How can I make file from a Sony TRV11 DV camcorder look better? It's kinda cheap looking, and doesn't have that professional feal to it like you see on Tv. I know it won't ever look like tv. but i'd like to get it as close as i can.
How can I make file from a Sony TRV11 DV camcorder look better? It's kinda cheap looking, and doesn't have that professional feal to it like you see on Tv. I know it won't ever look like tv. but i'd like to get it as close as i can.
easy question, hard to answer.
no, not hard:
there's NO way to get this effect.
some technical details:
pro cams do use 3 ccds, your camera has just one (that's that piece of hardware, which makes light into electrons... kind of ).
your camera compresses this "cheap" signal very much, to get it on this tiny little string of magnetic tape inside the mini (!) dv cassette. a pro cam does compress either, but much less...-
your are using the existing light; if you compare your video with that made in a pro studio... did you ever get inside a tv studio? BRIGHT is the word!!! in a normal gameshow studio, you will find more then 750.000 Watts of light working (no kiddin)... compare that to your typical four 60Watt bulbs in your living room .- btw: if you get any chance to be inside a tv studio, make some recordings with your cam - they will look terrific good!!
how do you connect your camcorder to your tv set? antenna? svhs? scart? what kind of cable? do you compare the quality from tv with that on your compuetr screen?
and now the cheauvinistic answer of today: do you use ntsc? never the same color...- consumer ntsc cams are not as good as nstc pro stuff. or as PAL
I agree with k_munic. The most important thing you can do is use lots of light. The more light you have the less noisy your video will be. That is the number one difference between what you are used to shooting and what you see on TV.
Also, using lots of diffuse light will fill in most of the shadows in your scene which will make it look more professional.
Once you have your scene set turn off the automatic brightness on your camera and manually adjust brightness and contrast for your scene. Try not to use too much contrast. Try to light the scene evenly. If you don't do this the camera may hunt for a good setting while you are taping which will cause some distracting changes in brightness and contrast.
If possible, turn off the autofocus and set the focus manually before taping. If you don't do this the camera may hunt for a good focus. It is distracting to see the scene constantly going in and out of focus. I especially noticed this on a Sony camera when I was shopping for a DV-CAM.
Use a tripod.
Use pan and zoom sparingly.
If you are recording people speaking then hook up a microphone to them and run that wire directly into your camera. If it is an action scene (little league baseball for example) then get a shotgun microphone of some sort.
This should help. Experiment with the saturation level. Film and TV seem to me to have highly saturated colors.
Try asking the same question at places dedicated to video. I can't recommend one offhand but I think the LA Final Cut Pro users group might have such a forum.
Comments
Originally posted by Altivec_2.0
How can I make file from a Sony TRV11 DV camcorder look better? It's kinda cheap looking, and doesn't have that professional feal to it like you see on Tv. I know it won't ever look like tv. but i'd like to get it as close as i can.
easy question, hard to answer.
no, not hard:
there's NO way to get this effect.
some technical details:
pro cams do use 3 ccds, your camera has just one (that's that piece of hardware, which makes light into electrons... kind of
your camera compresses this "cheap" signal very much, to get it on this tiny little string of magnetic tape inside the mini (!) dv cassette. a pro cam does compress either, but much less...-
your are using the existing light; if you compare your video with that made in a pro studio... did you ever get inside a tv studio? BRIGHT is the word!!! in a normal gameshow studio, you will find more then 750.000 Watts of light working (no kiddin)... compare that to your typical four 60Watt bulbs in your living room
how do you connect your camcorder to your tv set? antenna? svhs? scart? what kind of cable? do you compare the quality from tv with that on your compuetr screen?
and now the cheauvinistic answer of today: do you use ntsc? never the same color...- consumer ntsc cams are not as good as nstc pro stuff. or as PAL
so, only clue: use as much light as you can get!
Also, using lots of diffuse light will fill in most of the shadows in your scene which will make it look more professional.
Once you have your scene set turn off the automatic brightness on your camera and manually adjust brightness and contrast for your scene. Try not to use too much contrast. Try to light the scene evenly. If you don't do this the camera may hunt for a good setting while you are taping which will cause some distracting changes in brightness and contrast.
If possible, turn off the autofocus and set the focus manually before taping. If you don't do this the camera may hunt for a good focus. It is distracting to see the scene constantly going in and out of focus. I especially noticed this on a Sony camera when I was shopping for a DV-CAM.
Use a tripod.
Use pan and zoom sparingly.
If you are recording people speaking then hook up a microphone to them and run that wire directly into your camera. If it is an action scene (little league baseball for example) then get a shotgun microphone of some sort.
This should help. Experiment with the saturation level. Film and TV seem to me to have highly saturated colors.
Try asking the same question at places dedicated to video. I can't recommend one offhand but I think the LA Final Cut Pro users group might have such a forum.