PDF of PDX10 Manual? at DVinfo.net

David Ziegelheim · July 12th, 2003, 01:38 AM

I have been unable to find a PDF of the PDX10 manual. Does anyone know if Sony has one online?

Vladimir Koifman · July 12th, 2003, 04:31 AM

It looks like there is no online manuals for Sony professioanl models.
The best you can do is to download manual for TRV950, that should be pretty close anyway.
ftp://ftp.ita.sel.sony.com/ccpg/dvimag/manuals/camcorders/TRV950.pdf

David Ziegelheim · July 12th, 2003, 08:54 AM

But that doesn't tell me about the audio features and other differences.

For instance, I understand with XLR inputs you can adjust the audio channels independently. How?

Is there a way to set the iris size? I see an 'exposure setting', but this is usually just a delta from the camera's automatic metering. Is there a way to set the aperture to a fixed value (say for depth of field control)?

I am very surprised at the limited amount of information that sony provides. I understand they are working on a new site ("Being Sony"), but it is not publically available.

If there is no info online, how do people get info if they lost a manual? Order another one? Every other manufacturer has it online.

Boyd Ostroff · July 12th, 2003, 10:27 AM

I believe you can adjust the channels independently using menu features, but this isn't something I've used yet myself.

Yes, there is full manual control of the iris. You can also manually set the shutter speed, with one caveat. You need to pick the shutter speed first, then adjust the iris manually. This is the same behaviour as the VX-2000. For some reason they decided not to display the f-stop in the viewfinder however, just a sliding bar. This put me off at first, however if you remember that dead center on the slider is f4.0 it isn't so bad. As a trade off (?) they chose to display the focus distance (metric) in the viewfinder, unlike the PD-150/VX-2000 which use the sliding bar. Go figure...

Yeah, Sony's website(s) really suck, a topic that comes up from time to time around here. They are slow, have broken links, are impossible to navigate...but their products are good, so I guess you can't have everything ;-)

There is a relatively thorough PDF brochure on Sony's website, but the link doesn't seem to be working now. On the Sony Canada website I found a similar, but less detailed, brochure which says "preliminary" at http://esi.sony.ca/stellent/groups/p...sony014656.pdf

If you have specific questions about the PDX-10 why not ask them here, there seems to be a growing group of owners online.

David Ziegelheim · July 12th, 2003, 09:47 PM

Thanks Boyd...but

I thought the exposure display is showing a +/- adjustment over the camera's automatic exposure adjustment. That is, until you make an adjustment it is always kind of correctly exposed. At least that has been by experience testing at B&H and DV Expo.

David

Vladimir Koifman · July 12th, 2003, 11:29 PM

There are two ways to adjust exposure. One is to through the custom preset menu. Then it works exactly like you described, that is adds + or - to the automatically chosen exposure.
The second way is to press exposure button on the back. Then you get a slider that graphicaly shows the aperture. Even though the F-number is not shown as such on screen, the slider shows it in a graphical form and one can adjust it.
I dont know why Sony opted for such inconventient aperture display form.

Jake McMurray · July 13th, 2003, 02:54 AM

does the pdx10 supply 48v of phantom power, or less, is it switchable.

Boyd Ostroff · July 13th, 2003, 07:11 AM

Vladimir is right. You're confusing automatic mode (AE) with full manual. The custom preset control is called "AE shift".

The XLR box has the following switches:

INPUT 1
----------
record channel select: ch1+ch2, ch1
input level: line, mic, mic att
+48v: on, off

INPUT 2
----------
input level: line, mic, mic att
+48v: on, off

Actually there is an online version of the PD-150 manual, and I believe you will find it has the same audio features. See page 54 at http://www.sony.ca/dvcam/manuals/DSR-PD150.pdf

David Ziegelheim · July 13th, 2003, 08:20 AM

Gentlemen:

A simple test. Best done outdoors where the auto gain won't be automatically used (is there a way to turn it off?).

