Optura 60 some more questions

[Randall Pevin]

This is really not an earth shattering issue for me but I am curious why all documentation on Canon's site and all reviews state that the 60 takes 2.2 megapix stills yet the camera is clearly marked as having 2.0. This marking is on top of the camera in front of the accessory shoe.

[Michael Wisniewski]

The Optura's photos are 2.0 megapixels. It has a 2.2 megapixel CCD chip. Note, that the Canon marketing materials say 2.2 megapixel "performance".

Per the Optura specifications:

Image Sensor
1/3.4-inch CCD approx. 2,200,000 pixels

Effective pixels:
tape approx. 1,230,000 pixels
card approx. 2,000,000 pixels

[Chris Hurd]

And that's the difference between "total" pixel count and "effective" pixel count.

[Marco Leavitt]

Anybody know if it would work? It would require two step-up rings. I don't think you can buy a 34mm to 58mm ring. The reason I want to do this is because I have a clamp-on sunshade and hundreds of dollars worth of filters that work with the WD58. I don't know of any way to mount it on a smaller lens.

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Marco, where there's a will, there's a way. However, that's going to be one big and heavy piece of glass on the front of that camcorder.

[Marco Leavitt]

Thanks Chris. The extra weight is actually a good thing, so long as the threads can handle it. I need to add extra weight anyway (especially at the front) to balance this thing on my JR. I was just afraid that by using two step-up rings it would push the adapter too far out front to focus. The only other option I see would be to have a single 34 to 58 step-up ring custom machined, but that seems like an awful big expense for something like this. I would assume vignetting won't be a problem with a lens that size.

[Michael Wisniewski]

The WD-58 must be like half the size of the Optura 60! Go Marco! and show us some pics.

FYI: Heliopan makes a 34mm-58mm step up ring.

[Marco Leavitt]

"FYI: Heliopan makes a 34mm-58mm step up ring."

Thanks. Do you have a recommended vendor for that? I've been able to find the 37mm to 58mm, but not the 34mm. No luck at B&H.

[Michael Wisniewski]

You should contact one of the other DVI Sponsors to see if they can special order it. But I know this is a hard to find item so If all else fails, I'd recommend photofilter.com

[Marco Leavitt]

Has anybody else experienced this? During a shoot the other day I was monitoring the audio at the camera in a fairly acoustically bright room and the echo sounded really, really bad. I couldn't figure it out. We seemed to be doing everything right. It was a very good hypercardiod and the boom-op was keeping the mic close enough. The boom-op kept saying it sounded fine to him, and just as I was about to start throwing down sound blankets I decided to check it at his end. Sure enough, when listening at the mixer there was some reverb, but it wasn't objectionable at all. At the camera it still sounded like the inside of a submarine. We rolled some tape and played it back (on the same camera) and it sounded fine. After capturing the footage later that night, everything was fine. The only thing I can think of is maybe the Optura introduces a slight delay and the reverb I was hearing came from being so close to the actors? Both sets of headphones were 7506s, which aren't exactly acoustically isolated. I have never experienced this problem before, so I'm a little puzzled.

[Michael Wisniewski]

I've never experienced that myself. Can you do any troubleshooting to narrow down where the problem is coming from?

1. Did you set the AV/headphone jack option in the MENUs? Go to VCR SETUP, AV/PHONES - set it to PHONES.

2. What were the camcorder sound levels set at? What was the headphone volume set at?

3. What happens if you change the mic connection to the camcorder (use a Beachteck, 1/8"th connection etc.), does the sound from the headphones sound more normal?

4. Were you recording in 12 or 16 bit mode?

5. Try moving the camcorder to see if it's just in a weird part of the room. Some rooms can produce standing sound waves that distort sound just in a particular part of the room. You might have been hearing a mixture of this sound + the sound from the headphones. Yeah I know iffy, but you never know.

[Marco Leavitt]

Pretty sure it was all set up right. The audio output was set to phones in the menu (why does it always default to line? That is sooooo annoying), in-camera gain was set to 50 percent with the in-camera attenuator on. We were feeding the XLR adapter a 0 dBu signal with the 54dB attenuation switch engaged. I don't remember the headphone volume, but I usually set it to a little more than halfway.

The recorded sound is pretty good, by the way. This is the first serious shoot we've used the Optura on and the camera's preamps sound better than I expected. I don't usually like recording to camera, but circumstances require it at the moment.

I'm hoping there was just something odd about the acoustics of that room and where I was standing. Just checked the price of Remote Audio's special baffled 7506 headphones -- $259. Ouch.

[David Ennis]

The only thing I can think of that would give you that dramatic an effect--and it certainly would--is the cam's mic being heard in the cam's headphone jack along with the boom mic. I'm thinking in terms of a weird but possible design, or menu option, or even a manufacturing wiriing error that feeds on-board mic audio to the headphones even thought it's been cut from the recording circutry by having a plug in the mic jack. Shouldn't be hard to check out.

[Ryan Sublett]

I saw this lens for a nice price on BHPhotovideo.com and it is a Sony so it should have nice optics. What do you all think?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...egoryNavigation
Edit/Delete Message

[Jamie Walker]

Is there a way to record the time/date as you record?