Cool. I might have locked the focus but sometimes the auto stuff works pretty well. Wonder if adding a 10-20w video light would have helped. I've been thinking of getting a small fill-type on-camera light. I'll have to play with some follow focus stuff as shooting moving objects and manually focusing can be a chore.

I did some playing around shooting some backlit buildings locking the exposure for the zoomed in building exposure. Zoomed out and the sun lit stuff was very washed out. I unlocked the exposure and ran another test zoom and it look good wide and as I zoomed in the camera adjusted gradually enough that it looked like I was manually opening the iris. Not objectionable at all.

yeah i could have done a manual focus, but to be honest i kinda wanted to see what the camera could do. Plus they were moving around quite a bit and there was no place to really lock the focus. And I have a 5 watt light, 50 watt and 100 watt light. But again kinda wanted to test out the camera. Wasnt anything that was gonna be pro. Just did it so that I could test the camera and he could have a souvenir of the day. So it worked out pretty good. And definitely nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of color correcting.

And the camera is now gone. :(

Hopefully be back sometime next week.

by the way here is a link to the blackbelt clip.

Its not in full 720p but you can see the quality in non optimal lighting.

http://www.videopartypatrol.com/JPs_Blackbelt1.mov

sorry, that link isnt working. Ill post a new one as soon as it uploads.

I don't have any on camera lights yet. I see 10w and 15w and I think of a 10w light bulb in a lamp and wonder if that could be any good. Am I mixing apples and oranges? I assume that I don't need a 500w on camera light. For regular stuff I'll be lighting the set but was thinking a light for general personal playing (annoying the dog, etc.) would be fun to have. What wattage should I look for -- maybe as an outdoor fill, too?

Definitely a GREAT souvenir. I have belts/sashes (none black) in several martial arts and someone taped one of my tests and I was real happy to get a copy.

The time will fly by.

I just had an interesting experience with B&H. Just received the Giottos quick releases and plates I ordered. The info on the site states "Mounts onto anything with a 1/4"-20 or 3/8" camera screw." They left off the "provided you buy or already have an adapter". I have two 1/4"-20 tripod heads I wanted these for.

I called and a "pro" support guy argued with me saying that I misread it. He said it does mount on anything with the proper adapters. He then suggested that I should have gone and looked at my tripods and known I needed to order a couple 3/8" to 1/4"-20 adapters. Huh?

Telling him the only way I'd have known that was if it said "Mounts onto 3/8" tripod screws, requires an adapter for 1/4"-20." got me put on hold. Then I was disconnected. I called back and got a message to call back during normal business hours. Grrr.

Dave: Its not the same B&H Imho... The "hold button" seems to be a new universal answer...

It seems that I may have lucked out with the guy that i got to speak with at B&H. The only thing that didnt work for me was that he gave me JVC's number so that if i had any further problems I could contact them, problem is that im in Canada so the number he gave wouldnt work. All I got was a message saying that I couldnt connect from my area code.

Does anyone know if the extra warranty that you can buy from B&H is worldwide or just for within the states? And how long after your purchase can you buy it?

And the karate clip is still encoding. I encoded it once but it squeezed into a 4x3 window. Not very pretty. So re encoding 16x9. Should hopefully be done soon.

Not sure about the other questions but I think someone mentioned you can purchase the JVC warranty up to the 90 days after you recieve your camera..

This is for the U.S., which should cover you since you purchased it from a U.S. dealer. The extended warranty B&H sells is through Mack's Camera and Video Service center. You have 30-days from the original date of purchase (invoice date, not delivery date) to purchase and activate a Mack warranty.

It's a profit center for them and B&H (and other dealers that sell it) as a small percentage of cameras covered will ever be sent in for warranty. According to their web site it is a worldwide warranty, though. You may/may not need to send it to the U.S. I would think not sending it to New Jersey for a service would be to you benefit for less volume and wait time.

Surf and see what you find out. I found some complaints on time stiff was in the shop (not repaired by JVC) that caused me to want to go with another company.

http://www.mackcam.com/warranty.html

This should be JVC Canada's number: 1-800-964-2650 I'm kind of curious of what they say since you didn't buy from a Canadian dealer.

https://www.jvc.ca/en/consumer/service/warranty.asp

JVC, US has an arrangement with Satisfusion and they say that as long as your camera is covered by the manufacturer's warranty, you can buy an extended one. For the GR-HD1U that's 90-days (parts and labor, 1-year parts) from date of purchase. Once the manufacturer's warranty is over it's too late.

thanks for all the links. Hopefully I will never need them, but great to have.

