PD150 Questions

[Chris Hurd]

The "x 10H" means "times ten hours," or in other words, 720 hours. Hope this helps,

[Mark Sudfelt]

I am hopeing to copy some Super 8 films with sound on my Sony PD-150.
What settings should I make to the sound inputs(I.e. line or mic Att?)
Any advice as to what settings to make for image optimization. I am using a Pal camcorder.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions anyone can make.

Mark Sudfelt

[mr cameraman]

Use the Line input on your cam. Use the aux out on your projector if there is one. Headphone or extension speaker out may work O.K on the projector too but keep your projector's volume low and adjust accordingly while monitoring the sound through your camera's headphone jack.

[Mark Thomas]

What is the mic most owners of the pd150 buy to replace the mono one supplied and how much does it cost in £?

Thanks.

[Mike Rehmus]

I replaced the mount and microphone on my 150.

I had a Sony CAC-12 mount which will fit into the space vacated by the standard mount. It moves the microphone further away from the camera and prevents the tip of a long microphone from showing up in wide angle shots. Especially with a fuzzy wind sock on it.

I had a AT-835B shotgun which works better than the original 150 microphone. It is more directional than the standard microphone. Perhaps it sounds better too. But since my on-board microphone applications are voice, the differences are minor with regard to sound quality in my estimation.

Assuming you mean to actually replace the on-board microphone, I do have a question of you and everyone else:

Why the rush to replace the on-board microphone? Unless you are doing ENG style run and gun shooting, an off-board microphone is much more adaptable to different situations. The 150 does put out a bit of noise, especially when zooming fast. An on-board microphone will pick that up every time.

[Chung Lee]

Hi!
I am thinking about buyin the PD150 in the state, since it is cheaper then in germayny.
Here you paying 5000€ which is about 4900$, which is a shame.
I know I would pay some taxes etc., but it still would be much cheaper then 5000€

Someone could help???

Chungle

[Mike Rehmus]

B&H Photo Video is a good place to buy. Also do a search for PAL dealers in the U.S.

Here is one:

Marilyn Marks
Apropal Ltd.
100 South Van Brunt Street
Englewood, New Jersey 07631
201-871-5811 fax 201-871-4043
marilyn@apropal.com
www.apropal.com

[Dan Ballmer]

Is it normal for a PD150 to NOT white balance in low light conditions? In this particular scenario I was filming a choir in a dark church. Due to time constraints I was forced to try to pull a quick white balance off of a nearby wall. I made sure the camera was not locked down in auto mode, I pressed the white balance button (which was already set to manual white balance) and hit the wheel. Nothing. I tried it a couple of more times. Nothing. Now, this PD150 was bought used and has already been sent in for repairs once. I've never had a problem like this with my personal PD150. The only thing I can figure is perhaps the wall was too dimly lit. Any ideas?

[Robert Bobson]

I've heard that the XL1s can be adusted to alter the color/sharpness. What about the PD150? Or do you wait till posting to tweak those things?

[Rick Spilman]

Yup. First thing I did with my camera was put it on a tripod, plug it into a monitor, point it at some flowers in a window box and tweek away.

To my taste the Sony presets are too flat and a touch too blue. I tweeked the color, the white balance just a tiny bit and limited the gain up. Some folks also recommend lowering the sharpness. I don't like that look as much so I left mine alone.

What used to drive me crazy were folks saying "The XL1 has so much richer color than the Sonys." The original XL1 was not tweekable where as all the Sonys are. The colors in my old VX1000 were rich and fully saturated because that is way that I set them. Glad Canon finally caught up with the XL2.

The Sony presets are also useful when shooting with two cameras and trying to match the images.

[Derek Beck]

Okay, I did this thread in the x10-biased x10 companion forum, so now I'd like the pd150-biased responses :)

Which is better, the x10 or 150? I'm looking to buy one of these in the very near future.

My testing of a vx2000 and trv950 (the baby-brothers of each camera) to me reveal the video quality in "good" lighting is indistinguishable and so for all intents and purposes, identical.

