I'm working on a movie where I want the foreground objects out to the horizon to be featureless and black... a silhouette style. I first used this effect in my movie "Breaking Green", and I thought I'd expand on it. I am recording 4k, 30 fps, HQ & Full FOV, HLG.
While reviewing the raw clips on an iMac Pro with an HDR monitor, I noticed a very faint flashing of the black areas of the clip in time with the rear LED's (front ones are off). Not a good thing for the effect I want. At first I thought it was reflected light. But it can't be at 200 ft or greater... there's nothing to reflect off of behind the drone, and the light would have to project to trees on the horizon over 1000 ft away. So I loaded the clips into FCPX and turned on the video scopes. Naturally the blacks are crushed, that's what I wanted. But the scopes show a definite influence in the blacks each time the rear LED's fire. I then loaded a ND32 filter and tried it in late afternoon, pointing into the sun and turning down the exposure to simulate a dusk situation. It still displays a regular jump in the blacks.
My best theory is that there is either an electromagnetic influence from the LED's or a current draw spike each time they fire. Don't know. This is not a problem when shooting normal, everyday video at the beach. Nobody crushes blacks like that.
Not sure there is a solution. Just thought I'd share.
(if someday I finish my video, and you see this faint flashing in the dark areas, well there you are.)
While reviewing the raw clips on an iMac Pro with an HDR monitor, I noticed a very faint flashing of the black areas of the clip in time with the rear LED's (front ones are off). Not a good thing for the effect I want. At first I thought it was reflected light. But it can't be at 200 ft or greater... there's nothing to reflect off of behind the drone, and the light would have to project to trees on the horizon over 1000 ft away. So I loaded the clips into FCPX and turned on the video scopes. Naturally the blacks are crushed, that's what I wanted. But the scopes show a definite influence in the blacks each time the rear LED's fire. I then loaded a ND32 filter and tried it in late afternoon, pointing into the sun and turning down the exposure to simulate a dusk situation. It still displays a regular jump in the blacks.
My best theory is that there is either an electromagnetic influence from the LED's or a current draw spike each time they fire. Don't know. This is not a problem when shooting normal, everyday video at the beach. Nobody crushes blacks like that.
Not sure there is a solution. Just thought I'd share.
(if someday I finish my video, and you see this faint flashing in the dark areas, well there you are.)