Ive also reposted a bit of the karate video. Let me know what you think of the color especially in reduced lighting. I thought it looked pretty good. The clip is not in HD as file size does become an issue.

http://www.videopartypatrol.com/Blackbelt.mov

You're most welcome. I'd call JVC - Canada, JVC - US, and Mack and see what your options are before the 30-days runs out. I'm not sure if Satisfusion will work with you in Canada but they might, ask JVC - US. I'll probably be signing up for the extended on mine soon, before I forget. The prices are reasonable and you can get 2-5 years.

Looks pretty good. I'd expected white gi's, nice of them to wear red so you could check color in low light. :-)

I think it depends more on who you get to speak with. I called B&H again this morning, and got a friendly customer service rep. He transferred me to the same sales guy that argued with me last night. He started out like he did last night but must be in a better mood as he stopped himself, re-read the description, and told me I was right, the adapters should have been included. Told me to tell customer service that he said they are to comp me the adapters. They said they would and will fix the web site so it's not misleading.

well i just contacted JVC canada in regards to the warranty of cameras purchased within the US. This is what they said in their email.


"If the unit is purchased in the USA then no we do not cover the
warranty, you will have to call the USA at 1800-252-5722.

Thanks"

Just so everyone knows. Im going to try and contact the US JVC site and see what they have to say.

That's kind of what I figured. I know some companies are very strict about their distribution channels. Nikon, for example, if you buy a grey-market Nikon product then the U.S. warranty is void. Canon, on the other hand, figures that as long as their name is on the product they'll cover it. They will not offer any extended warranties, etc. to grey market items though.

Some "creative" dealers are disguising their grey-market merchandise by advertising that it has a "U.S. warranty" knowing that's what most people here will look for. What they don't disclose, until after you get the items, is that it's a Mack or other repair place's warranty, not the manufacturer's.

JVC U.S. should cover you for the 90-days labor/1-year parts but you'll need to send it here.

This has me thinking about the extended warranty I want and questioning why I'm waiting, so I just called Satisfusion. Naturally, their systems are down so they'll call me back. :-)

I'm glad the extended warranty topic was brought up. I debated on getting one until I read about someone whose Firewire port died requiring a new PC board and what it cost to get it fixed -- $1,100 (Canadian). OUCH!

I called Satisfusion this morning and was told that they can not sell me an extended warranty on the GR-HD1 as it's been removed from their list, probably due to the original date of manufacture. That leaves Mack as the only option and they require that you sign up within the first 30-days (although I heard there's some leeway there) not 90-days like Satisfusion and since I ordered my camera on 5/9 that puts me at the end of the window. Had I waited longer I'd have been out of luck.

What's interesting is that B&H has raised the price on the GR-HD1 to $1,299.95 and the Mack warranties they're selling don't match Mack's price range coverage numbers. I called Mack to make sure I buy the correct one and they told me that for the GR-HD1 ($1,200 and less) I need their #1040 (B&H # MAEWVC42) 4-warranty which is $89.95 at B&H (going by the mfg number).

However, B&H is listing the Mack #1056 (B&H# MAEWPDVC4) 4-year warranty for $129.95 as the one for this camera and I think that was based on the camera's original sales price. Stranger, B&H lists the same Mack #'s for a variety of equipment price ranges, Mack's not sure why that is. VERY confusing.

Of interest is that the warranties include "One head cleaning per year at Mack Camera and Video Service." that didn't seem all that exciting until I was told by B&H (verified with Mack) that means a full cleaning; including CCD, heads, as well as a head alignment. That in itself is worth the price. Mack assured me that repair turn around time is usually two weeks if they have the parts.

I ordered the the #1040 warranty.

FYI: Steve Mullens "Tiny JVC Guide" tips on using the JVC GR-HD1 and JY-HD10 is still available:

"just send me an email. It's free."
d-v-c@mindspring.com
__________________
Best Regards,
Steve Mullen
Digital Video Consulting

__________________
"Sony V1 and FX7 HANDBOOK" at http://www.knowledge-download.com/V1-FX7

"EDITION 2: JVC ProHD HANDBOOK" at http://www.knowledge-download.com/JVCHDV

"Sony Z1 and FX1 Handbook" at http://www.knowledge-download.com/SonyHDV

Thanks for the info Dave. Sent an email and received a pdf within the hour. Definitely some nice information.

And, here's another link+ for you in case you didn't have it:

http://www.proapptips.com
http://www.proapptips.com/proapptips...Tutorials.html

That is indeed very interesting that they raised the price on it now.. LOL The other thing thats interesting is that the newer HD7 is only 80 bucks more. LOL But as we all know, this camera is a hell of a deal, even at 1300 now!

