I dont have a pdx10 (yet) but i have used my 1chip PC110 with the firewire port as a webcam using yahoo messenger on a Mac.The 110 is in regular video mode.

In camera mode, the time code options might be greyed-out because you are in DV SP mode. Try in DVCAM mode. Anyway, I think it will not be able to record external timecode in any way, as Joe says.

I have a PDX10 and was wondering about filters? What size threads... The camera says 43.5? Does it take screw on threaded filters? If so then do I need a new lens hood? Also I just got the manual for the Micro35 and this is the reason I am asking… Thanks for the help...

The PDX-10 uses 37mm filters, not sure where that 43.5 number came from? You will still be able to use both of the supplied lens hoods with the filters screwed on the lens.

I was trying to go off memory for the misquoted numbers... Thanks for the help...

I am wondering if you have tried this over firewire. Seems to me if you are making a dub from the DSR-11 to the camera, so you can have a copy for instance with matching time code, that should work but admittedly, I also have not tried it.

Time code in firewire is part of the digital signal. It may very well transfer directly. You will have to test it.

On the flip side, there is no method to bring in an outside time code to either the DSR-11 or the PDX10 camera. Sometimes that is useful, like in analog transfers or dubs, you would need the analog audio and video as well as digital input for the time code transfer. Time code is also sometimes transfered as an audio track.

All that is a moot point as most of us don't have to worry about that anymore in the digital world. Used to be a big thing in the analog days.

Let us know how the test goes.

Sean McHenry

this looks way cool... take a look
http://homepage.mac.com/gnattress/PhotoAlbum7.html

I like it. The barn doors look rather shabby but thats what duct tape is for.

Do matte boxes help reduce vertical smear any?

Cool stuff,
Nevin

It doesn't help with the smear part but it's for filters and other add ons... PLUS it looks cool... BUT.. it's $1,400.00.. which means I can buy another X10.

or make one of my own...duct tape... wood... and titanium... here i come.
thanks,
Nevin

Experimented with my PDX a little this weekend though not as much as I had hoped for. But from the footage i did shoot (mostly close ups of some large ants crawling on some flowers and other nature) the picture is excellent. Shot 16:9 with CP sharpness -3 and AE shift -2 beautiful. I think I may even prefer the image over my VX though I have not shot any low light yet.Could be that im just excited about a new toy :)
The audio is excellent and it blows my VX w/ Beachtek DXA8 away. I am using a AKG CK93 hyper and I cranked the gain all the way up and did not detect any noise in my phones. Even the heaphone output is very quiet unlike the noisy VX circuit. The cam is a little hard to handle and i wish it had a top handle but i plan on making one soon that will attach to the tripod mount. I now also understand the need for ND filters with the PDX. I have none yet but when I tried to shoot sunset today the iris pretty much closed and i understand the effects of the vertical smearing which i got with the sun though it didnt look bad but i can see where it could be a problem for some folks. All in all this cam is awesome and even though they are bringing new technology to the table woth the HDV etc. I wont be switching for a while and from the looks of things to come this may be the last small pro 3CCD cam we see from Sony??

I now also understand the need for ND filters with the PDX. I have none yet but when I tried to shoot sunset today the iris pretty much closed

Actually the PDX-10 has several internal ND filters although Sony has never documented them. Put your camera in manual mode, shine a flashlight into the lens, and turn the exposure wheel. If you look at the right angle you'll see the ND filters drop into the optical path.

So in fact, the iris wasn't closing all the way down, the camera was dropping in its ND filters. The idea is to force the camera to always shoot within the "sweet spot" of the lens. If you're shooting in auto mode toward the sunset, I suspect shutter speed is more of an issue with vertical smear. When the camera can't get the needed exposure between using the iris and ND filters, it raises the shutter speed. High shutter speeds aggravate the smear problem. If you must use auto mode, turn off AUTO SHUTTER in the custom presets.

I do think an screw in ND filter or two can be handy however, when you want to force a large lens opening under bright conditions.