1. Set shutter to 1/60. Go to the exposure. Point where the zebras just go away. Is it in the middle? Don't change it.

2. Set the shutter to 1/2000 (5 f-stop change). Go to exposure. Is it in the middle?

On a bright day the first should have caused the lens to stop down from say an f/11 to f/2 and the bar should move without any operator change. If it is in the middle both times than it is just a delta from the camera's settings.

Does the bar automatically move?

David

Boyd Ostroff · July 13th, 2003, 10:45 AM

I think you've hit on the somewhat odd behavior I alluded to above. If you set the iris manually, then change the shutter speed you will find that the camera automatically changes the iris opening. But once you have set the shutter speed as desired you may then choose any iris opening you want. The shutter speed will remain locked and the iris will be continuously variable. However I don't think you can lock the iris and then continuously vary the shutter speed (or at least I haven't figured out how). The VX-2000 behaves exactly the same as this, however the PD-150 does not (or so I have been told).

David Ziegelheim · July 13th, 2003, 02:38 PM

That position on the PD150 is the exposure setting, adjusting it relative to the automatic setting. It has a separate iris adjustment on the side displaying the f-stop in the lower left hand corner of the screen.

Boyd Ostroff · July 13th, 2003, 03:42 PM

Yes, the iris control is located on the side of the PD-150 and VX-2000 and there's a menu wheel at the back which performs a variety of functions. On the PDX-10 they eliminated the exposure wheel on the side and added iris control to the list of functions performed by the menu wheel. There's an exposure button on the back (next to the white balance and shutter speed buttons). This allows you to select the iris adjust function for the menu wheel.

Again, everything works exactly the same as the VX-2000, however the iris doesn't have a dedicated wheel. But it really doesn't matter, because on the VX-2000 you cannot operate the iris wheel concurrently with changing the shutter speed. I believe this may be different on the PD-150 however.

July 12th, 2003, 01:38 AM	#1
David Ziegelheim Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Warren, NJ Posts: 398	PDF of PDX10 Manual? I have been unable to find a PDF of the PDX10 manual. Does anyone know if Sony has one online?

July 12th, 2003, 04:31 AM	#2
Vladimir Koifman Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Israel Posts: 115	It looks like there is no online manuals for Sony professioanl models. The best you can do is to download manual for TRV950, that should be pretty close anyway. ftp://ftp.ita.sel.sony.com/ccpg/dvimag/manuals/camcorders/TRV950.pdf

July 12th, 2003, 08:54 AM	#3
David Ziegelheim Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Warren, NJ Posts: 398	But that doesn't tell me about the audio features and other differences. For instance, I understand with XLR inputs you can adjust the audio channels independently. How? Is there a way to set the iris size? I see an 'exposure setting', but this is usually just a delta from the camera's automatic metering. Is there a way to set the aperture to a fixed value (say for depth of field control)? I am very surprised at the limited amount of information that sony provides. I understand they are working on a new site ("Being Sony"), but it is not publically available. If there is no info online, how do people get info if they lost a manual? Order another one? Every other manufacturer has it online.

July 12th, 2003, 10:27 AM	#4
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	I believe you can adjust the channels independently using menu features, but this isn't something I've used yet myself. Yes, there is full manual control of the iris. You can also manually set the shutter speed, with one caveat. You need to pick the shutter speed first, then adjust the iris manually. This is the same behaviour as the VX-2000. For some reason they decided not to display the f-stop in the viewfinder however, just a sliding bar. This put me off at first, however if you remember that dead center on the slider is f4.0 it isn't so bad. As a trade off (?) they chose to display the focus distance (metric) in the viewfinder, unlike the PD-150/VX-2000 which use the sliding bar. Go figure... Yeah, Sony's website(s) really suck, a topic that comes up from time to time around here. They are slow, have broken links, are impossible to navigate...but their products are good, so I guess you can't have everything ;-) There is a relatively thorough PDF brochure on Sony's website, but the link doesn't seem to be working now. On the Sony Canada website I found a similar, but less detailed, brochure which says "preliminary" at http://esi.sony.ca/stellent/groups/p...sony014656.pdf If you have specific questions about the PDX-10 why not ask them here, there seems to be a growing group of owners online.

