AG-DVC30 various topics

[Brian Welch]

Thanks alot for the reply. I received the Rode mic and needed to buy the 3 pin xlr fitting for it to fit my AG30. I can 't hook my AZden wireless to the AG30 because it did not come with a 3 pin connector either. Will a 3 pin like the one I bought for the Rode work with the Azden wireless? I tested and sound came through just fine. What are your thoughts on this? Keep in mind the 3 pin was made for the Rode and not for a receiver on a Azden wireless.

Thanks!

[Brendan Bhagan]

Question here, do you have the xlr box with your dvc30? if so you should have looked at xlr mics right from the begining not either of the 2 you hav now. The video mic and the azden will both work to the mic input or via the xlr adaptor to the xlr box, the rode xlr adaptor is not made just for the video mic but for any mic as well.

[Brian Welch]

I appreciate the info. Thanks.

[Wayne G Walker]

Just received a DVC30 that I bought off of Ebay that was advertised as "Barely Used" and used 3-4 times. Got suspicious when there was no manual with the camera. Checked the log and the heads have 74 hours of usage. I suspect my seller bought it with most of the time already on the camera.

So obviously I am a bit perturbed by this. How much risk do people here think I am running with a 74-hour-unknown-user-and-type-of-usage DVC 30? And what should I be looking for in the way of problem areas.


(Please don't lecture me about not buying new from one of the DV sponsors. I got that message already ;( ).

Thanks,
WGW

[Michael Fossenkemper]

I don't think 74 hours is that much. I've got 100+ at least on mine and I don't do that much shooting, I think the heads can go for about 1000 hours before they need to be serviced. At that rate i figure i've got another 9 years of use. Some basic things to look out for is looking for any dropouts when you record something and play it back. Make sure all the little screws are tight especially the housing that covers the mic, if these work loose from using the handle they are hard to find. But don't over tighten them either. some people have said that their power button broke. Other than that, if everything looks likes it's working, start using it.

[Mark Williams]

IMO thats really low hours, like the equivilant of 5,000 miles on an almost new car. I have over 200 hours on my DVC30 and have only had to run a head cleaner tape on it once at around 150 hours and it turned out that the problem was really just a bad tape I had used and the heads were just fine. What would also indicate the cams condition are any nicks, dents or scratches on the body which would show how well it had been cared for.

Regards,

Mark

[Wayne G Walker]

Thanks very much for the feedback. I will check out what you have suggested, but I am relieved...

[Jonathan Shannon]

Greetings:

I've read through the manual, and would like to be able to save a manually set white balance (my automatic wb doesn't seem to work, and seems to be set for flourescent lighting. In manual, the cam has settings for sun and tungsten lighting, but if it's cloudy or shady I've got to set it manually each time I shoot).

Anyway, I can't find a way to do this. Is there something that I'm missing? Thanks in advance for any tips/suggestions.

Jon

[Bo Sundvall]

Hi

If you point your camcorder at something white and then press and HOLD the White Balance button for a couple of seconds, it will adjust the white balance manually. The LCD/EVF also gets black for a short while when the cam adjusts the black level. After that you can release the WB button and you should have proper white balance setting. As I have seen, sometimes the manual setting adjusts the white balance very wrong so the procedure might have to be done a couple of times before the WB is set as expected.

This procedure is described in the manual, but might be hard to find/understand.

Unfortunatley there is no way to save more than one manual WB setting.

Regards,

/Bo

[Douglas Clark]

A few more details about DVC30 manual white balance...

Once you have set a manual white balance (as Bo describes above), it is saved in memory as the "set mode". You can return to auto white balance by pressing the white balance button 1 time, or switch the camera back to auto mode. To return to your saved white balance, switch camera to manual mode, and then press the white balance button 4 times til you see the set mode icon (solid square with 2 triangle outlines).

If you power off while set to manual white balance, the camera remembers and starts up again in this same setting. Your manual white balance is retained with power off and a battery change.

If you switch the camera to auto mode, and then back to manual, the white balance is in auto mode and you have to press the white balance button 4 times to get back to your saved manual setting.

To save a new manual white balance, just zoom in on your white card (or white wall, etc) and hold the white balance button about 3 seconds until the screen goes black and then the image returns. The white balance icon blinks while taking a new manual white balance. It will continue to blink slowly if it could not do the white balance due to too bright or too dark lighting.

You can also set manual white balance while shooting but the black level doesn't get set (I don't know when that would be a problem).

Douglas

[Jonathan Shannon]

Bo and Doug:

Many thanks for your replies. Yes, I knew how to set the wb manually, but I wasn't aware that it was saved in the wb set mode. I wish I could save a couple of settings, but one will in most cases be all that I need. Very helpful. Thanks again!

Jon

[Dane Scott]

Lately, my DVC30 has begun recording some broken-looking video. Horizontal bars of video from a previous frame jump around on playback. The jitter is not visible in the viewfinder while recording, only when playing back the recording.

The jumping bars of distortion are not seen on recordings of a still subject. They only evidence themselves when the camera is shooting items that are in motion. If I shoot an unmoving scene, the recording looks fine on playback.

This is a new problem...up until recently it didn't do that. I've tried both normal and slower speed recordings, and a variety of tapes, but nothing has helped so far.

Video project waits in the wings...here's hoping someone can tell me what I'm experiencing and what to do.

Thanks much,

Dane

[Michael Fossenkemper]

I would say it sounds like the heads are dirty. try popping in a cleaning tape and see if that helps.

[Jack Watson]

I thought I had done my homework and bought a DVC30 for legal applications. Among other features, I chose it for the Zoom, and Date\Time superimpose feature. I have problems with it and badly need some feedback. Let me preface by saying that for my uses I am not concerned about artistic presentation, but instead evidence gathering. I rely heavily on Digital Zoom and must have Date & Time superimposed on all videos.

1) Unfortunately, I have discovered the Date\Time stamp can not be superimposed on any video recorded above 24X. I see no exception to this rule. (Am I missing anything here?)

2) I need a seamless digital zoom. That is to say I may need to zoom from 1X to 30X or 40X without ceasing recording. As best I can determine the procedure for zooming from 1X to 24X, involves stopping recording, at least once, if not twice, because you apparently can not move out of the Optical Range into the Digital Range without Stopping Recording. Once in the digital zoom range if you realize you need to go to the next level, you must again stop recording to make the adjustment (even with a User Button Programmed For Digital Zoom).

The Zoom Increments are 1.25X. 1.5X, 2X. 5X & 10X respectively. You must Stop Recording to go to the next increment. That’s an awful lot of stopping and starting recording, if you suddenly realize you don’t have enough Zoom.

I hope I am missing something on both these issues. Am I? Thanks in advance.

Jack

[Jack Watson]

I'm a newb here. Did I post this in the wrong place or what? Surely someone has some feedback on these two issues. I was just curious if I was overlooking something? If I don't get a response I'll just RMA it, as I see no solution myself. Thanks Jack