Thanks Boyd. Actually I was shooting in manual mode 1/60 shutter. I use the AE shift CP because I like to expose in auto then adjust manually from there. Im gonna keep with the experimentation though. The deal with the sun was I had it in the upper left side of the frame and I wanted to capture the orangeness but in order to do so without it being completely blown was I had to crank the exposure down to about 1 click from closed. the results still looked good but it pushed the surrounding trees to black and it looked like a night scene. Would an external ND help in this situation? I may be dreaming but I thought for sure Ive shot the sun in its "orange" right before sundown with the vx and could get a decent balance between the sun and surroundings without the sun being completely blown(100ire zebra covered). hope this makes sense.

If you want basically a larger Matte Box, look at the Cinetactics site. I bought the whole kit and it works great. Carry pouches, folds flat, has filter holders.

SMM

Hey Folks,
I've got a wireless lav system w/ a stereo mini (1/8") out jack that I'd like to use w/ my pdx10. How do people interface the two? mixers? a stero mini to xlr y cable? I don't see any kind of line-in inputs in the manual except the video/stereo mini to rca. Has anybody tried that w/ any sucess? Any recommendations? Thanks in advance.
--Edward Croteau
Red Quill Productions

edward there is a 1/8" mic jack on the front of the camera near the cams built in mic.

Thanks Matt,
I feel a little silly now, but I appreciate the help. I did finally manage to find a reference in the sony manual too, though it took a while for me to locate. Thanks again.
--Edward Croteau

I've never tried that, but it is still active when the XLR box is installed,? Or are they mutually exclusive?

It appears that the 1/8" jack overrides the xlr hotshoe. Actually the xlr settings disappear from the menu when you plug into the 1/8" jack. The only problem is that it seems to be a mono jack (over left & right channels). When you go to adjust the levels, it says channels 1, 2 (combined). I'm not sure if there is any way around that, but it sure would be nice. There's some more info on pages 117-8 of the manual. It looks as though you can use the y cable/rca cable from the audio/video jack.
--Edward Croteau

Hi,

Is anyone here in Vancouver, Canada, with the PDX10? Or know of anyone?

Hi,

Is anyone here in Vancouver, Canada, with the PDX10? Or know of anyone?

Yes I do.
What do you want to do?

Hey,
I'm not in vancouver but i'm from there. So i realize this is a wasted post, but juan... haha tuchee on your reply:
"What do you want to do?"
Haha.
Either of you guys make it up to whistler this last weekend for the bike contest? There were some sweet camera rigs there i hear.
I cant imagine how much fu it would be to film with the PDX in Vancouver.
Later.
Nevin

I own a Sony PDX-10 and was wondering about the f-stop callibration.If i open the lens once does that eual a full stop or half or 1/3?

Matt: I moved your post to the PDX-10 forum since this camera is a little unusual in how it treats f-stops. Unfortunately there is no simple answer to your question. Even in full manual mode you are not truly controlling the iris directly. This is because the camera uses several undocumented internal ND filters. The idea is to force the camera to always stay within the "sweet spot" of the lens, so no matter how much you turn the wheel the actual f-stop never drops very far below f4.8 (IIRC). After getting to that point the camera adds more and more ND filtration as you turn the wheel.

As you turn the whell to open the F-stop you reach a point where the iris opens all the way (the actual f-stop will vary depending on how far in you've zoomed). Turning the wheel further starts adding gain in manual mode until you reach the maximum of +18 dB.

But the simplistic answer to your question is, each click of the exposure wheel has an effect similar to 1/2 f-stop. However this effect might be acheived either by adding a denser ND filter, or by boosting gain by +3 dB.

To understand at which point the iris is fully open, turn the wheel until the exposure is at the maximum (bright) position. This will be the +18dB point. Now turn the wheel to lessen exposure and count each click as you do:

+15 dB
+12 dB
+9 dB
+6 dB
+3 dB
0 dB

You have now reached the maxium iris opening - take note of the relative position on the exposure slider in the viewfinder for future reference. Now each successive click will be 1/2 f-stop until you reach f4.8 and the ND filters kick in.

