Comments

farss wrote on 12/30/2004, 4:13 PM
I'm only guessing, if you mean what's recorded to the tape then technically I don't think so, it's all 8 bit. What really matters more though is the preprocessing. You can squash a pretty good image into 8 bits per channel, done well I seriously doubt Joe Average on the typical TV would notice the difference between 8 and 10 bit. In fact I'll go so far as to say they'll possibly find the 10 bit stuff worse. Why you ask, well the average TV and it's viewing conditions mean they just cannot see that much dynamic range, to say nothing of how the damn things adjusted. All the detail in the shadows just turns out as black. If you;re relying on some vital part of the plot being seen in those shadows your audience will not get it.
Same thing goes for audio, you can record audio with 100dB dynamic range pretty cheaply these days, try getting anyone to appreciate that!
If you're aiming for cinema release, somewhat different story, if you can afford the cost of ONE release print, you can afford to shoot on just about anything, and remember, release prints don't last that long!
Bob.
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 12/30/2004, 4:48 PM
Thanks Bob. I've grown to have quite the ... appreciation, for you guys (you, barry Green, Grazie, and of course let's not forget spot. Anyway, thanks for the input.
Spot|DSE wrote on 12/30/2004, 5:12 PM
Farss is right of course, but you can "push" the dynamics of the signal with the Z1, using HyperGain, and it works pretty darn good. Yeah, you induce noise, just like anything else you crank the gain on, but the signal to noise is good enough that if you have time to set up the shot, you can get a pretty reasonable picture in the dark. Nice thing is, you can assign it to a button.
farss wrote on 12/30/2004, 5:14 PM
If you're going to get serious about shooting HD, be it HDV or anything HiDef I think you need to think about matte boxes and filters. I've watched some HDV footage of elderly people shot tight and let me tell you that amount of detail is not flattering.
Getting back to your original question, I suspect various graduated ND filters can work wonders. Good ones are expensive, a good set of filters and a matte box will cost as much as the camera. However unlike the camera 10 years from now the filters and matte box will have appreciated in value. I don't know though if 4x4 filters will be wide enough for the Z1/FX1 with the WA lens, maybe we need to go to 4x6 which will bump the price up a lot. Maybe SPOT has some insight into this?
Bob.
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 12/30/2004, 5:16 PM
with about 8 years of photo, I know that filters and be VERY expensive

Dave
Barry_Green wrote on 12/30/2004, 8:26 PM
Good filters are, yes. And with something like an HD camera, you're going to want the very best filters you can get. Shooting HD through a cheap polyester filter is not the way to get the highest-quality image; you're going to want some good Schneider or B+W or Heliopan filters, and they aren't cheap, but... you don't want to save money on anything that goes in front of your lens.
Spot|DSE wrote on 12/30/2004, 11:05 PM
I dunno...The Century Optics mattebox is inexpensive by comparison to the Chrosziel, but I don't think there is any difference over all, except that with the Chrosziel, you can put a french flag on the front and you can't with the C'Optics box....But they hold the same filters. But that's the only place I'd be saving $$. But if Chrosziel wants me to demo a box, I'm happy to review it. It might take me a year or so to write about it though....:-)
farss wrote on 12/30/2004, 11:14 PM
Anyone know what size filters you need to work with the WA adaptor?
Bob.