Few more questions. at DVinfo.net

Rob Hochberg · January 25th, 2006, 05:09 PM

Well I got the refund and deposited my check from the lemon PD150 I recieved last week. If it clears by tommorow, I will overnighting payment and recieving the new camera (from Patrick M on here) 2 days later. I just had a few more questions:
1) I will be using a low hour Panasonic PV-GS120 as my deck. I plan to only run sony tapes in the PD, while I use only panasonic tapes in the GS. Is it ok to import my sony tapes on the panasonic camera?
2) How do you get the camera to display the audio levels on the screen? When i had the lemon PD, before I reset it it was displaying the audio levels on screen, but I couldn't figure out how to do it again.
3) Is pressing the CP button on the handle how you are supposed to set up color and white balance and all that? I couldn't figure that out either.
Thanks,
Rob

Georg Liigand · January 25th, 2006, 05:17 PM

Hello,

1) There's no difference what tapes you use, it's just recommended to stay with one brand. No matter whether it's Sony in the Panasonic camera or Panasonic in the Sony cam.

2) Audio levels can be set via the menus. I think that if you put audio gain to manual, they will display all the time, but if you are in full auto, you can see them only by pressing AUDIO LEVEL.

3) I personally don't touch the CP much. White balance is set via the dedicated white balance button (choose presets or measure correct WB). CP can be used to set colour saturation and warm or cool the look of your video, but I believe you won't need it too much. If you are producing a film, then it's better to do such stuff in post.

Don Bloom · January 25th, 2006, 06:50 PM

I kinda disagree about the CP but thats just me. I like it and use all the time-it helps to match the 150 to a JVC 5000. Anyway the way to get to the menu is this;
Press the CP button on the handle-then press the all for one wheel on the lower left of the camera. By pressing it you will now "open" the menu to make adjustments to turn it on or off, set the color level,sharpness, WB (which I rarely touch in the CP menu) and you can set the Gain Limit.
You have to go into the menu to turn the CP on or off but its not a big deal.

AS for the audio - go into the menu-use the wheel to scroll down to the fifth icon down-it looks like a tape-and in there you will find the audio set. In that you can do a lot of stuf. Seperate the channels, turn AGC on or off on each channel, link or seperate the gain.
Then when using the camera again the wheel is your friend-you can push the button to the left of the wheel and that will display the meter bars. Then by pushing the wheel you can adjust the individual channels audio levels if they are set to MANUAL and SEPERATE in the menu. See I told you the whell is your friend.
I agree about the tapes, pick one brand and stick to it. If the cam you're going to use as a deck has run othr brands thru it then do a head clean before running the other brand of tapes thru it to lload up into your NLE
HTHs
Don

Rob Hochberg · January 25th, 2006, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Bloom

I kinda disagree about the CP but thats just me. I like it and use all the time-it helps to match the 150 to a JVC 5000. Anyway the way to get to the menu is this;
Press the CP button on the handle-then press the all for one wheel on the lower left of the camera. By pressing it you will now "open" the menu to make adjustments to turn it on or off, set the color level,sharpness, WB (which I rarely touch in the CP menu) and you can set the Gain Limit.
You have to go into the menu to turn the CP on or off but its not a big deal.

AS for the audio - go into the menu-use the wheel to scroll down to the fifth icon down-it looks like a tape-and in there you will find the audio set. In that you can do a lot of stuf. Seperate the channels, turn AGC on or off on each channel, link or seperate the gain.
Then when using the camera again the wheel is your friend-you can push the button to the left of the wheel and that will display the meter bars. Then by pushing the wheel you can adjust the individual channels audio levels if they are set to MANUAL and SEPERATE in the menu. See I told you the whell is your friend.
I agree about the tapes, pick one brand and stick to it. If the cam you're going to use as a deck has run othr brands thru it then do a head clean before running the other brand of tapes thru it to lload up into your NLE
HTHs
Don

OK, but how do I get it so the audio levels are displayed on screen all the time? I don't really care about the deck, once I record on the tape in the PD and take it out, I don't plan on putting it back in. The only exception I can think of is if I don't record the whole tape, which happens sometimes.

