ex1 and ramping lens?

[manglerBMX]

so some guys in my photo dept are looking at getting a new camera. and the main guy thats gonna be using it is hell bent on getting a camera that doesn't have any lens ramping. he swears the ex1 doesn't have it. but as others have mentioned it does have it. so can any users confirm this? if you are zoomed all the way out, and iris wide open, if you zoom in will the iris close up slightly on you to say 3.4 or something along the lines? thanks.

[Barry_Green]

The iris does close, but the EX1 doesn't TELL you that it's closing. It still says "f/1.9" the whole time, but in actuality it stops down to about f/2.8 at the tele end.

Here's Adam Wilt's review of the ramping performance of the EX1:

The maximum aperture of f/1.9 holds until about 10mm, then ramps gradually down to f/2.8 at full tele. This ramping is not shown in the camera’s displays; it thinks it’s still at f/1.9 (maybe it is still at f/1.9; the transmitted light, however, decreases by a stop, and at full tele the iris can be turned between wide open and f/2.8 with no change in the levels). If you’re shooting wide open, bear this in mind.


Taken from this page (http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/awilt/story/review_sony_pmw_ex1_1_2_3_cmos_hd_camcorder/P3/)of his review.

[manglerBMX]

thanks barry, i didn't want to clog up the hmc150 thread with posts on ex1's. but appreciate your input.

[DCSensui]

It's not so much the iris closing as the lens being "slower" at telephoto than wide open. The HVX-200 was the same way.

The solution was to shoot at something a little bit less than wide open. That way the exposure remains consistent throughout the zoom range.

[Jon Neely]

I find it to be barely noticeable if at all.

Thats just me,

Jon