DVX100 -- various topics

Aaron Koolen · September 23rd, 2003, 08:10 PM

Can't find any information about whether it does it not. It's a feature I'd like to see, but then again, aiming at the filmmakers the probably assume we'll have an external underscanning monitor.

Cheers
Aaron

Barry Green · September 23rd, 2003, 11:14 PM

It does not.

However, as a cheesy in-the-field workaround, the camera does have a grooved rectangle on the LCD panel that happens to correspond exactly to what are the LCD would occupy if it were to display the full frame. So, when looking at the LCD, if you were to imagine the picture area stretching to fill in the gap between the edge of the LCD and that groove, you'll get an idea of what's being recorded in the underscan area.

Yang Wen · September 25th, 2003, 09:53 PM

Hey, try this, in 24P set your iris to OPEN and zoom all the way out Z00, Then play with the focus. On my DVX, in those settings, I have to be on M99 to get sharp focus, if I move from 99 to 98, there's a noticable loss of focus on the LCD. Can you guys duplicate this? It seems that this anomaly diminishes away as the Iris closes down. Could it be due to the fact that the DVX lense is extra wide? Thanks!

Jon Fordham · September 26th, 2003, 07:34 AM

I've not experienced that particular issue.

I can tell you that by closing the iris, you are giving yourself more room on the depth of field and that's why the problem dimishes. In other words, the more open the iris is, the shallower your depth of field. The more you stop down, the deeper your focus becomes.

The lens being extra wide actually contributes to exactly the opposite of what you're describing in terms of focal length. The wider the lens, the less noticable the depth of field becomes. Especially on a 1/3" CCD. The longer focal lengths is where you should notice a difference in focus changes.

However, due to the resolution of Standard Definition, most wide shots are going to tend to be a little on the soft side simply because of the resolving power of the lenses, CCD's, and standard.

I can tell you that in my experience, the DVX100 is worlds above others in its class when it comes to getting good wide shots. The resolving power of the lens, the higher pixel count of the CCD's, and the full 480P vertical resolution in progressive scan mode give the DVX100 a distinct and noticable advantage at capturing clear and sharp wide shots.

I've seen the DVX100 flip from normal focus to Macro focus going from 51 to 49. I can see that pretty easily. But you shouldn't be able to tell a difference in focus going from 99 to 98. Especially on a wide lens.

Juan Garcia · September 26th, 2003, 12:31 PM

Hi, ist going to be released the panasonic AG-DVC80 camcorder in pal ???

Barry Green · September 26th, 2003, 05:04 PM

Yes, it's definitely coming in PAL, if it's not out already.

Matthew Kaplan · October 2nd, 2003, 12:34 AM

I'm shooting a short film.

Nervous about setttings. Want to get the basics and then have fun later.

I want to shoot 24 normal, what does that give you?

What setting should i play with that will give me more of a film look.

I"m looking for a happy feel. It's a comedy piece.

I'm still unsure about how to use zebra (which one, 70 or 100)

Which shutter speed 1/50 is default I believe.

Stupid question, I just plug the mic into input 1 and make sure I'm getting soound in the headphones. It is as simple as that right?

coudl I hear sound in the headphones and it not record to tape?

Barry Green · October 2nd, 2003, 12:25 PM

Don't be nervous, it'll do fine.

24P Normal is fine, the stock settings are good.

You won't need to change the settings for more of a film look, it's already fairly optimized and film-looking. You might be able to tweak a percentage here or there, but it's pretty good out of the box.

The "happy feel" will be more dictated by your lighting style and art direction. Lots of high-key light, strong fill, avoid sharp contrast. And put colorful objects in your scene -- in wardrobe, in set dressings -- as long as you're photographing a happy-looking set, you'll get a happy-looking feel, much moreso than a tweak of camera settings will give you.

As for Zebra, the great thing about the DVX is that it gives you both, 70 and 100. Use 70 to set exposure for faces, the shiny bits (noses, foreheads) should just be showing some 70% zebra. Use 100% to make sure nothing is "blowing out" in your picture (i.e., you ideally shouldn't see ANY zebras in the 100% setting, but if you do, they should be isolated "hot spots", like a visible light in the frame or the sun or something).

