Cinematography Mailing List

 

Beta Settings

Published : 14th January 2006

Looked thru the archives but couldn't find anything on the subject.

I'm wondering what kind of menu settings people like to use when shooting good ol' SP beta for broadcast when you want to approximate film or, now, 24p and the producer has specified SP.

I usually lower detail and add a Soft FX 1/2 or 1, get on the longer and wider end of the zoom, and light as I would for film.

How far can I go in lowering detail? What else can be done?

Thanks,

Rob Lindsay
www.roblindsaypictures.com

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>I usually lower detail and add a Soft FX 1/2 or 1, get on the longer and >wider end of the zoom, and light as I would for film.

That's about all I've ever done, except that I use a black net on the back of the lens that looks like a lighter version of bobbinet. I don't like wedding veil; the four-sided weave creates odd criss-cross diffusion effects, whereas a hexagonal weave turns highlights more into circles.

I've never done anything special when shooting video like film other than to use a matrix I like (CCIR 709 on BVW-D600 and DVW-700 cameras), use some diffusion, and light it and frame it like I would a film shoot.

I find that it's easier to make Beta SP look filmic than DVcam, which just looks too sharp and electronic.

Art Adams, DP [film|hidef|video]
San Francisco Bay Area - "Silicon Valley"
http://www.artadams.net/local

"I lit a set last week. Burned it to the ground. Next time I'll use lights."

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Black pro mist, lower the master ped a bit, increase the red gamma a hair.

Walter Graff
BlueSky Media, Inc.
www.bluesky-web.com
Offices in NYC and Amherst Mass.

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>Black pro mist, lower the master ped a bit, increase the red gamma a >hair.

Interesting. I've always lowered gamma overall for a "filmic" look.

Art Adams, DP [film|hidef|video]
San Francisco Bay Area - "Silicon Valley"

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>Black pro mist, lower the master ped a bit, increase the red gamma a >hair.

>Interesting. I've always lowered gamma overall for a "filmic" look.

Interesting yes. I go both ways on it Art. I have found that blue lighting (HMI, etc) is very kind to video. The best film-like looking stuff I've shot was using natural daylight and working with the black ProMist, ped and gamma adjustments for taste and shallow depth of field. Looks like good film stock to me. But in some instances the red addition works good to outside of that. I think the answer is it all depends on what and where you
are shooting.

Walter Graff
BlueSky Media, Inc.

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