Don Bloom · January 25th, 2006, 09:12 PM

Once you've set the audio properties in the audio set menu IF either channel was set to manual the audio will show up on the LCD and in the VF UNLESS....
The DISPLAY button is set not to display. Been there done that-in the haste I hit the button (don't ask how-still haven't figured it out nor can I duplicate the trick) but I did and I lost ALL display in the LCD-It took me about a minute to realize what happened I pushed the display button and all was well in videoland again!
If you have the audio set to AUTO the metrs won't display at all.
Don

Rob Hochberg · January 26th, 2006, 05:35 PM

Thanks you guys. I will play around with the settings when I get it sometime next week. Can't wait!

Nabil Nakim · January 26th, 2006, 10:36 PM

Im not really a pro (n my english isnt too) but i have produced good lookin videos with my PD150 so far. About the CP, to me its one of the functions i use regularly, every project. Yes, u can tweak around the video in post, but it would be a time-consuming process. Its always better to have everything adjusted, levelld in production. I dont do film/movie, I use my PD for freelance event videography job.
Lightings can be tricky when u do events, u cant always control them like u control lightings in film. This is where CP can be very helpful, like for example, i just shot a wedding, it was at night, the couple wanted a warm, yellowish tone. They were wearing orange, the walls are painted orange too, and the decorations were yellow. I have my tungsten 300watt daylight at one corner, mixed with the house lights which were warm tones. I played around with the setting first, hookin the camera up to a small 14 inch tv. Ive tried different WB settings, including manual setting on a white card n the couple agrreed on Outdoor, but they thought it was a bit too warm. So i used the CP to adjust the color balance, diald 3 notches down to Cold/Blue, while using WB=Outdoor, and the video looks great. In CP u will also find sharpness level, and i prefer the default setting for most of the time, one/two notch down for closeups in weddings, one notch up mainly for kids events (kindergarden..etc).
Audio meter, if u set it to manual, it wili be displayd on the lcd & evf. On Auto, it wont show up, unless u hit the audio level button, but it covers up much of the screen area in the middle, so i dont use it when its on Auto.
Have fun with your PD, itsa good camera.

Rob Hochberg · January 27th, 2006, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nabil Nakim

Im not really a pro (n my english isnt too) but i have produced good lookin videos with my PD150 so far. About the CP, to me its one of the functions i use regularly, every project. Yes, u can tweak around the video in post, but it would be a time-consuming process. Its always better to have everything adjusted, levelld in production. I dont do film/movie, I use my PD for freelance event videography job.
Lightings can be tricky when u do events, u cant always control them like u control lightings in film. This is where CP can be very helpful, like for example, i just shot a wedding, it was at night, the couple wanted a warm, yellowish tone. They were wearing orange, the walls are painted orange too, and the decorations were yellow. I have my tungsten 300watt daylight at one corner, mixed with the house lights which were warm tones. I played around with the setting first, hookin the camera up to a small 14 inch tv. Ive tried different WB settings, including manual setting on a white card n the couple agrreed on Outdoor, but they thought it was a bit too warm. So i used the CP to adjust the color balance, diald 3 notches down to Cold/Blue, while using WB=Outdoor, and the video looks great. In CP u will also find sharpness level, and i prefer the default setting for most of the time, one/two notch down for closeups in weddings, one notch up mainly for kids events (kindergarden..etc).
Audio meter, if u set it to manual, it wili be displayd on the lcd & evf. On Auto, it wont show up, unless u hit the audio level button, but it covers up much of the screen area in the middle, so i dont use it when its on Auto.
Have fun with your PD, itsa good camera.

Thanks for your post, it was really helpful.

January 25th, 2006, 05:09 PM	#1
Rob Hochberg Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: West Chester, PA Posts: 51	Few more questions. Well I got the refund and deposited my check from the lemon PD150 I recieved last week. If it clears by tommorow, I will overnighting payment and recieving the new camera (from Patrick M on here) 2 days later. I just had a few more questions: 1) I will be using a low hour Panasonic PV-GS120 as my deck. I plan to only run sony tapes in the PD, while I use only panasonic tapes in the GS. Is it ok to import my sony tapes on the panasonic camera? 2) How do you get the camera to display the audio levels on the screen? When i had the lemon PD, before I reset it it was displaying the audio levels on screen, but I couldn't figure out how to do it again. 3) Is pressing the CP button on the handle how you are supposed to set up color and white balance and all that? I couldn't figure that out either. Thanks, Rob