Don't worry about shutter speed, leave it to "shutter off" and you'll get 1/48th or 1/50th.

As for the mic, use a good-quality microphone, and if you're using a mono mic (and no mixer) you might want to plug it into input 2 instead of input 1, that way you can record audio to both audio tracks. Make sure the line/mic input switch is set appropriately. And check your levels, average talking should hit at around -12db, with the loudest sounds coming in just below the peak 0db setting (i.e., loud talking will go into the red but shouldn't hit the rightmost red mark). -12db is denoted by the slight vertical line on the audio meters. And if you're recording the same audio on both channels, turn down the volume on one of the channels a bit, for clipping protection -- record one channel at normal volume, and the other a notch or two lower, so if something really loud happens, you'll have some headroom on channel two to hopefully prevent clipping and distortion.

Christopher Go · October 6th, 2003, 08:40 PM

Here are some pictures of an underwater housing for the Pansonic AG-DVX100. Not sure if these will make it over to the US or if they're already here but check out these photos from a Japanese site (helps out if you have the Japanese language font for your browser, otherwise the text will look garbled):

http://www.netwave.or.jp/~shioya/dvx100top.htm

http://www.netwave.or.jp/~shioya/sbp510.htm

http://www.netwave.or.jp/~shioya/dvx100a.htm

http://www.netwave.or.jp/~shioya/dvx100b.htm

Could our Japanses speaking members translate the info for us?

Alturo Nguyen · October 7th, 2003, 09:17 AM

that's just something someone made in cad...
looks great, but it's a pipedream
that's the one i was referring to in my post where i'm looking for reviews/footage from an underwater housing

Jarrett Towe · October 7th, 2003, 06:08 PM

And full sunshine in Atlanta! Any ideas on how to setup the camera? I am using a ag-dvc80 btw!
Thanks also to all those who helped me with my auto gain function today.

Peter Sieben · October 8th, 2003, 02:12 AM

I am considering to buy the PAL version of the DVX100. I will rent it for two days in a couple of weeks to test it myself. Until so far I only have seen pictures and info at the internet.

Has anyone some good quality MPEG2 clip online that I could download, which I can use to check the 25P quality on a big tv-screen?

Many thanks!!

Peter Sieben

Frank Granovski · October 8th, 2003, 02:50 AM

Before you rent one, go try one out at the shop. See if they can hook it up to a large screen TV. Whether you use 25P or PAL interlaced, I'm sure you'll find the video quality very good. This cam has received very high ratings in a number of reviews.

Peter Jefferson · October 8th, 2003, 05:57 AM

USE the ND filters, run a white balance against somethign BRIGHTER than the dress... (if its white...) ive almost lost some shots by doing white balances on a white card while indoors, and the dress (being textured) captures more light and you get alot of "see thru" light which can be brighter.

set your two user buttons for 18db gain and the other for backlight compensation.

apart from that, have fun...

Dale Anthony Smith · October 10th, 2003, 04:20 PM

Once I had the filter holder working on the stock lens hood, I thougth about keeping the light a little more off of it.
I made this extension hood by placing a large card at the distance from the lens where I wanted the hood to end. (at the end of the Steadycam JR) Then zoomed all the way out and traced the edges onto the card where they were just out of frame (plus a little safe area). This gave me the outside dimension. The inside dimension is, of course the hood (plus the thickness of velcro around it. The hood is made of illustrator board and grey tape and painted with wrinkle black from an auto parts store. It looks pretty good and works great. The thickness of the board comes just flush with the filter... I was planning to add a velcro strip to hold the filter in at the top but it isn't necessary. The filter is much closer to the lens than the matteboxes put it (it just clears the mic).

http://www.2pff.com/cgi-bin/more.cgi?118

pics of original retrofit:

http://www.2pff.com/cgi-bin/more.cgi?110

http://www.2pff.com/cgi-bin/more.cgi?111

September 23rd, 2003, 08:10 PM	#61
Aaron Koolen Trustee Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 1,727	Does the DVX100 LCD and/or EVF underscan? Can't find any information about whether it does it not. It's a feature I'd like to see, but then again, aiming at the filmmakers the probably assume we'll have an external underscanning monitor. Cheers Aaron __________________ My Website Meat Free Media

September 25th, 2003, 09:53 PM	#63
Yang Wen Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 991	Lens Focus issue. Hey, try this, in 24P set your iris to OPEN and zoom all the way out Z00, Then play with the focus. On my DVX, in those settings, I have to be on M99 to get sharp focus, if I move from 99 to 98, there's a noticable loss of focus on the LCD. Can you guys duplicate this? It seems that this anomaly diminishes away as the Iris closes down. Could it be due to the fact that the DVX lense is extra wide? Thanks!

