Do-It-Yourself Outdoor Diffuser for Your DVX Film
by Dom Cruz

You can do it!!  Do it yourself that is!! If you’re shooting outdoor scenes for your film and video production and the Panasonic DVX100 in-camera ND64/8 filter isn’t minimizing the over exposure (due to that blaring hot sun), then here are some great ideas for some DIY light diffusers for outdoor lighting techniques for your movie production.

You can use 4mil plastic sheeting from your local hardware store. This fine quality plastic sheeting come in very large rolls of 6 all the way to 12 feet rolls and are mostly used to protect floors when painting the interior of your house. So not only can you set design with it but you can pin those babies up to a couple of c-stands or any upright standing, secure object for that matter and then you will have diffused natural sunlight.  Don’t forget not to shoot between the hours of 11:00am and 2:00pm depending on your time zone because it might be a bit difficult to suspend 12 feet of plastic sheeting above your head in mid air.

Another cheap do it yourself filmmaking alternative is to use a frosted shower curtain.  Again have a couple of buddies hold it up just enough to diffuse that 3 o’clock sunbeam shooting in to your actor’s face  and you’ll have a cheap yet highly effective natural light diffuser.

You can also use your grandma’s sheer curtains from her bedroom patio sliding door for your film production. Or just buy some white sheer material from your neighborhood fabric or arts and crafts store. You can pretty much use anything that will soften the light that is a neutral whitish or clear of color to keep you subject palette even.

Now I know that some of you are saying to yourselves… why doesn’t this dummy just suggest shooting under the shade… now there’s a really cheap light diffuser alternative!!  Well as you know, that’s if you’re a true DVX100 user of course. (No offense to the new camera owners) Although the almighty Panasonic DVX 100 has built in features like the ND filters, manual f-stop control, in camera zebra settings and almost every possibility of calibrating your internal settings for your digital film, it’s still not enough to smooth out extreme shadows, complex lighting techniques and conflicting lighting sources. So when your subject sits beautifully diffused under the shade, meanwhile all the action in the back ground I’m sure would be no less than a white or blown out glare behind him. YUK!

Please allow me to explain.  

Many 16mm film projects are often compared to the images captured by the DVX100A or the DVX 100B because on the big screen they almost look identical. Almost! If you ever worked on a film production you would know that the images created on film is due to light being exposed to the film reel through the cameras iris (the simple explanation) which in turn burns a photograph on to a frame of film creating an image. Now on the other hand with the Panasonic DVX100 what captures the images are the 3CCD (charge coupler device) better known as a 3 chip which captures the colors red, blue, green and then processes them into the cameras digital recording head and writes the information to mini-dv tape.

My point is that between shades dark to light captured with a 16mm film camera is smooth because the light is exposed naturally, but shades between dark to light with the DVX 100 or any mini-dv camera for that matter will see a substantial amount of pixels because the images are “written” to tape through the perspective of the 3CCD rather than being exposed through the optics of your digital camera on to your film.

So please, listen to your DVX 100 digital camera. If it flashes “ND 1/8” then do it!! And if your actor looks like a zebra from the Los Angeles Zoo then go auto iris just enough to minimize the blow out and until you establish your angle then set it back to manual to prevent the auto iris fluctuation. Remember Panasonic and in addition to countless independent film and video productions spend millions of dollars to push those digital cameras to the limit. So sit back and take notes and in no time you’ll be shooting your very own digital movie production. Long live independent films!

Do YOU have a cheap, low budget, do-it-yourself DVX100 tip or trick that you'd like to contribute?
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Thanks for helping the grass roots grow!