Aperture settings
 

A general question about the iris settings (for a PD150)

I have shot a couple of dance gigs, and when lights get up very bright and i tighten up the aperture I sometimes find that image has an almost hazie appearance.

I recently found a post where a guy said he likes to shoot with the aperature around f4, so he puts a couple of ND filters.

So, would I get better image quality if, rather than shooting at f8.*, put on the ND filters and shoot with a wider aperture.

All thoughts and experience greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

marks

IMExperience with 150/170/250,the sweet spot is around f/4 to f/5.6 so you might find that your find your friend is correct. Throw the ND on and try to keep the iris around those numbers

Hello,

i will be shooting a couple outside weddings with a vx2100 and wanted to know if I should use auto aperture or manual? I haven't been really impress with my outside footage using the manual setting. Although I usually use f4 and the ND filters.

Thanks,
Troy

Auto or manual. Once the aperture is selected, the exposure is set. It doesn't matter if you are on auto or manual -- f8 is f8 is f8. So why choose manual? Well, if you 'know better' than camera's metering system is one reason. Because you hate to see the exposure change (or more accurately, see the camera make a change in response to a passing or transient light) and so want to 'lock' the exposure to the subject, and let any light or shadow that wander into the shot play out in a natural way.

I shoot almost every shot in manual mode. But I have no quibble with the exposure meter in the camcorder -- I simply lock the exposure to the camera's choice before I start the shot. Maybe I zoom in on the subject, lock the exposure & then back off the zoom to the framing I want ...

What I don't do is use a separate light meter, or decide I 'know' what aperture to use -- so really I'm using the auto choice, I'm just locking it in for the duration of the shot. I do the same with focus most of the time, for the same reason -- nothing screams 'amateur' like a camcorder hunting for focus or exposure in the middle of a shot, IMHO.

Cheers,
GB

Great answer Geoff. Thanks.

I understand ( from recollection of reading or hearing something way back in the dim past ) that the BBC arrived at f5.6 as being about the right spot for the PD150.