The warranty information is also very useful, so thanks!

Damon

I didn't like the looks or feel of the HD7, possibly because I wanted a bigger camera than I had and didn't want to go into debt to get it. Also, I'm not yet a fan of hard drives in cameras. Hard drives can and do crash. Haven't heard of any in vidcams yet but have in still cameras (PCMCIA micro drives). The thought of a drive crashing and taking all of my footage makes me shiver. Tape and solid state are my personal preferences.

Heck, when I shoot stills I quickly backup to a notebook and still keep the cards loaded until I can be sure I've stored those images semi-safely.

The Sony XDCAM EX has my interest for a future vidcam.

Just activated the extended warranty. While I hope I never need it I do plan to take them up on the free annual cleaning and adjustments. That in itself was worth the price.

My BF and I used to be one of the very first owners but we sold it to buy a Sony FX-1. But I still have tapes of friend's weddings that I was never able to download to a computer. Does anyone in LA want to rent us one for a bargain basement price for a day?:)

Hello Betsy,

A shame that you can't just use a "standard" DV type tape deck to play back and load these tapes and save some wear and tear on the camera's mechanism.

I've been passively looking for you for a bit. I really liked your comments to a old review (as did the two friends I sent it to) and was wondering what you were referring to in the following as it sounded interesting:

I have no idea what type of Christmas glasses you were referring to. Can you shed some light on that for me? Thanks.

Hi Dave, thanks for being on the lookout, it's always nice to be wanted:) What we've used for 98% of the project is just two semi heavy standard filters--1 is a 1/4 Black mist tiffen filter and the other is a Tiffen Soft FX 3 filter--a white filter and--we always use these two AT THE SAME TIME and the combination of (it seems) expanding and moderating the darks and the whites for us gives it a more filmic look--much better than just using the cinegama options of the camera alone. I know they should cancel each other out but (again in our opinion) seem to work a certain magic when crushed together. Now our project is set at Christmas and has certain surrealistic scenes (a la Hitchcock's Vertigo) so sometimes at the cost of even more light reaching the camera we slap on yet another heavier portrait white filter on top of the other two in order to give one of the female characters even more of a glow (it's still not obnoxious, like when they smear vaseline and nylons over Cybil Shepperd's close-ups). Adding the third filter makes most long shots in dim light too soft--but the added third filter can be great for closeups. But my favorite lens trick is something that because it eats up so much light and is so pronounced we use sparingly is in deed taking out the lenses of holiday specs, that look like the old 3D glasses and that when you aim them at sharp points of light like Christmas lights, car headlights in the distance, and fireworks produce both softening and tiny holographic special effects (twinkling stars, the word "Noel" seeming to float and rotate around a sharp light source, etc.)--also because of the holographic process, it gives the whole area a subtle, romantic lavender-grey glow, and really mellows the image in a beautiful, dreamlike way. The little holograms don't show up unless you telephoto all the way into an individual Christmas light but if you're shooting in an area with a lot of twinkly lights they do have the added bonus of creating a certain extra halo effect. Oh, and the bonus of all these approaches if you use a lot of onscreen light sources is that all of the light sources soften and look to be part of the pictorial beauty rather than a blared-out eye sore. To be crude, it's a distant cousin to all those dreamy blurry, high-end soft core, French movies of the mid seventies that were in turn influenced by the flashback sequences in Godfather II. Here is a link to the Holiday specs: http://www.3dglassesonline.com/holiday.html

Hope this helps,

L,

Bets

Greg,

Not sure if you're still looking for clips but I stumbled on an ad for a JY-HD10 on ebay today that has some clip links:

Nice clean still: http://www.eyeofmine.com/jvc/hd/aa-p...r-water-HD.jpg

This one is of a Japanese garden that has a couple filters added and infrared (163MB):
http://www.eyeofmine.com/portfolio/m...gardens-hd.wmv

This one is a segment of Kart racing (61MB):
http://www.eyeofmine.com/portfolio/m...nwillow-hd.wmv

This one is a nice home tour of a house I'd never want to leave (130MB):
http://www.eyeofmine.com/portfolio/m...ia/casa-hd.wmv

Overall, some pretty good samples.

Thanks for the links. Always enjoy seeing what others are doing with this camera. Im still waiting for mine to come back from the RMA. Been 2 weeks this Monday. Looks like it got stuck at the border for almost 4 days. Had to contact UPS for days before they finally released it. But at least its finally on its way back. So should have it early this week.

