When adjusting iris, does the V1/FX7 dial have discrete F-stops and limits, or just turns freely?
And how about the iris ring on the Canon XH?

It turns freely. The display provides feedback as to what stop you're at, and of course when it's fully open/closed, it doesn't move any further in that direction, but the wheel keeps on a' turnin.

It turns freely. The display provides feedback as to what stop you're at, and of course when it's fully open/closed, it doesn't move any further in that direction, but the wheel keeps on a' turnin.

Does the Iris wheel give you smooth stop adjustmants like the Iris ring does on the Canon Z1/G1?

And if so, do both the FX7 and V1 adjust smoothly, not in stops?

Yes, it gives you a totally smooth transition between stops.

That's good. I believe the Canon goes in 1/8 stop jumps, doesn't it?

That's good. I believe the Canon goes in 1/8 stop jumps, doesn't it?
No the Canon's Iris ring is smooth also.

No the Canon's Iris ring is smooth also.

The Canon ring is definitely easier to use. But, the huge latitude of the V1 is like its deep DOF -- you almost don't need to adjust exposure. Simply monitor using the histogram.

It's like a RT waveform monitor. You can "see" your exposure. There's a orange line that shows when highlights go above 100IRE. You can "see" what's happening in the shadow detail.

Of course, I'm assuming you are willing to learn video shooting the way a photographer handles exposure with negative film. To get the most from the V1, you'll have to stop shooting like you were using video and shoot like you were using film.

If you have a background in photography -- especially if you have darkroom experience -- you'll be fine. Or, if you shoot with a Varicam or CineAlta.

The Canon ring is definitely easier to use. But, the huge latitude of the V1 is like its deep DOF -- you almost don't need to adjust exposure. Simply monitor using the histogram.

It's like a RT waveform monitor. You can "see" your exposure. There's a orange line that shows when highlights go above 100IRE. You can "see" what's happening in the shadow detail.

Of course, I'm assuming you are willing to learn video shooting the way a photographer handles exposure with negative film. To get the most from the V1, you'll have to stop shooting like you were using video and shoot like you were using film.

If you have a background in photography -- especially if you have darkroom experience -- you'll be fine. Or, if you shoot with a Varicam or CineAlta.

I agree with the latitude of the CMOS sensors being a big boon for teh new Sony cameras.
One question though, will the FX7 have a histogram as well, or is that another thing limited to the V1.
Also is there a compiled list anywhere yet, showing the differences between teh FX7 and V1?

Take a look here; looks like the histogram is not listed as a difference:
http://www.expandore.com/product/Sony/Proav/model/HDV/Compare_Difference.htm

i could be incorrect, but I'm almost certain the FX7 has no histogram.
One very sweet function of the V1 is the ability to have zebra, histogram, and peaking on all at once, helping you to be sure you've got the shot focused and exposed correctly at all times.

i could be incorrect, but I'm almost certain the FX7 has no histogram.
One very sweet function of the V1 is the ability to have zebra, histogram, and peaking on all at once, helping you to be sure you've got the shot focused and exposed correctly at all times.

I used peaking most of the time. When I looked at a wide shots, peaking showed EVERYTHING was in focus. Then I zoomed in to my focus target and it was way out of focus -- and peaking in was gone.

1) Was the target in focus when I was wide simply because of DOF?

2) The JVC has a problem with it's Focus Assist where almost everything is shown to be in focus that has a sharp edge. Which makes me think peaking may be the same way. If so, it may not really be accurate.

I'm not sure I'm explaing this well.

This also releates to inner-focus leneses. When they first arrived, folks would zoom-in, focus, and pull-back and find focus was lost. (It was, I'm told a back-focus issue.) So the rule became, focus at the focal length you are using for the shot. This, obviously, is how AF works.

With more recent cameras, one can zoom-in and manual or OneTouch AF focus, and pull-back.

In short there are two options. Those with Z1's -- which option do you use? And, did you really confirm that one option is better than the other -- or are you simply doing what you learned to do?

Take a look here; looks like the histogram is not listed as a difference:
http://www.expandore.com/product/Sony/Proav/model/HDV/Compare_Difference.htm


You seem to be correct. Below from the Japan FX7 site:

Steve, while we're at it, I never really used the histogram on my HC1 (now sold); I preferred zebra. How do you really read the information given by a histogram - apart from "a orange line that shows when highlights go above 100IRE"? For instance, could you give the interpretation to the pictures you posted?

I used peaking most of the time. When I looked at a wide shots, peaking showed EVERYTHING was in focus. Then I zoomed in to my focus target and it was way out of focus -- and peaking in was gone.

1) Was the target in focus when I was wide simply because of DOF?
Most likely, yes - if you were at the full wide end of the lens (or near it), then your DOF becomes near-infinite on these smaller chip cameras, so stuff can be pretty far out when you get to the long end...

Although, that said, I've noticed that peaking is (at least on the Z1 and previous cameras) very badly implemented on the lower end "prosumer" cameras compared to, say, the 750/900 - sometimes I will not get peaking when something is definitely sharp, for certain (usually with irregular or textured subjects). I've never noticed a false positive from the peaking system on the Z1, but I wouldn't necessarily rule it out (I haven't used the HD-100, so no comment there).

I no longer use peaking when I'm shooting on a Z1, for 2 reasons: (1) I'm usually more worried about getting the exposure right, as that can be more difficult to judge through the LCD display, which I often use, and (2) I just don't trust it, but I do trust my eyes!

Anyway, that's just my experiences with peaking on these lower-end cameras, maybe the V1 will do for peaking what the Z1 did for gain...

What I would miss is Black Compress -- because of the lower contrast image you may want that. For maximum latitude, having Black Stretch is nice along with LOW Knee. But, not it isn't critical to me. Knee didn't do much as AUTO worked fine.

The AWB outoor adjustment was useful, but probably not critical.

You can get CineTone by increasing color level.

The two Cine Gamma's might be wanted for a film look, but #2 was way too much for me -- so having only #1 is fine.

DSE -- can you remember what EXPOSURE 1 and EXPOSURE 2 do? The FX7 only has #1 which I remember to be GAIN and EXPOSURE together -- which is fine by me.

My concern is that some of the V1 menu items may be gone. We need an FX7 manual to confirm.

The real FX7 advantage is the stereo mic. For everything that has field sound, I want stereo.

Steve, like Piotr, I'd like to know how one goes about reading the histogram. I have the HC3 and I can't really make sense out of the histogram image. I suspect the higher the peak, the closer to 100 IRE -- for eg., that flower image, the two peaks correspond with the sky BG off to the left edge and right edge of the petals? No?

The X scale is 0 to 100IRE, the Y scale shows how much energy at that part of the exposure range. Works the same in PS.