See also the following:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=31646
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=45815

Boyd's right (he always is). Each little 'click' of the exposure wheel dials in half a stop of exposure difference, either up or down.

Thing to remember is that the lens itself loses a stop and a half as you zoom from wide to telephoto. So if you're getting the correct exposure in a room using full tele (f/2.8) and max gain (+18 dB) and then zoom to full wide, the camera should revert to max aperture and +6 dB of gain up.

Note that some cameras don't do this, they stay at f2.8 as you zoom back even though faster apertures exist at the wide-angle end of the zoom. It would be difficult to test this with the PDX as its replay readout is so unreliable.

tom.

Why would Sony claim that the max. f-stop opening is 1.6 when it is really 2.8 on th PDX-10?

Why? Because it sounds a whole lot better in the advertising splurge. And because everyone else does this - they give the (theoretical) maximum aperture at the wide end of the zoom, and ignore the tele end.

Theoretical? Why, sure. The lens is designed as an f/1.6 but production and build tolerances of a 12 element zoom will mean that most are f/1.8 on a good day. Manufacturers work inside a ''10% tolerance'' zone that they believe isn't cheating.

Panasonic's posh 10 page brochure for the DVX100A doesn't once mention that their lens is an f/2.8 at 45 mm, and it's no wonder they're too embarrassed to mention this when their hot competitor the PD170 is f/2.4 at a much longer 72 mm focal length.

But the good news is that many camcorders are now being designed with lenses that maintain their maximum aperture throughout the zoom range, and it's about time too. In Super-8 days Canon, Nikon and Minolta all had 10x zooms that were f/1.4 throughout, so it can be done. Problem is it can be done at a cost, weight and size disadvantage.

tom.

Hi all,

Does anyone know of any major films or well known doco's where footage from the PDX10 has been used in?

I believe Soundtrack to War was made with a PDX10 & also some parts of Farenheit 9/11 used it too... www.soundtracktowar.com

Anyone know of anymore?....

Some previous discussion on this topic:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=43065
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35370
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=41011

I'm looking to list my PDX-10P On ebay but can figure out what price to set it at. What is the going rate for a PDX 10 Pal these days?
Thanks
Ari

Hmmm... maybe I'll throw a number out there.. They Cost ~$2600 New from BH I believe, so is $1700 a reasonable number?

See the following related thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=52043

B&H lists it for $2,550 however they're out of stock. And if you go to Sony's European website it says the PDX-10p is no longer being manufactured and has been replaced by the HVR-A1. Interestingly, Sony's US site still lists the NTSC version, and the company denies that it's been discontinued. See the following:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49260

It's interesting that there's such a disparity of pricing. With the rebate you can get a new NTSC PDX-10 for $1,700 at B&H. Do you really need the PAL version?

Boyd, he's selling. At least I think he is.

Sean

Yup, I'm selling :)

hey fellas happy new year

i'm lookin for a cheap but good wireless mic system for my pdx10 a combo if possible lavelair and handheld

i already have a lavelair and a handheld but i was thinkin it may be good to have a separate system

i need this info kinda asap thanks

Azden 100LT has been great for me. Even saved me the first day I had it as the Lectrosonic UHF we had died.

If the mic heads were something a bit more petite, I bet they would sell a lot more however.

Sean

I have a problem. We have 2 Sony PDX10 camera's and we want to purchase a number of extra batteries. I have looked at the Lenmar LISQM91 which according to the Lenmar website fits on the PDX10, but according to a local shop this battery don't fit on our camera. Is there anyone who has experience with this combination?

The Sony part number is NP-QM91, so it appears that Lenmar is using a similar numbering scheme. However I have only used real Sony batteries on my PDX-10 so I can't say for sure.

hello,

i'm looking for a better eyecup for my pdx10. i know pdx10 is not listed as a suggested camera for this piece, but does anyone know if i could fit one of these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=161275&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

on a pdx10 somehow? or any other suggestions?

thanks,
jon.

