The HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm has finally left behind the Digital Beta format it's used since its inception nine years ago and moved into the world of HD. The show, about Seinfeld co-creator Larry David offending or being offended by everyone he comes in contact with, began as a real documentary about David into which HBO wasn't eager to invest a lot of money.

The show, which has been shot by Cinematographer Bill Sheehy since the second season, developed a loyal following, and until recently there has been no strong push to change the winning formula. But for the current season, with the high penetration of HD displays and a general mandate for HD-quality programming by the cable network, it became apparent to all involved that it was time to bring Larry David's world into high definition.

"But they didn't want the look to take too big a jump," Sheehy explains. "We wanted to maintain continuity with the previous seasons. We didn't want to blow people away with the transition."

Sheehy investigated the Panasonic AJ-HPX3700 P2 HD VariCam, but the post team wanted to continue with a tape-based workflow. "I also prefer the colorimetry of Sony," he adds. "Skin tones look rosier to me with Sony cameras. This was true with the standard-definition cameras and the F900."

The cinematographer was close to sold on the Sony HDW-F900 until he heard about the HDW-650P. "It uses the same camera head as the XDCAM 800," Sheehy explains, "but it records to an HDCAM deck. It's cheaper, lighter and has a better sensitivity than the F900. I could regularly rate it at [EI] 800. We shoot in a lot of restaurants, and we could boost the gain to +6 and rate the camera at 1600 and I didn't have to worry about noise. It was really a lot better, especially for low-light work, than the F900, and we could use the same [tape-based] workflow."

Sheehy is ambivalent about the perception that Curb uses only "available light." The notion automatically dismisses the significant amount of effort and creativity that goes into every setup, though it is also a testament to how successful he is at creating just the kind of unplanned, matter-of-fact feel the creators want for the show.

"It's the biggest farce that the show 'isn't lit,'" he says. "I hear that from everybody. I have two 10-tons, a 14-person crew and pre-rigs. We light everything. It's one of the stylistic elements of Curb that if you watch our show carefully, it looks exactly as the eye sees the world. Windows don't blow out. People walk in the door and it's not 'nuclear' outside. They walk from room to room and the color temperatures all look natural. That requires a tremendous amount of lighting.

"Working with this camera helps with that a little bit because we have more latitude to work with than we used to," he notes. "We don't need to bring up the levels inside quite as much to match the outside or use quite as many gels as we used to. But even so, it takes a lot of lighting to make something look like it isn't lit."