I borrowed a Sony V10 to print my project to tape. I hit a dropped frame about 40 minutes into a 50 minute timeline. I tried making an assemble edit just before the error, so I wouldn't have to start over.

The video edited without a glitch, in a perfectly invisible match frame edit. The audio however had a rather ugly pop. I had to start over.

Sony doesn't spec these little details. That's why I love these boards!

Does anyone have a PDX10 and can try this?
Does anyone have a PD150 and have had experience with this?

thanks!

--> mark

btw: I'm editing with FCP2 on my Powerbook G3 (Pismo), but this is more of an issue with the deck.

Hi Mark,

It's great to have you as a member of the community. Generally it is not recommended to duplicate your posts. I deleted your post in the Mac NLE section. If this doesn't get any answers in a day or two, I'll move it to the Mac NLE section.

Jeff

I just got a PDX10 (thanks to all those who answered my questions!) and am wanting to "trick" out a couple things.

First, does anyone know of a company or source for a larger rubber eyecup that would fit over or replace the one on the viewfinder?

thanks!

http://www.dvshop.ca/camera/icuff.html
Has an attachment for viewfinders that may work for what you need
KennJ

Did I read right somewhere, and is it true, that the pdx10's 16:9 image can be made letterbox on a properly authored dvd, for 4:3 tv viewing? Oh, let it be so!

Any anamorphic 16:9 footage can be flagged by a DVD authoring software to be seen letterboxed on a 4:3 TV.

When the DVD player recognizes the anamorphic source, the letterboxing is done by the player. If a widescreen TV is attached to the player, the DVD will be played in widescreen mode.

I Purchased a PDX10p a week ago on the strength of its 16X9 despite some of its other shortcomings such as low light performance. Also purchased a Century .65 wide angle.

At short notice I was asked to film the capture of endangered birds on an offshore island where they had been reestablished from near extinction. A sample of these birds needed to be captured for disease testing (blood, fecal material, fat, etc..) prior to a planned release on the mainland into their original habitat.

The shoot took place over 3x days with low light, 35 knot winds, squalls, etc. in fact we were delayed on the island an extra day because the boat could not retrieve the group. Incidentally this is Tiritiri Matangi Island, New Zealand.

Because of weather delays the job was pretty rushed. I was also required to capture bird sound and the explanations of the Scientists and vet while they were working (& keep out of the way)

This is what I did. Because I was in relatively low scrub I used a monopod or handheld. For sound I used a ME66/K6 shotgun which makes the PDX10 a bit awkward & knowing that it was going to rain hard & often I picked up on 'appro' on the day of departure a KATA raincoat (the one designed for the PD150) because with the ME66/K6 the KATA raincoat designed for the PDX10 was too short. Also used a radio mike on one occasion.

Issues I not quite sorted are:

Sound, I made up a 10db attenuator cable from mike to camera (as has been suggested for the PD150), seems required for voice but perhaps too much attenuation for bird sound. I set channel 1 to 'manual' and used auto or AGC on channel 2. Had to keep a plastic bag over the mike muff most of the time.

Pictures, most of the shooting required waiting (on ones knees) in the bush for birds to fly into what are called 'mist nets' which are very fine and in low light with no wind difficult for the birds to see. The light was very low except that one was usually pointing the camera skyward so big contrast problems and constantly changing light levels as clouds came over and I shifted position. Light levels, to an extent white balance and of course focus was changing.

Tried everything both manual/auto exposure and manual/auto focus both were difficult hand held and being on the move.

The footage captured is mixed; in good light (e.g. filming blood being taken in open shade) pictures look sharp with excellent colour. However, in the bush with contrast of sky to bush floor colours are pretty washed out. To hopefully assist with this I have since purchased a graduation filter that I will try later in the year when we return for the capture of the birds that are to be actually relocated.

I did not use the custom preset except to limit gain to 6db that I had read.

Your thoughts please.

SOUND: any suggestions on sound gathering especially where members have had similar conditions.

PICTURES: has anyone had similar experience with a constantly changing setting where there is little time to reset exposure and manual focus is quite difficult (hard enough to keep the birds in frame!) and suggestions on custom preset settings from their own experiences. To my eye the footage in low light seemed over exposed and colour muted. (I cannot identify gain on my NLE monitor) but perhaps this is certainly not helping.

Cheers & thanks in advance,

Graham
Auckland, New Zealand

Which model of the "Rycote Mini Windjammer" windscreens is compatible with the PDX10s on-camera mic ECM-NV1?

Does the "fur" stay out of the picture? Can it be used with a 0.5x / 0.6x / 0.7x wide angle adapter? Is it effective outdoors?

I could also consider the Lightwave Miniscreen. What model of the Miniscreen? Does it stay of ot the picture when using a wideangle adapter? Does the situation change when a long "fur" is added?

I don't know if it helps, but I use a Rycote Softie (long-haired version) on a K6/ME64 mic and it doesn't obstruct the field of view on the PDX10, even with a 0.65 WA adaptor fitted. It must be close to doing so though, and the short-haired version would be a safer option.

I found on a shoot the other day i could not adjust the levels of audio on the pdx10, was this the cam or just me, if its me how do i adjust it, if its the cam what is the optimim recording level the boom mic should be peaking at on the bars that come on screen.


thanks

Are you talking about the sound levels using the XLR adapter?

Anyway more info can be found here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30186

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34219

Hello. Does anyone know if the sony pdx10 can be used with Final Cut Express HD and/or Pro? It's not listed as a "qualified device." Thanks.