July 12th, 2003, 09:47 PM	#5
David Ziegelheim Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Warren, NJ Posts: 398	Thanks Boyd...but I thought the exposure display is showing a +/- adjustment over the camera's automatic exposure adjustment. That is, until you make an adjustment it is always kind of correctly exposed. At least that has been by experience testing at B&H and DV Expo. David

July 12th, 2003, 11:29 PM	#6
Vladimir Koifman Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Israel Posts: 115	There are two ways to adjust exposure. One is to through the custom preset menu. Then it works exactly like you described, that is adds + or - to the automatically chosen exposure. The second way is to press exposure button on the back. Then you get a slider that graphicaly shows the aperture. Even though the F-number is not shown as such on screen, the slider shows it in a graphical form and one can adjust it. I dont know why Sony opted for such inconventient aperture display form.

July 13th, 2003, 02:54 AM	#7
Jake McMurray Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Bellingham Washington Posts: 102	does the pdx10 supply 48v of phantom power, or less, is it switchable.

July 13th, 2003, 07:11 AM	#8
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Vladimir is right. You're confusing automatic mode (AE) with full manual. The custom preset control is called "AE shift". The XLR box has the following switches: INPUT 1 ---------- record channel select: ch1+ch2, ch1 input level: line, mic, mic att +48v: on, off INPUT 2 ---------- input level: line, mic, mic att +48v: on, off Actually there is an online version of the PD-150 manual, and I believe you will find it has the same audio features. See page 54 at http://www.sony.ca/dvcam/manuals/DSR-PD150.pdf

July 13th, 2003, 08:20 AM	#9
David Ziegelheim Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Warren, NJ Posts: 398	Gentlemen: A simple test. Best done outdoors where the auto gain won't be automatically used (is there a way to turn it off?). 1. Set shutter to 1/60. Go to the exposure. Point where the zebras just go away. Is it in the middle? Don't change it. 2. Set the shutter to 1/2000 (5 f-stop change). Go to exposure. Is it in the middle? On a bright day the first should have caused the lens to stop down from say an f/11 to f/2 and the bar should move without any operator change. If it is in the middle both times than it is just a delta from the camera's settings. Does the bar automatically move? David

July 13th, 2003, 10:45 AM	#10
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	I think you've hit on the somewhat odd behavior I alluded to above. If you set the iris manually, then change the shutter speed you will find that the camera automatically changes the iris opening. But once you have set the shutter speed as desired you may then choose any iris opening you want. The shutter speed will remain locked and the iris will be continuously variable. However I don't think you can lock the iris and then continuously vary the shutter speed (or at least I haven't figured out how). The VX-2000 behaves exactly the same as this, however the PD-150 does not (or so I have been told).

July 13th, 2003, 02:38 PM	#11
David Ziegelheim Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Warren, NJ Posts: 398	That position on the PD150 is the exposure setting, adjusting it relative to the automatic setting. It has a separate iris adjustment on the side displaying the f-stop in the lower left hand corner of the screen.

July 13th, 2003, 03:42 PM	#12
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Yes, the iris control is located on the side of the PD-150 and VX-2000 and there's a menu wheel at the back which performs a variety of functions. On the PDX-10 they eliminated the exposure wheel on the side and added iris control to the list of functions performed by the menu wheel. There's an exposure button on the back (next to the white balance and shutter speed buttons). This allows you to select the iris adjust function for the menu wheel. Again, everything works exactly the same as the VX-2000, however the iris doesn't have a dedicated wheel. But it really doesn't matter, because on the VX-2000 you cannot operate the iris wheel concurrently with changing the shutter speed. I believe this may be different on the PD-150 however.