PD150 Questions

Mike Krum · November 25th, 2004, 07:14 AM

Can You Customize The PD150 Like You Can The Xl1s? I know the pd150 dosen't have the different lens thing but i am making my first movie and i would like to get to the same kind of image that danny boyle had for 28 days later.(That Movie Rocks) HELP!!!

Wayne Orr · November 25th, 2004, 08:11 PM

No problem, Mike. Just tranfer all your footage to film and color correct it and you will be good to go. That's a bit of sarcasm you understand.

I don't think they did anything mysterious when they shot their film. They used a lot of cameras for the London after the apocalypse shoot, so I doubt they messed around with all the cameras. I'm sure there are more detailed answers, but obviously the majority of the work came when they did their post.

Short answer; shoot the best footage you can and don't mess with it! Then when you transfer you will have good quality that can be manipulated to your heart's content. Even if you don't transfer to film, you will still have footage that you can manipulate with digital color correction in your NLE.

If you want to see good looking footage shot with a PD150 and transfered to film, check out Personal Velocity. Then check out the commentary track.

Wayne

Chris Harvey · December 13th, 2004, 03:14 PM

I am looking to purchase a pd150 second hand. What is the life expectancy (both in hours of operation and tape run) of these cameras? Any pd150 owners care to comment on how many hours they put on their camera before it needed major repair work? Thanks for your help.

Chris

Mike Rehmus · December 13th, 2004, 03:49 PM

kinda random depending on when the camera was made.

Sony had to replace the transport bearings in my first camera at 10 months. I probably had 200-300 hours on the drum at that point and the transport could be heard grinding across a quiet room. Then they got the transport rebuilt, and started to work on the OIS randomly banging about. But they were stumped by that problem ( I sent them a sample tape showing the problem as one should always do) and they gave me a new one because they didn't know about the general RF susceptiblity of the camera design at that point.

The builds (they build them in batches) have had some notable problems including the audio hiss and transport failures (see above) and then Sony got everything settled down and they made a generally reliable product which I think it was for the second half of the product lifetime.

Batch building tends to have problems that many or all of the batch will exhibit. Like the rash of hard-to-close tape doors on the 170 not too long ago.

OTOH, I have almost 800 hours on my DSR-300 transport and my DSR-20 and narry a hitch.

Sony unofficially will claim between 1000 and 1500 hours for the heads.

I reacon that every hour costs about $2 that must be put away for head and transport repairs. So if you buy one that has 500 hours on it, the price should reflect the amount of head and transport that has been used up.

And don't forget that Sony stops the blanket repair charge policy and charges actual parts and labor for any product that hasn't been produced in 7 years.

As a sort of standard process of buying used equipment, I call the service center and ask them what might be wrong at the approximate age of the equipment and what it would cost to fix. It always gives me a departure point for setting a price.

Pat Sherman · March 14th, 2005, 10:18 AM

I probably know these have been asked before, but I did some searches.. I didn't find the answers..So..

I have a PD-150 camera and a couple questions. I want to shoot some 16:9 widescreen for the letterbox look. However, the camera shows a 16:9 function, but is that REAL 16:9 or just adds a letterbox?

Second question.. Please bare with me, as I don't even know if I am wording this correctly. I am shooting my brothers wedding outdoors and there is no power sources.

I want to catch the audio from the bride and groom during the ceremony. I don't know if this exists or not, but is their a wireless lapel and power pack that attaches to one of them and then a battery powered receiver and hooks to the camera and inputs into the PD-150 XLR input? I have seen large batteries on the backs of PD-150's with two antennas but I don't know if that is what I am looking for.. basically I am very new to all this camera work stuff, editing I can handle.. Shooting..well thats another story..lol

Thanks for your time in advance..

Patrick

R Geoff Baker · March 14th, 2005, 10:29 AM

1) It is true 16x9 recording, but not true 16x9 imaging chips so the output is better than letterboxing in post, but not as good as a device with 16x9 chips;

2) Yes there is. A good combo costs more than $1,000 -- there are OK ones for less, and really awful ones for little. Consider renting a good one for a special event.

GB

Pat Sherman · March 14th, 2005, 10:31 AM

Thanks for the reply..

I guess I would have to know what to rent.. What exactly would I be looking, brand/models?

Thanks

R Geoff Baker · March 14th, 2005, 10:37 AM

You are looking for a wireless lapel mic and a diversity receiver. Get advice from the rental house near you ... I expect they'll only be offering the better stuff.

