If you rotate the LCD screen so it faces the front of the camera the viewfinder will become active simultaneously. The same is true if you flip it shut with the LCD screen facing out.

Hey, I never knew that! Not sure how this helps me, but it's cool to learn new stuff about your camera after more than two years :-)

Thanks to Mike Rehmus for clueing me into this: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=312666#post312666

Next time you gotta film a kid, flip the finder forward. Be prepared to have them follow you for a while.

I noticed this a couple of weeks ago; I was sitting in the passenger seat and had the cam mounted to the dash directly in front. I turned/shut the LCD out so that the driver could see the screen (just as a joke, really) and suddenly I noticed a light in the viewfinder. I put my eye up to it and lo-and-behold, it was on. I couldn't figure out WHY it was doing it, but I liked it.

Heck, I really wish the viewfinder worked ALL THE TIME instead of just when the LCD is closed.

Heck, I really wish the viewfinder worked ALL THE TIME instead of just when the LCD is closed.

That's a new option which Sony has added to the PD-170 and HVR-Z1. If there's ever a sucessor to the PDX-10 maybe it will also have this feature...

I worked one day this week on a new sitcom for the FX Channel called, "Sunny in Philly," which is being shot with two DVX100A's, which have this same ability. It comes in handy for audio people to monitor the sound levels, but more importantly, it allows the director to critique the shot standing right next to you while you keep your eye in the finder.

I also used it one time when I wanted to shoot two actors in the front seat of a car. I mounted the PD150 on the right side window using a Manfrotto grip, and turned the lcd to face the actors. They could adjust their positions much more quickly to the monitor than me talking them through it.

The reason both the finder and lcd don't work at the same time normally is to conserve battery power.

Wayne Orr, SOC

Hey, I never knew that! Not sure how this helps me, but it's cool to learn new stuff about your camera after more than two years :-)



Yes, that's a very useful capability. Last week I wrapped a 1-month shooting in Buenos Aires with a PD170, as my PDX10 had not yet arrived.

The PD170/PDX10 flipping screen can be useful on documentaries where you are interviewing subjects just by yourself and don't want them to look at the lens when they answer. Having people looking at you instead at "you at the camera" seem to get more personal responses.

So you just seat by the side of the camera on a tripod and can eventually quickly "flip your eyes" to the screen and check how things are going. Then you can do small corrections to the framing and still have eye contact.

What I would like to add to the PD screen is some protection from fingers and dust. Any suggestions?


Carlos

Last week I wrapped a 1-month shooting in Buenos Aires with a PD170

Sorry I missed you Carlos, I will be in Buenos Aires for about a month, starting mid June...

If you rotate the LCD screen so it faces the front of the camera the viewfinder will become active simultaneously. The same is true if you flip it shut with the LCD screen facing out.

Hey, I never knew that! Not sure how this helps me, but it's cool to learn new stuff about your camera after more than two years :-)

Thanks to Mike Rehmus for clueing me into this: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=312666#post312666
Hehe I guess I'm the only one who read page 34 of the manual? :)