Getting the best out of a 1ccd DV camera?

[Rickmeister]

Its allways difficult (and I think even impossible) to create details that arent there. So the quality that comes out of the camera is what you have to deal with if your budget is this low. What you can do for a nicer end result is playing with the colors, contrast and brightness... it could make it more acceptable...

If you have a little bit more budget you could also go for adapters like MINI35 or Redrocks M2. These adaptors makes it possible to add an SLR lens infront of the original lens for better depth-of-field and more film-like images. Though it is quite expensive when you have such a low budget. For more info on this check www.redrockmicro.com (http://www.redrockmicro.com/).

[mackdadd]

i have a trick i use alot, works GREAT for making video quality twice as good!
i don't know if it works in Premiere, but it works in AE.

import your footage twice. it'll come in as either upper field first or lower field first (under Interpret Footage - Main). Change one of the imported files, so you have one of upper and one of lower. drop them both into a comp, doesn't matter which is on top, but make the top one 50% opacity.

zoom in and look at the difference as you toggle the visibility of the top layer - the difference is undeniable. look at people's hair, look at jaggy edges.

if you have really fast action or fast camera moves, this won't work too well, because it introduces a doubling effect on the motion blur of things moving fast through the frame. but for most general shots, this literally doubles your resolution.

and the same effect CANNOT be achieved by simply removing interlacing. Removing interlacing simply doubles the alternating lines of the video, which is exactly the opposite of what this effect is meant to counteract.

I've used this on everything i've ever shot with my 1ccd camera, and the first time we watched footage on one of those 4 foot wide tv's, all my filmmaker friends were asking me why my footage looked better than their 3ccd "filmlook"ed footage. I didn't tell them. Let them figure it out on their own.

I also always color correct to look more like film, and add 2 layers of grain - one big chunky monochrome-in-multiply-mode layer, and one very fine color grain layer. I vary their opacities.

[Bliz]

Thanks guys I'll look into both of those approaches.

The SLR lens adapters sound intruiging. It looks like they'd be useful even if you had a 3ccd camera, to get the extra DOF etc. My camera doesn't have any sort of mounting ring but I'm wondering if I could knock something up with their $45 D.I.Y. guide (Redrock's guide)

[revilo3D]

Makes pretty good sense!

Gonna try that when i get to work tomorrow :)



i have a trick i use alot, works GREAT for making video quality twice as good!
i don't know if it works in Premiere, but it works in AE.

import your footage twice. it'll come in as either upper field first or lower field first (under Interpret Footage - Main). Change one of the imported files, so you have one of upper and one of lower. drop them both into a comp, doesn't matter which is on top, but make the top one 50% opacity.

zoom in and look at the difference as you toggle the visibility of the top layer - the difference is undeniable. look at people's hair, look at jaggy edges.

if you have really fast action or fast camera moves, this won't work too well, because it introduces a doubling effect on the motion blur of things moving fast through the frame. but for most general shots, this literally doubles your resolution.

and the same effect CANNOT be achieved by simply removing interlacing. Removing interlacing simply doubles the alternating lines of the video, which is exactly the opposite of what this effect is meant to counteract.

I've used this on everything i've ever shot with my 1ccd camera, and the first time we watched footage on one of those 4 foot wide tv's, all my filmmaker friends were asking me why my footage looked better than their 3ccd "filmlook"ed footage. I didn't tell them. Let them figure it out on their own.

I also always color correct to look more like film, and add 2 layers of grain - one big chunky monochrome-in-multiply-mode layer, and one very fine color grain layer. I vary their opacities.

[H3ro]

Did anyone get it to work? I could not really see a differnece. Maybe I did something wrong

[uncon]

Isn't this just de-interlacing by blending fields? There are many ways to de-interlace.



i have a trick i use alot, works GREAT for making video quality twice as good!
i don't know if it works in Premiere, but it works in AE.

import your footage twice. it'll come in as either upper field first or lower field first (under Interpret Footage - Main). Change one of the imported files, so you have one of upper and one of lower. drop them both into a comp, doesn't matter which is on top, but make the top one 50% opacity.

zoom in and look at the difference as you toggle the visibility of the top layer - the difference is undeniable. look at people's hair, look at jaggy edges.

if you have really fast action or fast camera moves, this won't work too well, because it introduces a doubling effect on the motion blur of things moving fast through the frame. but for most general shots, this literally doubles your resolution.

and the same effect CANNOT be achieved by simply removing interlacing. Removing interlacing simply doubles the alternating lines of the video, which is exactly the opposite of what this effect is meant to counteract.

I've used this on everything i've ever shot with my 1ccd camera, and the first time we watched footage on one of those 4 foot wide tv's, all my filmmaker friends were asking me why my footage looked better than their 3ccd "filmlook"ed footage. I didn't tell them. Let them figure it out on their own.

I also always color correct to look more like film, and add 2 layers of grain - one big chunky monochrome-in-multiply-mode layer, and one very fine color grain layer. I vary their opacities.

[mackdadd]

Isn't this just de-interlacing by blending fields

yes. yes, there are many ways to dinterlace, but this looks the best to me by far. like i say, regular deinterlacing interpolation simply take one field and doubles it. this makes bigger jaggies, and does nothing to get rid of them. this field blending technique gets rid of them.

i didn't invent it or anything, i just love it. i see a huge difference everytime i use it, and people i've shown my short movies to have seen a difference as well. if you don't like it, by all means, don't use it. i was just offereing it up as advice.

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