September 26th, 2003, 12:31 PM	#65
Juan Garcia Tourist Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: argentina Posts: 1	AG-DVC80 pal Hi, ist going to be released the panasonic AG-DVC80 camcorder in pal ???

October 2nd, 2003, 12:34 AM	#67
Matthew Kaplan Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: United States Posts: 60	A bit Nervous, what with the normal settings get me? I'm shooting a short film. Nervous about setttings. Want to get the basics and then have fun later. I want to shoot 24 normal, what does that give you? What setting should i play with that will give me more of a film look. I"m looking for a happy feel. It's a comedy piece. I'm still unsure about how to use zebra (which one, 70 or 100) Which shutter speed 1/50 is default I believe. Stupid question, I just plug the mic into input 1 and make sure I'm getting soound in the headphones. It is as simple as that right? coudl I hear sound in the headphones and it not record to tape?

October 6th, 2003, 08:40 PM	#69
Christopher Go Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 429	New Underwater Housing for DVX100? (Photos) Here are some pictures of an underwater housing for the Pansonic AG-DVX100. Not sure if these will make it over to the US or if they're already here but check out these photos from a Japanese site (helps out if you have the Japanese language font for your browser, otherwise the text will look garbled): http://www.netwave.or.jp/~shioya/dvx100top.htm http://www.netwave.or.jp/~shioya/sbp510.htm http://www.netwave.or.jp/~shioya/dvx100a.htm http://www.netwave.or.jp/~shioya/dvx100b.htm Could our Japanses speaking members translate the info for us?

September 23rd, 2003, 11:14 PM	#62
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	It does not. However, as a cheesy in-the-field workaround, the camera does have a grooved rectangle on the LCD panel that happens to correspond exactly to what are the LCD would occupy if it were to display the full frame. So, when looking at the LCD, if you were to imagine the picture area stretching to fill in the gap between the edge of the LCD and that groove, you'll get an idea of what's being recorded in the underscan area.

September 26th, 2003, 07:34 AM	#64
Jon Fordham Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: New York, NY Posts: 242	I've not experienced that particular issue. I can tell you that by closing the iris, you are giving yourself more room on the depth of field and that's why the problem dimishes. In other words, the more open the iris is, the shallower your depth of field. The more you stop down, the deeper your focus becomes. The lens being extra wide actually contributes to exactly the opposite of what you're describing in terms of focal length. The wider the lens, the less noticable the depth of field becomes. Especially on a 1/3" CCD. The longer focal lengths is where you should notice a difference in focus changes. However, due to the resolution of Standard Definition, most wide shots are going to tend to be a little on the soft side simply because of the resolving power of the lenses, CCD's, and standard. I can tell you that in my experience, the DVX100 is worlds above others in its class when it comes to getting good wide shots. The resolving power of the lens, the higher pixel count of the CCD's, and the full 480P vertical resolution in progressive scan mode give the DVX100 a distinct and noticable advantage at capturing clear and sharp wide shots. I've seen the DVX100 flip from normal focus to Macro focus going from 51 to 49. I can see that pretty easily. But you shouldn't be able to tell a difference in focus going from 99 to 98. Especially on a wide lens.

September 26th, 2003, 05:04 PM	#66
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	Yes, it's definitely coming in PAL, if it's not out already.