Ok we did a 3 camera shoot with 3 pdx 10's. 7 tapes each camera. 21 tapes over all. We have several Sony decks meaning dsr-20, 30's... All 3 cameras used dv-cam, BUT one camera's tapes when trying to capture using Premier Pro 2.0 is showing no time code... Any ideas? Thanks

here I am, yet another fresh Pdx-10 noob... :)

well, I posted my question on the vegas forum, but with no luck...
maybe someone from here can help me. here is my dilemma:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=61710
thanx

Hello to all, I am to the search of some school of scuba diving and camera, video class under water, did you know if exists?

Perhaps somebody knows wish is the best underwater housings for the pdx 10

Welcome to DVinfo Claudio. A search on "underwater" in the PDX-10 forum turns up a few threads:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=18267&highlight=underwater
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=14486&highlight=underwater
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=35401&highlight=underwater

Hi guys,

Recently I found a deal on a PDX10 - Pal version. The price is NZD $1600, which is just under USD $1000. The camera has had 140 tape hours and 400 hours operation time. This includes a NP-QM91D battery and a metal case.

What's you guys take on this? Is this a good deal these days, with HDV etc.

I recently sold an XL1 and am in search of something a bit smaller and lighter on the wallet but with native 16:9.

Thanks for the advice,
Dennis

Hi everybody

Does anybody out there know if there is any add on lens so i can film small insects, i know that you can move the camera close to your subject but this cuts out the light, I need to fill the screen with a insect

your help would be great

Thanks
Ian

Until I lost it, I used to have a cheap wide angle adapter that doubled as a macro lens. You unscrewed the front element to shoot macro. I think several companies make these, although mine came from "Digital Optics" IIRC. Caveat: I never used the macro function so I can't vouch for the quality....

I still think the PDX-10 holds its own very respectably in widescreen DV. The small chips have some limitations, but that sounds like a good price. Of course the FX1 is much better but will cost a lot more. The A1 might be another option, but again, more expensive.

Hi,
I have a PDX-10 as a second camera. It's good points are a great 16:9 image when well lit, surprisingly useful touch screen focus, good audio options, compact size. Its bad points are extremely bad low-light capability (including serious vertical streaking), unwieldy shape, I also find it hard to focus accurately with (unless you use touch screen). If you're going to be doing well lit tripod shots I would say its still a good camera for the money, if you want lots of handheld night shots its a bad choice.

I have a Z1, a VX-2000 and a PDX-10. I find the PDX-10 be be 2.5 f-stops slower than the VX-2000, but the gain is much cleaner on the PDX-10 so you can definitely gain a stop there, maybe 1.5 stops. Now the Z1 is not really a "prince of darkness either" - I'd guess it's only 1 f-stop faster than the PDX-10. But it's gain boost is probably even cleaner - I use 12dB often and it looks pretty good.

The LCD screen on the PDX-10 is a big improvement over the PD-150 and VX-2000, but not nearly as nice as the Z1. I have shot lots of our opera performance archive videos and the PDX-10 and have been very happy with the results. Again, the Z1 is a very nice upgrade, but dollar for dollar the PDX-10 is an excellent value. At $1,000 I think you'd be getting a good deal, assuming the camera is in decent condition. I think you'd pay more than twice that much to get a significant improvement in quality. If you could afford an FX1 then I'm sure you'd be even happier, but that isn't really what you were asking... :-)

After fitting a wide angle on the PDX10 [and the larger hood] and finally testing and fitting the XLR microphone, I decided I needed a new bag to fit to the whole thing.

So going to B&H Photo yielded this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=302320&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

The Sony LC-PDX10BP for $129.95.[made by Petrol]

Which I thought was a bit expensive, so I went down to B&H today to check it out first hand.

Lo and behold, there is the exact same bag by Petrol, PMUP-1 for $84.95!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=284694&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

The only difference is the Sony logo. Now is that worth an extra $45 to you?

It wasn't to me.... too funny. Glad I saved the extra bills.