What I learned about my little HMC40

[SteveD]

Well, I had some fun this weekend since I volunteered to record a music festival at a local pioneer village living museum. This was the first I’ve run-and-gun so much with this little camera. Also remember this is a hobby – I’m no pro and it shows!

https://vimeo.com/44304647

What I learned:

- This is a great camera for the purpose. Small, light, not too expensive, and stunning images.
- The lighting was mostly outdoors, so not a problem. Many backlit scenes had to be manually adjusted.
- I relied on the autofocus too much and it often let me down due to music stands in the foreground, etc. Given the small screen, I didn’t realize it until later. Lesson: always zoom in and use the focus assist. I’ll need to be able to find it without taking my face off the viewfinder (the LCD was mostly washed out in the sun, so I did most of the outdoor shots with the viewfinder).
- Auto white balance mostly worked. The worst case where it did not is the scene with firewood, where the white balance changed to the log cabin, and the white mortar was greenish.
- Daytime window lighting was enough for the indoor scenes. The only high gain scene was filmed by candlelight, and it is grainy.
- The zebra stripes worked well. I left them at the factory 80% and the scene with the boy in costume his sleeves were all zebra, but I filmed anyway. It is over exposed.
- I used an external mic and several times forgot to turn it on (did not want to run around with headphones on). Silent video of a music festival is not a good idea.
- I edited with Avid Studio: nice price and does the job for me.

[ChrisHarding]

Hey Steve

Great and interesting footage and shows what the HMC40 can do!! I have two HMC82's (the 50i version of the HMC80) which is just an HMC40 in a bigger box and XLR audio. I still think the cameras are awesome!! I recently upgraded to the new AC-130's and was bitterly disappointed at what they can do for more than double the cost..they are now on-sold and I'm back with HMC82's again!!! I have made a habit of turning on my external mics before the cameras come out of the car and I leave them on!! A new battery is easier to fit than having no audio!!! Mt buddy in Wisconsin used to have a sticker on his camera saying "TURN MIC ON"

Chris

[BobDiaz]

I've set my zebra stripes to 105%, that way when I see them I know that it's going to be blown out.


Bob Diaz

[Felipe Henao]

I've never seen before that face from USA, and is very interesting.

[Felipe Henao]

I've set my zebra stripes to 105%, that way when I see them I know that it's going to be blown out.


Bob Diaz

Bob for me 95% has worked well for blown out highlights, don't you think 105% is a lot ?

[ChrisHarding]

90% for me is a nice level for general stuff. If you are critical about skin tone and need to expose for that then 70% is the way to go!!!

Chris

[SteveD]

Hi to all, and thanks for the comments.

Regarding the zebra setting: after I saw the stripes on the white sleeves of the kid -- when I turned them down everything else was too dark (including his face). I had to accept that part would get blown out (without adding more light to the rest of the room). I think I like the 80% because I'm getting used to it. It puts enough zebra striping area in the viewfinder to warm me to pay attention (to turn on WFM if I really was into it and my subject was stable). To be honest, I've never fiddled with it, so may try that some.

Steve

[ggrantly]

Bob for me 95% has worked well for blown out highlights, don't you think 105% is a lot ?

+1 on that. By the time you hit 105% it's too late.

Bob, are you using much knee to make this work?

If I just touch 90% in the brighter areas, that seems like a good place. If there is a larger amount of range, I might go a little higher to get the dark areas exposed.

Grant

[BobDiaz]

Bob for me 95% has worked well for blown out highlights, don't you think 105% is a lot ?

It's all a matter of personal taste. IF we go by ideal IRE levels, 100 should be the maximum. Setting at 95 warns you before you hit that level; however you may be seeing a warning and you're not at the real blow-out level.

According to the digital number recorded to memory, 100 IRE is recorded as 235 and 109 IRE comes up as 254. I assume that 105 IRE comes in at 245 or 246. From an analog signal standpoint we have clipped, but the digital signal has a tiny amount of room to correct.

If I see clipping occurring, I stop down by 1/6 of a stop, the smallest F-Stop increment on the camera. 1/6 of a stop = 89% of the light. This means that after stopping down in 1/6 of a stop steps, the IRE level could be anything from 94 IRE to 104 IRE; the average would be 99 IRE.

Except for run & gun shooting, where I'm forced to used auto-exposure, my exposure is set using the waveform monitor. So, Zebra is only a last minute warning for me.


Bob Diaz

[ChrisHarding]

Hi Bob

That makes sense if you have the time and situation to use the waveform. Mine is all rush rush run 'n gun at mainly weddings so 90% sorta suits me anyway and it seems to avoid any blowouts so far. Then again running 3 cameras solo I don't have the luxury of manual iris so it's mainly auto except for the wedding ceremony where the main camera is in manual . Everything else at a wedding apart, again, from speeches where the main cam is in manual, is full auto as thing happen so fast!!!

I'm actually contemplating an HMC40 for my stedicam as the HMC80's are a load to carry and balance and I reckon the 40 would be just perfect!!!

Chris