV Z1E
The six picture profiles are available from the button on the rear of the camera. Each one comprises a group of settings for such things as colour level, sharpness, smallest iris setting, agc limits, gamma etc.. The default profiles are designed to suit certain video types, e.g. normal HDv, DV, people, flim-like, black and white etc.. Each one of them can be persoanlised as required.
You need to read the manual to understand what they can do for you.
Steve
You need to read the manual to understand what they can do for you.
Steve