January 26th, 2006, 10:36 PM	#7
Nabil Nakim New Boot Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 6	Im not really a pro (n my english isnt too) but i have produced good lookin videos with my PD150 so far. About the CP, to me its one of the functions i use regularly, every project. Yes, u can tweak around the video in post, but it would be a time-consuming process. Its always better to have everything adjusted, levelld in production. I dont do film/movie, I use my PD for freelance event videography job. Lightings can be tricky when u do events, u cant always control them like u control lightings in film. This is where CP can be very helpful, like for example, i just shot a wedding, it was at night, the couple wanted a warm, yellowish tone. They were wearing orange, the walls are painted orange too, and the decorations were yellow. I have my tungsten 300watt daylight at one corner, mixed with the house lights which were warm tones. I played around with the setting first, hookin the camera up to a small 14 inch tv. Ive tried different WB settings, including manual setting on a white card n the couple agrreed on Outdoor, but they thought it was a bit too warm. So i used the CP to adjust the color balance, diald 3 notches down to Cold/Blue, while using WB=Outdoor, and the video looks great. In CP u will also find sharpness level, and i prefer the default setting for most of the time, one/two notch down for closeups in weddings, one notch up mainly for kids events (kindergarden..etc). Audio meter, if u set it to manual, it wili be displayd on the lcd & evf. On Auto, it wont show up, unless u hit the audio level button, but it covers up much of the screen area in the middle, so i dont use it when its on Auto. Have fun with your PD, itsa good camera. __________________ Nabil

January 25th, 2006, 05:17 PM	#2
Georg Liigand Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Estonia Posts: 214	Hello, 1) There's no difference what tapes you use, it's just recommended to stay with one brand. No matter whether it's Sony in the Panasonic camera or Panasonic in the Sony cam. 2) Audio levels can be set via the menus. I think that if you put audio gain to manual, they will display all the time, but if you are in full auto, you can see them only by pressing AUDIO LEVEL. 3) I personally don't touch the CP much. White balance is set via the dedicated white balance button (choose presets or measure correct WB). CP can be used to set colour saturation and warm or cool the look of your video, but I believe you won't need it too much. If you are producing a film, then it's better to do such stuff in post.

January 25th, 2006, 06:50 PM	#3
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	I kinda disagree about the CP but thats just me. I like it and use all the time-it helps to match the 150 to a JVC 5000. Anyway the way to get to the menu is this; Press the CP button on the handle-then press the all for one wheel on the lower left of the camera. By pressing it you will now "open" the menu to make adjustments to turn it on or off, set the color level,sharpness, WB (which I rarely touch in the CP menu) and you can set the Gain Limit. You have to go into the menu to turn the CP on or off but its not a big deal. AS for the audio - go into the menu-use the wheel to scroll down to the fifth icon down-it looks like a tape-and in there you will find the audio set. In that you can do a lot of stuf. Seperate the channels, turn AGC on or off on each channel, link or seperate the gain. Then when using the camera again the wheel is your friend-you can push the button to the left of the wheel and that will display the meter bars. Then by pushing the wheel you can adjust the individual channels audio levels if they are set to MANUAL and SEPERATE in the menu. See I told you the whell is your friend. I agree about the tapes, pick one brand and stick to it. If the cam you're going to use as a deck has run othr brands thru it then do a head clean before running the other brand of tapes thru it to lload up into your NLE HTHs Don

January 25th, 2006, 09:12 PM	#5
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	Once you've set the audio properties in the audio set menu IF either channel was set to manual the audio will show up on the LCD and in the VF UNLESS.... The DISPLAY button is set not to display. Been there done that-in the haste I hit the button (don't ask how-still haven't figured it out nor can I duplicate the trick) but I did and I lost ALL display in the LCD-It took me about a minute to realize what happened I pushed the display button and all was well in videoland again! If you have the audio set to AUTO the metrs won't display at all. Don

January 26th, 2006, 05:35 PM	#6
Rob Hochberg Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: West Chester, PA Posts: 51	Thanks you guys. I will play around with the settings when I get it sometime next week. Can't wait!