Greg
http://www.sandstormstudios.com

Powermac G4 1.25ghz (1.25 gigs Ram, 800 gigs HD)
Macbook Dual Core 1.83 ghz (1.25 gigs Ram, 240 gigs HD)

JVC GY-dv300u
JVC HD1u
TRV17

Well Greg, at least yours is on its way back. They don't even see one of ours as being returned.. This has honestly been the most traumatic mailorder that I have ever had from anywhere. I spoke with them(B&H) this morning and it appears, even afer I bugged the jerk that I spoke with for the second RMA number(he gave me the original one and ups label for this one) did not put notes in the system to show that we were sending the second camera back. This is after my friend spoke with them(the second instance they had her upset) and they were supposed to send a RMA number to include both camera's but they didn't, and that RMA only included the single camera. So I called them and spoke with the person that gave me the old order number/return number and indicated that there was going to be notes indicated that would represent the return of this camera. So now we have both a missing camera and also according to the person she spoke with parts supposedly missing..

This has been horrible to be honest.. I am really confused because I have never had this type of experience before. Its really, really bad...

Thats totally rediculous and unacceptable. I would be complely upset about that. That was a bit of my worry as well when sending back my camera. I spent every day tracking its progress and then when it said that UPS had delivered it, I sent an email to B&H to verify that they had received it and that the other one was on its way. The very next day they sent me a tracking number and out she went.

I think if I had a bad experiance like that it would possibly turn me off from buying from them. Unfortunately being from Canada the prices from B&H are what make it worth the risk.

Yes, Greg, I agree completely and to be honest, and I told the person I spoke with today, that I am "not" going to order with them when I get mine, but I truly as I told my friend today, am embarrased that I recommended them to her. She is a very mild lady, but at the same time, she's not a crybaby. The person that I spoke with that urked me the first time, he was really, really rude as I mentioned before, and if I were not such a stubborn person, I would probably have been disturbed by him also(just thinking to myself if she got someone like him).

But the "one hand doesn't know what the other one has or is doing" is really upsetting to me. I have to call them back tomorrow and I told the guy I spoke with today, and he brought this to the attention of his manager, that they "need" to do something tomorrow because as the rep stated himself "this is a mess and needs to be resolved". He appoligized, but as I told him, my frustration is not with him, but the fact that it seems like we are not only being jerked around, but their process is definately flawed. And also that while I am not sure this is the most expensive order they will ever take, they have botched this completely and resolution needs to be given. I also advised that I referred her to them and I am very sad that I did so, and would never refer anyone else to them because of this experience.


And yes, it is unacceptable! To be honest, its urking the life of me! I know for sure I will be submitting a complaint not only to them but also to Bizrate. I am not sure where else to go, but this has really angered me to the extreme, and worn out my patience..

I actually also am looking for other mailorder dealers that I can order my cam from. Any suggestions? I looked at Broadway and Adorama, but I am sort of afraid to after this. I have half a mind to just pay an extra grand and buy it directly from the Sony store locally. Yes, it is that bad of a taste in my mouth to be honest about this whole thing.. She is depressed and deeply upset about it, and I am just angry at this point.

It has ruined the whole excitement about getting new equipment and taking our editing and product to another level...

I just want to get her camera and then I will do what I need to for mine... But at this point, IMHO, they suck royally!!

D

well after 2 and a half weeks my cam is back. So far looks like all the pixels are good and none are dead. Have to put the camera through its paces with in the next few days.

I've been using mine quite a bit lately, it's working quite well. The built-in mike works better than I expected. I didn't need sound for what I was shooting but after hearing it decided that I'll turn the volume down and use it anyway.

I was shooting outside in the heat (108-degrees) with the camera on a tripod and no shade for either of us. The camera got pretty hot (as did I) but no problems what-so-ever. Going to get a piece of white fabric to put on it when it's sitting waiting for the next shot to be set up. Dusting off my Reflectosol square black umbrella and a heavy stand to shade me and the camera for next time, too.

I'm shooting this morning in a confined space and going to try using an Olympus 0.8x I have as the standard lens isn't wide enough for some things. The Olympus looked good in the tests I did in my yard so it should do fine. Wish I'd taken it with me Tuesday.

I wanted to go a bit wider than a 0.8x so I searched this forum for wide angle add-on lenses and ended up ordering a Sony 0.7x VCL-HG0758 (58mm thread) off ebay. Was going to get the VCL-HG0752 (52mm thread) but read that it might vignette at full wide. Interesting price range on those, I found a used one for $35, including shipping.

Not sure a 0.7x is that much wider than a 0.8x but at that price I figured I'd try it -- that lets me leave the 0.8x in my still camera bag. May look for a wider lens later, will have to see what kind of things I end up shooting. Saw some seriously bad distortion and focus problems (center sharp, edges way off) with some 0.45x ones so I'll have to do some research.