GB

Troy Christian · June 27th, 2005, 12:57 AM

Hi all,

Shooting an exercise video with my fairly new PD150 with very low miles tomorrow. Shooting rehearsal today, I started seeing blue smeared light in the viewfinder. It kind of looks like water but it is obviously something that is affecting the camera in some way. At first I thought it might just be the LCD. Nope, the problem is in the viewfinder as well. I pulled tapes out and it didn't seem to exist on the footage. However, I just got home and did a few tests. First of all, I used a sony cleaning cassette to try and clean the heads. Secondly the camera was reading no tape when I put a tape in it. I tried resetting the camera with th resest button. Finally I got the camera to recognize a tape, the blueish light filled the LCD. When I pulled the tape and played it back in my DSR11, the problem is clear as day. Blue light, particularlt in hot spots.

What should I do?? Has anyone ever experienced this? Pleas let me know asap as I shoot tomorrow morning.

Thank you,

Troy

David Mintzer · July 4th, 2005, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Troy Christian

Hi all,

Shooting an exercise video with my fairly new PD150 with very low miles tomorrow. Shooting rehearsal today, I started seeing blue smeared light in the viewfinder. It kind of looks like water but it is obviously something that is affecting the camera in some way. At first I thought it might just be the LCD. Nope, the problem is in the viewfinder as well. I pulled tapes out and it didn't seem to exist on the footage. However, I just got home and did a few tests. First of all, I used a sony cleaning cassette to try and clean the heads. Secondly the camera was reading no tape when I put a tape in it. I tried resetting the camera with th resest button. Finally I got the camera to recognize a tape, the blueish light filled the LCD. When I pulled the tape and played it back in my DSR11, the problem is clear as day. Blue light, particularlt in hot spots.

What should I do?? Has anyone ever experienced this? Pleas let me know asap as I shoot tomorrow morning.

Thank you,

Troy

Your camera is in need of repair...I dont think there is anything you can do.

Troy Christian · July 5th, 2005, 10:45 PM

I appreciate your response...

Saturnin Kondratiew · July 13th, 2005, 11:37 AM

so few days ago i reset my camera...
now none of the counters seem to move and data code doesnt show up..
all i have is 00's and -----
help please
thanx

Mike Rehmus · July 13th, 2005, 12:22 PM

That should not happen. Try resetting it again.

Boyd Ostroff · July 13th, 2005, 12:44 PM

Interesting... the other day I accidently hit a wrong menu item on my Z1 and got the same sort of effect. I don't ever use those time code options myself (which I believe are the same on the 150) and don't understand them, but I had accidently chosen something like "TC PRESET" - I think. Going back to the menu and clearing the selection made everything OK again.

Pete Wilie · July 14th, 2005, 10:35 AM

I had something similar happen a while back. Try pressing the "TC/U-BIT" button inside of the LCD compartment.

November 25th, 2004, 07:14 AM	#151
Mike Krum account suspended -- contact admin. Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: USA Posts: 17	PD150 Question Can You Customize The PD150 Like You Can The Xl1s? I know the pd150 dosen't have the different lens thing but i am making my first movie and i would like to get to the same kind of image that danny boyle had for 28 days later.(That Movie Rocks) HELP!!!

December 13th, 2004, 03:14 PM	#153
Chris Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: North Dakota Posts: 72	Life expectancy of a pd150 I am looking to purchase a pd150 second hand. What is the life expectancy (both in hours of operation and tape run) of these cameras? Any pd150 owners care to comment on how many hours they put on their camera before it needed major repair work? Thanks for your help. Chris

December 13th, 2004, 03:49 PM	#154
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	kinda random depending on when the camera was made. Sony had to replace the transport bearings in my first camera at 10 months. I probably had 200-300 hours on the drum at that point and the transport could be heard grinding across a quiet room. Then they got the transport rebuilt, and started to work on the OIS randomly banging about. But they were stumped by that problem ( I sent them a sample tape showing the problem as one should always do) and they gave me a new one because they didn't know about the general RF susceptiblity of the camera design at that point. The builds (they build them in batches) have had some notable problems including the audio hiss and transport failures (see above) and then Sony got everything settled down and they made a generally reliable product which I think it was for the second half of the product lifetime. Batch building tends to have problems that many or all of the batch will exhibit. Like the rash of hard-to-close tape doors on the 170 not too long ago. OTOH, I have almost 800 hours on my DSR-300 transport and my DSR-20 and narry a hitch. Sony unofficially will claim between 1000 and 1500 hours for the heads. I reacon that every hour costs about $2 that must be put away for head and transport repairs. So if you buy one that has 500 hours on it, the price should reflect the amount of head and transport that has been used up. And don't forget that Sony stops the blanket repair charge policy and charges actual parts and labor for any product that hasn't been produced in 7 years. As a sort of standard process of buying used equipment, I call the service center and ask them what might be wrong at the approximate age of the equipment and what it would cost to fix. It always gives me a departure point for setting a price. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