Welcome to DVinfo Bob! You should have no problems whatsoever. I've edited many, many hours of PDX-10 footage on FCP. Just because a camera isn't on Apple's list doesn't mean it's incompatible, only that it didn't go through their certification process.

Thanks for the info Boyd. Sounds good. I just saw, however, on B+H that they are now out of stock of the pdx10. Bummer. Anyone know if they'll have it again or is it a goner now?

Maybe I should just go with the A1U anyways. :)

The PDX-10 was discontinued by Sony last March - see the following: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49260&page=3

As to whether B&H will get any more in stock... why not give them a call and ask?

Sorry if this is old news. I did a search and looked in the manual but couldn't find anything about this (even in the service manual)...

...my PDX-10 (NTSC model) plays PAL tapes. Whoo-hoo! I've been borrowing a DSR-11 for a while so it's great to know I can play my PAL DV tapes on my NTSC camcorder.

Interestingly, the PAL version has menu options for NTSC playback...

John.

This has been discussed regarding several of the Sony cameras, it seems to be an undocumented feature. However, have you tried capturing video over firewire? In the past, several people said they could play PAL tapes and watch them on the LCD screen, but not through either the video-out or firewire ports. Let us know if all this works for you; that would be something I haven't seen before! Don't return the DSR-11 until you've verified that this will work! ;-)

This has been discussed regarding several of the Sony cameras, it seems to be an undocumented feature. However, have you tried capturing video over firewire? In the past, several people said they could play PAL tapes and watch them on the LCD screen, but not through either the video-out or firewire ports. Let us know if all this works for you; that would be something I haven't seen before! Don't return the DSR-11 until you've verified that this will work! ;-)

Firewire transfer works perfectly. Just as if it didn't know any better! And device control from the computer works, too.

DELETE THIS ---> Haven't tried the analog out (no real need for it).

I've just tried the analog output. Direct to my multistandard monitor, I get a black and white signal and none of the monitor's indicators light up (i.e., PAL, SECAM, NTSC or NTSC 4.43). However, if I feed the signal through a TenLab TR-20 converter in automatic mode, it selects NTSC as input and NTSC as output. So it seems that the analog output is an odd hybrid - PAL 3.58 maybe?


Very pleased. That means I can transfer my analog PAL footage to DV on the DSR-11 and, once it goes back to its rightful owner, I can still access the DV footage.

That's a cool discovery John! Too bad they don't make the PDX-10 anymore...

When I get home I'll have to try some of the PAL tapes from my Z1 in my PDX-10 just out of curiosity now.

Hi,

My PDX10p suddenly ceased showing the timecode. When I press REC, 0:00:00:00 is displayed on the LCD and it remains at zero throughout recording. Also, when I play back the tape, the timecode remains at zero. I can view the current time/date while recording (if fiddling with settings) or playing back (in any case), though. So, what's wrong?

I'm not very knowledgeable about timecodes and such.

Hello,

A quick question:

I have made my choice at 95% to get a DSR-PDX10. It's into my budget range...

Now, I read that this camcorder has 690,000 effective pixels. The Jy-HD10U has 840,000 effective pixels in HD and 460,000 effective pixels in SD.

I will be shooting mostly in 16:9 and the end result is targeted for web delivery and a couple of DVDs.

Obviously, the PDX10 will give me a higher resolution that regulat DV recording. But, will the resolution be that different from the PDX10 to the HD10U?

Again, due to the fact that the HD10U uses 1 CCD, I'm afraid that the picture's quality won't be as nice as the PDX10.

Am I wrong?

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,

Eric Galton

Welcome to Dvinfo Eric! For starters, I've moved this post to our PDX-10 forum. Spend a little while browsing back through the forum and you'll learn a lot about this great little camera.

However you must realize that the PDX-10 is strictly a DV camera. The pixel count of the sensor is good to know, but can only be used for comparing apples to apples. All NTSC DV is 720x480 pixels, which is only 345,600 total pixels. If the cameras sensor has more than this then it can help to resolve the maximum amount of detail, but that image is going to be downsampled to 720x480 when recorded to tape.

So your statement, "Obviously, the PDX10 will give me a higher resolution that regulat DV recording" is not correct. The PDX-10 will give you 720x480 like any other DV camera. However the high resolution CCD's insure that it will be a "good 720x480"." This is especially important for shooting 16:9.

I've never used an HD10, but since it's a high definition camera you will definitely get a more detailed image. It also shoots progressive scan which is something the PDX-10 can't do.

The image of 3 CCD's vs 1 CCD is somewhat more complicated so I'll leave that to someone else. Like I suggested above, spend a little while reading through old posts in the PDX-10 forum and you will find lots of good info.

With your stated delivery goals, ie., "web delivery and a couple of DVDs", you are not looking high definition needs anyway, and the PDX 10 will be fine for that purpose.

But we are all going to be doing high definition in the future, so if your start up is about the same, and the camera has a good reputation (I don't have that answer) why not go that route.

Thank you very much for your warm welcome and your advice. I will continue my deep diving into the forums to help me decide on my purchase, which isn't easy at all!

Again, thank you.

Regards,

Eric Galton

hi all,

this might be really old news, but i guess that some of you might not know this trick. when you want to do a shoot which involve rack focusing or exposure, use a LCD pen in the spot focus or AE mode on the LCD during recording. This way it so much more precise, just like rack fousing( without having a focus puller). less camera movement too

i've got big fingers, so by using a lcd pen, its faster, sharper and accurate.
Also protect it with a lcd protected, this way it doesn't get scraches.

david