October 2nd, 2003, 12:25 PM	#68
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	Don't be nervous, it'll do fine. 24P Normal is fine, the stock settings are good. You won't need to change the settings for more of a film look, it's already fairly optimized and film-looking. You might be able to tweak a percentage here or there, but it's pretty good out of the box. The "happy feel" will be more dictated by your lighting style and art direction. Lots of high-key light, strong fill, avoid sharp contrast. And put colorful objects in your scene -- in wardrobe, in set dressings -- as long as you're photographing a happy-looking set, you'll get a happy-looking feel, much moreso than a tweak of camera settings will give you. As for Zebra, the great thing about the DVX is that it gives you both, 70 and 100. Use 70 to set exposure for faces, the shiny bits (noses, foreheads) should just be showing some 70% zebra. Use 100% to make sure nothing is "blowing out" in your picture (i.e., you ideally shouldn't see ANY zebras in the 100% setting, but if you do, they should be isolated "hot spots", like a visible light in the frame or the sun or something). Don't worry about shutter speed, leave it to "shutter off" and you'll get 1/48th or 1/50th. As for the mic, use a good-quality microphone, and if you're using a mono mic (and no mixer) you might want to plug it into input 2 instead of input 1, that way you can record audio to both audio tracks. Make sure the line/mic input switch is set appropriately. And check your levels, average talking should hit at around -12db, with the loudest sounds coming in just below the peak 0db setting (i.e., loud talking will go into the red but shouldn't hit the rightmost red mark). -12db is denoted by the slight vertical line on the audio meters. And if you're recording the same audio on both channels, turn down the volume on one of the channels a bit, for clipping protection -- record one channel at normal volume, and the other a notch or two lower, so if something really loud happens, you'll have some headroom on channel two to hopefully prevent clipping and distortion.

October 7th, 2003, 09:17 AM	#70
Alturo Nguyen Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 52	that's just something someone made in cad... looks great, but it's a pipedream that's the one i was referring to in my post where i'm looking for reviews/footage from an underwater housing

October 7th, 2003, 06:08 PM	#71
Jarrett Towe New Boot Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: greenville, sc Posts: 17	Suggestions for cam setup, wedding this weekend 80 degrees... And full sunshine in Atlanta! Any ideas on how to setup the camera? I am using a ag-dvc80 btw! Thanks also to all those who helped me with my auto gain function today.

October 8th, 2003, 02:12 AM	#72
Peter Sieben Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 345	PAL footage from DVX100 online? I am considering to buy the PAL version of the DVX100. I will rent it for two days in a couple of weeks to test it myself. Until so far I only have seen pictures and info at the internet. Has anyone some good quality MPEG2 clip online that I could download, which I can use to check the 25P quality on a big tv-screen? Many thanks!! Peter Sieben __________________ Peter / Orphic Film www.orphicfilm.nl and www.myspace.com/orphicfilm

October 8th, 2003, 02:50 AM	#73
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Before you rent one, go try one out at the shop. See if they can hook it up to a large screen TV. Whether you use 25P or PAL interlaced, I'm sure you'll find the video quality very good. This cam has received very high ratings in a number of reviews.

October 8th, 2003, 05:57 AM	#74
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	USE the ND filters, run a white balance against somethign BRIGHTER than the dress... (if its white...) ive almost lost some shots by doing white balances on a white card while indoors, and the dress (being textured) captures more light and you get alot of "see thru" light which can be brighter. set your two user buttons for 18db gain and the other for backlight compensation. apart from that, have fun...

October 10th, 2003, 04:20 PM	#75
Dale Anthony Smith Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: New Orleans Posts: 44	Part II Lens Hood Filter Holder Plus Hood Ext Once I had the filter holder working on the stock lens hood, I thougth about keeping the light a little more off of it. I made this extension hood by placing a large card at the distance from the lens where I wanted the hood to end. (at the end of the Steadycam JR) Then zoomed all the way out and traced the edges onto the card where they were just out of frame (plus a little safe area). This gave me the outside dimension. The inside dimension is, of course the hood (plus the thickness of velcro around it. The hood is made of illustrator board and grey tape and painted with wrinkle black from an auto parts store. It looks pretty good and works great. The thickness of the board comes just flush with the filter... I was planning to add a velcro strip to hold the filter in at the top but it isn't necessary. The filter is much closer to the lens than the matteboxes put it (it just clears the mic). http://www.2pff.com/cgi-bin/more.cgi?118 pics of original retrofit: http://www.2pff.com/cgi-bin/more.cgi?110 http://www.2pff.com/cgi-bin/more.cgi?111 __________________ Multi-Media