Shooting a video camera monitor

[ussinners]

If I'm duping this thread sorry. But, I can't find the original.

Instead of showing a live shot, I'd like to have one of what the monitor is capturing. Would I take a shot of the blank monitor and then combine that with a live shot, giving the appearance of it being on the monitor. Or do I just shoot the monitor live? If I shoot it live, will it have those annoying lines going up and down it?

 

[2001 Productions]

It depends. If your camera is capable of scan adjustment, you can correct for the pulsating bar effect when shooting a CRT. Many upper-end cameras have this capability. With a lower-end camera you can try adjusting the shutter speed until the bar goes away. That has worked for me before.

If the monitor you're shooting is an LCD, I don't think you'll have a problem as I don't believe they scan the way a CRT does.

 

[PaulGriffith]

If you're a decent compositor, shooting the blank monitor then adding the video in post will yield the best result because you have the most control. Monitors are essentially light sources, so to get them to feel natural when shooting them you need to turn tepheir brightness way down and light everything else up bright so it's more even like the human eye would see it. Plus, scan limes.

Still, even with all the downsides of shooting a monitor, if you can't composite then it's better to shoot it live.