All information has been found from the official Panasonic manual "A Guide To The Panasonic DVX200 Camera" by Barry Green.
On the Panasonic DVX200, there are 3 main ways to control the amount of light entering the camera:
- Lens aperture / Iris : The size of the aperture is measured in f-stops. The smaller the f-stop, the wider the aperture and therefore more light enters the lens. The larger the f-stop, the smaller the aperture and therefore less light enters the lens.
It is recommended with the Panasonic DVX200 that when shooting in UHD or 4K you should stay between f/2.8 and f/8.0 to avoid a soft image. If you go deeper than f/8.0 (e.g. f/11 or f/16) the image will be a lot softer due to diffraction.
- Shutter Speed : This controls the amount of time light is allowed to enter the sensor - the longer the shutter speed, the more light is allowed to enter the sensor. The shorter the shutter speed, the less light is allowed in the sensor.
It is important not to use a shutter speed slower than the frame rate as this will result in frames being dropped.
- Neutral Density Filters (ND) : They darken the incoming light without affecting the quality of the image. The DVX200 has three in built ND filters which allows different levels or light cutting.
The settings are as follows:
Off: No ND filters
1/4: Reduces the amount of light coming into the camera by two stops.
1/16: Reduces the amount of light coming into the camera by four stops.
1/64: Reduces the amount of light coming into the camera by six stop.
How to manually judge the correct exposure
As the LCD isn't always the most reliable in displaying the exposure of the footage, I decided to look into the other tools the camera has to offer.
Professional monitoring tools use the IRE scale which measures video brightness from 0 (pure black) to 109 (clipped white).
Zebras : This is an overall on the video monitor that shows up any time an element in the image is brighter than the predetermined level (that you set before shooting). Generally, you do not want to see 105+ zebras anywhere on the screen and when shooting a caucasian face you do not want to see 70+ zebras on their face.
Y Get Marker : Goes hand in hand with zebras. Marker tells you what brightness is occurring at centre of screen.
Waveform Monitor : This tells you the brightness of the image in a 3D way as opposed to a 2D way (like zebras). Shows the relative brightness across screen and how many pixels in each column are at which brightness.
The Histogram : This is a graph that appears to help judge proper exposure.
An external monitor can also be used but as I will be shooting handheld for VET-MAN, I will use the inbuilt LCD screen for ease of use and mobility.
Autoexposure can also be used, however, this would give me less control over the way the image looks, therefore, I will be deciding the settings manually.
Another way to increase the brightness of the image is to adjust the gain (or ISO) of the picture. This works as an electronic amplification of the video signal to artificially make the picture brighter. However, as this is an artificial means of increasing the picture brightness, it means the more gain you apply, the more electronic noise there is in the picture. The best images come with as low ISO as possible. Increasing the gain also does not increase the detail seen in the picture - gain only amplifies the signal the camera is currently seeing, it cannot add detail that can't be seen due to underexposure.
Further to the exposure of the picture, there are more elements to consider for a good quality shot. White balance is important for the colour temperature of the footage. White balance needs to be set for each environment due to the changing colours present - the white balance determines how the camera sees white in each environment with different lighting. To set the white balance, a white card should be held some distance from the camera (preferably near the subject's face), the camera should then be zoomed and the white balance button pressed once the white card takes up the entirety of the frame. This sets how the camera sees white for this environment - it should be set for every environment. The DVX200 is also capable of doing a black balance - to perform this function, the white balance button should be held down. This shuts the iris and the camera analyses the signal to determine the black balance.
The focusing of the image is also important to ensure the best quality image. However, the LCD screen and viewfinder do not have enough pixels to show the imager sharply - this is why the camera has additional settings to aid this. The camera has the 'Expanded Focus Assist' and 'Peaking'. The Expanded Focus Assist magnifies the centre of the frame, allowing for more detail to be displayed. However, this is only useful when setting up the shot as it cannot be used during recording. Peaking can be used during recording, this option draws an outline around objects in sharp focus meaning that it will be clear during the actual recording which aspects are in and out of focus.
Another technique to ensure the best image quality is shooting in 4K. Shooting in 4K means that the footage can be displayed on larger displays without reducing the quality of the image. It also future proofs the footage by shooting in as high quality as possible - this means that even if VET-MAN isn't intended for 4K screens, it is capable of performing on these screens in future. Shooting 4K also ensures the sharpest and clearest HD images possible when shrinks down to HD size as the source image is larger. A further benefit of shooting 4K then down sizing to HD is the reduced noise - this therefore increases the image quality. This also allows for more scope during the colour grading process.
Understanding these settings will allow me to shoot VET-MAN in the best way possible. I will use this information during the further test shoots.
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