10
12 Golden rules for shooting with
MOVIEtubeTM on HD
1. Perform a gate check frequently
Check for dust and dirt on the clear protection filter behind the film lens inside the
MOVIEtube. Use a lens brush and/ or an air duster, in clean environment so not to scratch
the surface. Check the surface by panning over bright background like a white card, whilst
watching the image on the viewfinder or monitor
2. Watch T-stop on film lens
The film lens shouldn’t be closed down more than T=3.0. Best results are achieved with
open aperture on high-speed lenses (T=1.3) Notice that the more open the film lens, the
less depth of field you will get.
3. Watch out for grain
Check each shot for grain especially if you are filming with white and/or bright background
and doing slow camera movement. With the T-Stop down at 3.0, the grain of the
FILMscreen may become visible. In that case fully open the aperture and or avoid the bright
background and or restrict the camera movement.
4. Zooming gate.
If zooming in past the open size of the 35mm gate. Remember that the grain will slightly
increase. Filming with movements (pan, tilt, travel…) fully open the aperture on your high-
speed lenses to T=1.3. Also notice that zooming too close will close down the docking
cameras aperture even more and you’ll lose overall sensitivity.
5. Check for gate-vigneting
Make sure zoom is set to manual and your docking cameras zoom ring is fixed or marked
with tape at focal length 25mm on Sony HDV-Z1/ FX1. Frequently check if everything is still
as it should be. Important: Always check for vigneting with an underscan broadcast
viewfinder (MOVIEtube ST) or with a control monitor set to underscan mode.
6. Docking camera is set to infinity focus
Make sure, the docking camera’s focus is set to infinity by pressing the infinity button. An
infinity symbol will appear in the docking cameras viewfinder. This will set the back focal
length of the docking camera to the correct position. Switch focus to manual and tape or
mark the focus ring.
7. Docking Camera image stabilizer turned off
To avoid the gate shifting into your image, image stabilizers like Steady-Shot or IOS have
to be switched off.
8. Docking camera sensitivity
To shoot with the highest possible sensitivity, open the Iris completely. Consider shooting
with shutter speed 1/25 for cinematographic look and increasing the sensitivity by 1 Stop.
Also 6db gain will gain 1 Stop. HD Video can handle high gain, due to its high resolution.
Even 12db looks good. Remember shooting with celluloid? An 800 ASA film has a lot of
grain and it looks good. Don’t be afraid to use gain, check it out. Use it as a tool, like
choosing different film sensitivity.
9. Progressive 25p, Cine Gamma & other settings
Progressive mode (25 full frames/ sec) can support the film look. Nevertheless it’s lowering
the overall sensitivity of your system. In that case better use 1/25 shutter interlaced and do
the rest in postproduction. Since the MOVIEtube FILMscreen is design to achieve film look
with video, the image has a warm film-look, which is not to colourful in appearance. Check
Cine Gamma and other film presets on your docking camera with MOVIEtube. You might
not need it. Also check the colour temperature of your image; sometimes you may need to
do a white balance.
10. Confirm the record turned on
Don’t forget to start the docking camera by pressing the record button. If possible establish
a voice command like “Speed” or “Running” to avoid shooting without recording.
11. Neutral density filters
If you have to deal with bright light intensity while shooting exteriors, use the docking
cameras build in ND filters. Don’t stop the docking camera lens down more than T=4.0.
This will prevent seeing any dust on the outside of the ocular and a vertical black line from
the prism. You can also use “real” ND filters in a mattebox in front of your film lens, these
type of ND’s are offering the best quality. For shooting documentaries, you may need to
use the auto iris. In this case just limit the auto iris in the menu to not close down more than
f4.0.
12. Only use tested equipment
Before shooting we advise that you test your equipment like; docking camera, lenses,
matteboxes, filters, follow focus. Especially check the lenses for overall sharpness / quality
and for breathing ( zooming while changing focus). Wider lenses are softer than long lenses
above F40mm and tend to darken corners. Test Photo lenses, especial zoom lenses for
holding focus while zooming. Also if a lens causes vigneting it may be a 35mm regular gate
lens only! Or the lens is not centred properly anymore (old, damaged etc.) In that case just
slightly zoom into the gate. 16m lenses may work, but are not recommended. Caution:
Lenses, which measures more than 32mm from the bayonet flange to the end of the last
lens element, are not recommended. As it may crash into protection filter. Zoom lenses
where the iris diaphragm is near the bayonet flange, such as Cooke T3.0 18-100, T3.9 25-
250 and T3.1 20-100, are not supported
