just received first pdx10 camera at DVinfo.net

Margus Kivilaan · September 6th, 2002, 07:45 AM

...for test
In the nearest future will do comparison with pd150, so far some things, which seemed good or bad. If anyone has field experience with pdx10 or trv950, tell your opinion, my first impressions after some playing around in office:
bad weight balance. Even w/o XLR adaptor and ext mic it has so much weight on it's nose, that it's impossible to operate camera with one hand. And i miss handle like pd150 had.
weird behavior of focus ring when operated manually (that can be because of lack of experience).
When focus is set to manual, camera shows focusing distance in meters. (i love this one!)
no ND filters. Don't know how bad it is, have'nt tried camera in bright light yet.
earphones connector is under same cover with all video/USB/firewire connectors. When using earphones while shooting, i have to leave that cover opened.

..and some whistles-bells, have'nt tried them all yet.

regards, Margus

September 12th, 2002, 10:56 PM

How do you come by a pre-release pdx10? (Unless released in Estonia prior to US?) How's it's b/w VF compared to the pd150's?

I have the TRV950, and using it straight, with nothing mounted on top, it seems fine in one hand to me. I cannot understand the few "unbalanced" comments I've read. The camera is a solid, 2lb little package, with as far as I can discern, a relatively well-centered (fore to aft) center of gravity.

--Now if you don't snug up the handstrap, then holding it can get tiring. When properly adjusted, the strap allows the camera's weight to mostly rest on the heel of your palm, when the camera is in an upright position. Try getting the strap just right, and I think you'll get used to it.

As far as having no top handle, the 950 is so small and easy to grab anywhere from above w/the LCD closed, that I see absolutley on need to add bulk to a steathy design. If you really pine for a top handle, you could probably find some aftermarket thing to fit in the hot shoe, but that defeats the purpose of the camera. I appreciate how you can hold the camera in a virtually limitless number of ways, taking advantage of the smaller body and larger and better resolution LCD. Having that capability w/a pd150 picture quality is the camera's best feature. Unlike the pd150 or GL2, the 950 (or pdx10 w/the top-mount XLR adptr removed) is relatively invisible in public.

The trick w/the manual focus ring (like most of the electronic ones, imprecise) seems two-fold: The quicker you twist it, the more focus distance it proportionally changes; and as you get closer to the near focusing end, you have to twist it proportionally more to cover those inches, a la a real mechanical lens mechanism (only screwier...). The good news is that manual focus-distance readout that's in both the VF and LCD. As soon as you start to twist the ring, the readout shows you which way you're going and where you've ended up. All the electronic "manual" focus cameras could use this feature. I think all country's 950's have the readout in meters. -I'll take it.

I have not run out of needed aperture yet in sunshine outdoors. Could be possible, though. So far, seems adequate, and I haven't put an ND on it yet. Also nice that when you do, the filter will sit behind the bayonet lens hood.

Margus Kivilaan · September 16th, 2002, 02:06 AM

no, it's not prerelease, you can buy one in Europe. Really weird if pdx10 is not available in US, usually Sony launches it's products in US markets first.

I tried to tighten handstrap as you recommended, camera does'nt still fit to my hand, it tends to turn counterclockwise

We will do side-by-side comparison with pd150 sometimes in this week with two cameramen involved, that should give more fair picture about differences-similarities.

regards, Margus

Frank Granovski · September 24th, 2002, 01:21 AM

That's exactly what I reported with the TRV950. It's a solid heavy cam, but it's too heavy to hold with one hand, and "it tends to turn counterclockwise," and tilts forward (front heavy). I also found it next to impossible to grip. My fingers kept sliding off. There should be a "lip" or ridge for your fingers to grip---it's just too heavy and difficult to hold to be called a hand-held. Otherwise it seems like a solid cam.

Re: "camera doesn't still fit to my hand, it tends to turn counterclockwise."

Blake Haber · October 13th, 2002, 10:23 PM

Margus,

Have you done these comparisons yet? And if so are the results posted somewhere?

Thanks,

Blake

<<We will do side-by-side comparison with pd150 sometimes in this week with two cameramen involved, that should give more fair picture about differences-similarities.>>

Margus Kivilaan · October 16th, 2002, 08:40 AM

hi Blake,
as sometimes happens time cheated me. Now i lost opportunity to use pd150. Some .tif pictures with similar frames from pd150 and pdx10 are at
http://www.opossum.ee/ftp/skydive/kiwik_lowres/pdx10_pd150/
Taken in office.

But, i had possibility to hook NP-QM91 battery (the biggest one) to pdx10. Bigger battery changes camera's weight balance much. Now it's quite OK, no matter if i use mic adapter or not. It's really amazing how much that additional weight helps. Please discard that 'bad weight balance' point from my first mail.

Yeah.. On other hand you can add 'bad light sensitivity'. It's considerably lower than pd150.
regards, Margus

Frank Granovski · October 28th, 2002, 03:25 AM

Re: "...usually Sony launches it's products in US markets first."

Nope. Japan always comes first. This goes for all new cams from JVC, Pana, Sharp etc.