Wasn't thinking I'd need a wide angle with video as you can do a slow pan to show the things not in the frame. Discovered that's not always possible.

Also, discovered that the V428 batteries don't last as long in the heat as I'd have hoped. I have two but am going to get 1-2 more. Wouldn't mind a smaller AC adapter for long session indoor shooting -- no stopping to change batteries.

I'm learning and having fun doing it. Discovering that directing people and getting them to actually do what you asked is interesting. :-)

Well guys, gals, this will probably be my last post on the HD1 thread.

My friend has "finally" recieved her FX7, and I instantly fell in love with it. Tons of features(even more than I had read about) and the video is awesome, simply awesome... Hopefully there will not be any problems with this one as I don't think either of us can take another return with B&H. I ended up speaking with a manager by accident and giving him and earful of the situation(which he stated at the time was ridiculous himself), and he took care of it all and we had the camera the next day. I honestly saved his number in my cell as if I order my FX7 from B&H, I want to order it directly from him and not the reps(I really at this point don't have time or patience for a bunch of mess.. The patience has worn out)..

But to the day, there is still 50.00 missing from her credit card that they stated is going to be replaced next week.. So we will see.. However, I will find out and then report back to you all on it... It would be the final conclusion.. But IMHO they botched this one completely and the only saving grace is the manager I spoke with..

Damon

Enjoy the FX7 Damon. Good luck to you.

Tiffen Filters Demo
 

Probably over doing this thread and it's not JVC GR-HD1 specific, but thought I'd post this YouTube link that shows some of the Tiffen filter effects:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssx40e6Jrts&

Searching YouTube for other things (steadycam, steadicam, steadystick, etc.) brings up some interesting results that I never thought of looking there for before. Nice resource.

Wild. I missed this post! Seems we were both posting at about the same time. I saw my new post and scrolled down and not up. I was looking for something I'd read here and just saw your reply and was very surprised.

Well, you're brilliant and real world, a feeling shared by at least two people.

That's an interesting combination. I'll pass this on to my much more experienced associate and I'm certain he'll nod and say "Yep, she's brilliant." I know he has a set of the black diffusion filters and a slew of others.

Reminds me of the old Star Treks where they'd WAY overdo the filtering on the female love interests of Captain Kirk. A few times they'd cut to him (crisp) and back to the woman (super-soft and glowing like a light bulb) as they hypnotically gazed at each other and it was a severe change. Later, they started using some diffusion on him to mellow the difference out. Struck me as funny.

I remember seeing a parody where a fan didn't recognize one of his favorite stars and didn't even believe her when she told him who she was. She opens her purse and pulls out some diffusion glasses and says, "Here, try these." He puts them on and now sees her in her usual overly diffused glow and starts swooning. :-)

I'm assuming they're like diffraction gratings but they don't look big enough to be in front of a lens. Hmm.

Cool! Thanks, Bets, again you've come through with useful information. I really appreciate it and know my associate will be running around testing and making filter sandwiches mumbling, "She's brilliant!" :-)

David: Thanks, and we to be honest are finally enjoying the life out of the FX7. I am back in school, so I am trying to get used to the editing with the camera and the processing power it takes to work with the video. It seems it takes even more "oomph" than the HD1 to work with. But I am pretty much able to downconvert to SD in a pretty decent timeframe.

But July 22 is coming pretty fast and I will definately upgrading to a quad so I think that will help out...

D

What happens on the 22nd? It's closer now. :-)

I recently changed my mind and will be getting an 20" iMac and will be adding my 20" Viewsonic to it for two 20" monitors -- I want a 30" but... Since it will run Windows and Mac OS I decided it will work nicely for me. Waiting for the rumored Aug. 7th announcement.

Making a poor man's steaycam from a monopod I just bought, just need the 2-1/2 pound weight and maybe a handle. Added a quick release to the monopod (on top of the QR it came with but I want them all the same) and the aluminum shoulder rest I just purchased. Also, added a couple more fluorescent lights to my video lighting kit. Just need a hand mike (I have a lavaliere, mix mike and shotgun) and I'm set.

Hi Dave! The 22nd is when they are supposed to drop the price of the quad chip. I actually already purchased it and will simply be going back for the difference in price. Its a great processor for working with video though to be honest. I also upgraded and have 4gigs of memory now. So everything is working pretty well.

And I am in love with the FX7! It is alot of camera for the price. Has alot of features and the video quality is great, even when downconverted to SD.. So I am happy at the moment.. LOL

D