March 14th, 2005, 10:18 AM	#155
Pat Sherman Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: DuPont, Wa Posts: 325	Sony PD-150 Questions..A Couple I probably know these have been asked before, but I did some searches.. I didn't find the answers..So.. I have a PD-150 camera and a couple questions. I want to shoot some 16:9 widescreen for the letterbox look. However, the camera shows a 16:9 function, but is that REAL 16:9 or just adds a letterbox? Second question.. Please bare with me, as I don't even know if I am wording this correctly. I am shooting my brothers wedding outdoors and there is no power sources. I want to catch the audio from the bride and groom during the ceremony. I don't know if this exists or not, but is their a wireless lapel and power pack that attaches to one of them and then a battery powered receiver and hooks to the camera and inputs into the PD-150 XLR input? I have seen large batteries on the backs of PD-150's with two antennas but I don't know if that is what I am looking for.. basically I am very new to all this camera work stuff, editing I can handle.. Shooting..well thats another story..lol Thanks for your time in advance.. Patrick

June 27th, 2005, 12:57 AM	#159
Troy Christian Tourist Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 2	Sony PD150 HELP! Hi all, Shooting an exercise video with my fairly new PD150 with very low miles tomorrow. Shooting rehearsal today, I started seeing blue smeared light in the viewfinder. It kind of looks like water but it is obviously something that is affecting the camera in some way. At first I thought it might just be the LCD. Nope, the problem is in the viewfinder as well. I pulled tapes out and it didn't seem to exist on the footage. However, I just got home and did a few tests. First of all, I used a sony cleaning cassette to try and clean the heads. Secondly the camera was reading no tape when I put a tape in it. I tried resetting the camera with th resest button. Finally I got the camera to recognize a tape, the blueish light filled the LCD. When I pulled the tape and played it back in my DSR11, the problem is clear as day. Blue light, particularlt in hot spots. What should I do?? Has anyone ever experienced this? Pleas let me know asap as I shoot tomorrow morning. Thank you, Troy

November 25th, 2004, 08:11 PM	#152
Wayne Orr Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Northridge Ca Posts: 734	No problem, Mike. Just tranfer all your footage to film and color correct it and you will be good to go. That's a bit of sarcasm you understand. I don't think they did anything mysterious when they shot their film. They used a lot of cameras for the London after the apocalypse shoot, so I doubt they messed around with all the cameras. I'm sure there are more detailed answers, but obviously the majority of the work came when they did their post. Short answer; shoot the best footage you can and don't mess with it! Then when you transfer you will have good quality that can be manipulated to your heart's content. Even if you don't transfer to film, you will still have footage that you can manipulate with digital color correction in your NLE. If you want to see good looking footage shot with a PD150 and transfered to film, check out Personal Velocity. Then check out the commentary track. Wayne

March 14th, 2005, 10:29 AM	#156
R Geoff Baker Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ottawa, ON Posts: 471	1) It is true 16x9 recording, but not true 16x9 imaging chips so the output is better than letterboxing in post, but not as good as a device with 16x9 chips; 2) Yes there is. A good combo costs more than $1,000 -- there are OK ones for less, and really awful ones for little. Consider renting a good one for a special event. GB

March 14th, 2005, 10:31 AM	#157
Pat Sherman Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: DuPont, Wa Posts: 325	Thanks for the reply.. I guess I would have to know what to rent.. What exactly would I be looking, brand/models? Thanks

March 14th, 2005, 10:37 AM	#158
R Geoff Baker Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ottawa, ON Posts: 471	You are looking for a wireless lapel mic and a diversity receiver. Get advice from the rental house near you ... I expect they'll only be offering the better stuff. GB

July 5th, 2005, 10:45 PM	#161
Troy Christian Tourist Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 2	Thank You David I appreciate your response...

July 13th, 2005, 11:37 AM	#162
Saturnin Kondratiew Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: vancouver Posts: 310	sony pd150! counters not counting etc... so few days ago i reset my camera... now none of the counters seem to move and data code doesnt show up.. all i have is 00's and ----- help please thanx __________________ My documentaries - http://www.asphaltjunkiez.com

July 13th, 2005, 12:22 PM	#163
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	That should not happen. Try resetting it again. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

July 13th, 2005, 12:44 PM	#164
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Interesting... the other day I accidently hit a wrong menu item on my Z1 and got the same sort of effect. I don't ever use those time code options myself (which I believe are the same on the 150) and don't understand them, but I had accidently chosen something like "TC PRESET" - I think. Going back to the menu and clearing the selection made everything OK again.

July 14th, 2005, 10:35 AM	#165
Pete Wilie Major Player Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 331	I had something similar happen a while back. Try pressing the "TC/U-BIT" button inside of the LCD compartment.