September 6th, 2002, 07:45 AM	#1
Margus Kivilaan Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Tallinn, Estonia Posts: 123	just received first pdx10 camera ...for test In the nearest future will do comparison with pd150, so far some things, which seemed good or bad. If anyone has field experience with pdx10 or trv950, tell your opinion, my first impressions after some playing around in office: bad weight balance. Even w/o XLR adaptor and ext mic it has so much weight on it's nose, that it's impossible to operate camera with one hand. And i miss handle like pd150 had. weird behavior of focus ring when operated manually (that can be because of lack of experience). When focus is set to manual, camera shows focusing distance in meters. (i love this one!) no ND filters. Don't know how bad it is, have'nt tried camera in bright light yet. earphones connector is under same cover with all video/USB/firewire connectors. When using earphones while shooting, i have to leave that cover opened. ..and some whistles-bells, have'nt tried them all yet. regards, Margus

September 12th, 2002, 10:56 PM	#2
psurfer1 Posts: n/a	How do you come by a pre-release pdx10? (Unless released in Estonia prior to US?) How's it's b/w VF compared to the pd150's? I have the TRV950, and using it straight, with nothing mounted on top, it seems fine in one hand to me. I cannot understand the few "unbalanced" comments I've read. The camera is a solid, 2lb little package, with as far as I can discern, a relatively well-centered (fore to aft) center of gravity. --Now if you don't snug up the handstrap, then holding it can get tiring. When properly adjusted, the strap allows the camera's weight to mostly rest on the heel of your palm, when the camera is in an upright position. Try getting the strap just right, and I think you'll get used to it. As far as having no top handle, the 950 is so small and easy to grab anywhere from above w/the LCD closed, that I see absolutley on need to add bulk to a steathy design. If you really pine for a top handle, you could probably find some aftermarket thing to fit in the hot shoe, but that defeats the purpose of the camera. I appreciate how you can hold the camera in a virtually limitless number of ways, taking advantage of the smaller body and larger and better resolution LCD. Having that capability w/a pd150 picture quality is the camera's best feature. Unlike the pd150 or GL2, the 950 (or pdx10 w/the top-mount XLR adptr removed) is relatively invisible in public. The trick w/the manual focus ring (like most of the electronic ones, imprecise) seems two-fold: The quicker you twist it, the more focus distance it proportionally changes; and as you get closer to the near focusing end, you have to twist it proportionally more to cover those inches, a la a real mechanical lens mechanism (only screwier...). The good news is that manual focus-distance readout that's in both the VF and LCD. As soon as you start to twist the ring, the readout shows you which way you're going and where you've ended up. All the electronic "manual" focus cameras could use this feature. I think all country's 950's have the readout in meters. -I'll take it. I have not run out of needed aperture yet in sunshine outdoors. Could be possible, though. So far, seems adequate, and I haven't put an ND on it yet. Also nice that when you do, the filter will sit behind the bayonet lens hood.

September 16th, 2002, 02:06 AM	#3
Margus Kivilaan Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Tallinn, Estonia Posts: 123	no, it's not prerelease, you can buy one in Europe. Really weird if pdx10 is not available in US, usually Sony launches it's products in US markets first. I tried to tighten handstrap as you recommended, camera does'nt still fit to my hand, it tends to turn counterclockwise We will do side-by-side comparison with pd150 sometimes in this week with two cameramen involved, that should give more fair picture about differences-similarities. regards, Margus

September 24th, 2002, 01:21 AM	#4
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	That's exactly what I reported with the TRV950. It's a solid heavy cam, but it's too heavy to hold with one hand, and "it tends to turn counterclockwise," and tilts forward (front heavy). I also found it next to impossible to grip. My fingers kept sliding off. There should be a "lip" or ridge for your fingers to grip---it's just too heavy and difficult to hold to be called a hand-held. Otherwise it seems like a solid cam. Re: "camera doesn't still fit to my hand, it tends to turn counterclockwise."

October 13th, 2002, 10:23 PM	#5
Blake Haber Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 34	Margus, Have you done these comparisons yet? And if so are the results posted somewhere? Thanks, Blake <<We will do side-by-side comparison with pd150 sometimes in this week with two cameramen involved, that should give more fair picture about differences-similarities.>>

October 16th, 2002, 08:40 AM	#6
Margus Kivilaan Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Tallinn, Estonia Posts: 123	hi Blake, as sometimes happens time cheated me. Now i lost opportunity to use pd150. Some .tif pictures with similar frames from pd150 and pdx10 are at http://www.opossum.ee/ftp/skydive/kiwik_lowres/pdx10_pd150/ Taken in office. But, i had possibility to hook NP-QM91 battery (the biggest one) to pdx10. Bigger battery changes camera's weight balance much. Now it's quite OK, no matter if i use mic adapter or not. It's really amazing how much that additional weight helps. Please discard that 'bad weight balance' point from my first mail. Yeah.. On other hand you can add 'bad light sensitivity'. It's considerably lower than pd150. regards, Margus

October 28th, 2002, 03:25 AM	#7
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Re: "...usually Sony launches it's products in US markets first." Nope. Japan always comes first. This goes for all new cams from JVC, Pana, Sharp etc.