My intentions for either camera: independent filmmaking

My personal likes/dislikes for each:

pdx10:
* 16:9 native CCDs
* lower price
* utilizes the InfoLithium M battery and 37mm filter size, therefore I can use my current 1CCD cam's extras (battery, wide and telescopic lens adapter, filters, etc) on this cam
* no debate on this cam's XLR quality...aka no one says there's a hiss in the audio with this cam, unlike the pd150

pd150:
* better low-light resolution (low lux)
* more manual controls (ie independent Gain and Iris control vs. a combined "Exposure" control)

I'm not really considering the baby-brother versions because I want as much manual control as possible.

So...am I focusing on the wrong things? Give me any thoughs/advice. This is a big purchase after all. The PD150 costs extra for me if I want to get a wide angle (at least) and long-life battery too.

Thanks,
Derek

[Mike Rehmus]

I shoot a lot of scenes from movies for the local Community College acting for TV class and I supply a camera for the work. For quick and dirty work, I use the PD150.

For the student finals, where we care how the finished look will, well, 'look,' I use my DSR-300.

If you are going to take a deliberate approach to the mechanics of making a picture. That is you are going to create a good setup, good lighting, careful blocking of the actors, then my take is that neither camera is the best choice for your application.

Why?

A camera with better characteristics is just hundreds of dollars more. Several cameras as a matter of fact.

What are those cameras?

JVC DV500/550, the Panny 200, the Sony DSR-300 or good used versions of these cameras.

Why?

Much better control. Control you will want when you make a film. Control over gamma response, black and white compression, skin tone detail control, and very good viewfinders with superb focus capabilities.

Much better picture resoluton. The 'cheap' lens that comes on these cameras is better than the lens on the smaller cameras. The ability to see the leaves on the trees in long shots is nice. Just the ability to do a rack focus is wonderful and just about impossible with the smaller cameras.

Better picture quality because of the image processing going on inside the camera. And the CCD block is of higher quality to start with.

Better sound all the way around.

Cost?
Last I looked, a DV500 with lens was selling in the low $4K range. Used they tend to be down around $3-$4K with batteries.
I purchased a used DSR-300 for $3500 not too long ago.
There are lots of good cameras out on the market as the marginal studios go under. You have to be careful but there are good cameras available for very little money.

I shoot with a PC110, a PD150, & a DSR-300. With out a doubt, except for very low light situations, the DSR-300 creates a noticably better picture.

Don't forget that if you blow your work up to 35mm, every defect in the picture gets magnified too. Corner-to-corner sharpness will become an issue at that point.

That said, the equipment just doesn't make as much difference as the story you are going to tell. Worry about equipment after your film has been picked up for distribution at Sundance and you are ready to make the next one with a $3 million budget for Lion's Gate. Then you can shoot with real 35mm film or HD video.

A friend of mine made his first movie for $7K with a GL1. It was distributed by Tom Cruise's distribution company. Then Lion's Gate gave him $3 million to make Narc which is currently in the theatres. Now he's got $120 million money to make the next film with Harrison Ford.

As I keep telling myself, it's the CONTENT, stupid (me, not you).

And if I had to chose between the camers you mentioned, I'd take the PD150. Better control and the picture quality is almost certainly better if you put it all to a very rigorous test. The 150 has the separate manual zoom control and that is worth a lot when you are trying to frame a shot precisely or need a smooth, not jerky start & stop to a zoom. BTW, the pro lenses have a smooth start and stop.

[Todd Moen]

I've seen this waterproof bag system for the pd150 but have not heard anything about how it really works with the PD150. I will be needing a waterproof housing of some sort for my new camera for use in shallow rivers. Max depth would be 3 feet. Have any of you used any of the products out there, and how did they work? I have doubts about the bag system but its light and is a bit less expensive then the solid housings. It would be nice if the bag had some kind of underwater mic.

Thanks for the help,
Todd

[Jeff Donald]

I've used Ewa Marine bags for still cameras and they work fine. They keep everything dry. If your only going three feet you should not have much problem. You might want to try several different white balance settings. I'm not so sure AWB is going to give the best results underwater.

[Philip Flower]

I am thinking of buying a 2nd hand PD150. I understand that somewhere there is a read out of the amount of time the heads have been used. Can anyone tell me where to access this on the camera? Also what would a reasonable amount of useage be to warrant buying a used camera - i.e. what is a reasonable life expectancy for the heads and what sort of numbers for head useage would give rise to concern?

Any other tips as to what to look for other than obvious marks, scratches dents etc. on the body?

Thanks