I hate to ask a question that has been asked many times, but I am pretty new and still confused.

I have a Canon Optura and a DV300 capture card, and was wondering what settings I should use for shooting a short film that will most likely never be blown up to actual film. Should I go ahead with the 16x9 and frame movie mode, or stay with normal everything. Do you only want to shoot in 16x9 if you're going to blow it up? Thanks for any help.

Adam Avery aeavery@u.washington.edu

-- Adam Avery (aeavery@u.washington.edu), April 27, 1999

Answers

If you intend to view this on a television then don't go with 16:9. Use Progressive Scan and render it to look like film with CineLook. Use a Macintosh G3 and Final Cut Pro. If you think that some day it may be converted to film and shown in a theatre, or you want to end up with a letter-boxed video then by all means go for it! Movie frame mode is only good if you set the shutter speed at 1/60 sec though. If not it will look wrong. Brian

-- Brian (brianmeade@yahoo.com), June 05, 1999.

Actually.... YOU DO NOT want to shoot with the 16:9 mode if you are blowing up to film because you will be losing horizontal resolution.... This is because the XL1 and just about every other prosumer camera out there fakes 16:9. To really do it you need a camera with true 16:9 CCD's. The XL1 aint one of those. To see one of them check out SONY's DSR-500WS.

As for the second part.... the frame mode. Actually you don't always want to use 1/60 of a second... It depends on how much light is present, what lens, how fast the action is, and the look you want. Don't cut off your options so easily. As to the cinelook comments on this page.... I agree wholeheartedly! Also checkout Cinemotion by the same manufacturer.

-- Andrew Fetchko (atf3635@rit.edu), October 09, 1999.

I would just like to touch on the FRAME MODE briefly. As one of the other respondents mentioned, use of the frame mode does not need to be restricted to a shutter speed of 1/60. There is however a gremlin you should watch out for when using frame (movie) mode. Shots that are not stationary, or locked off, are susceptible to jitter problems. Be careful if performing slow pans. Tilts are not as troublesome. Believe it or not, some camera moves in this mode are better served by handheld shots as opposed to pans using a tripod. Also be careful using the image stabilizer if you are on a tripod. Locked off shots can jump slightly, and slow creeping camera moves can be ruined.

Good luck with your project,

James

-- James Russo (jr_sr3@hotmail.com), May 02, 2001.