Locking down IRIS

[Roger Bansemer]

I'm having a terrible time trying to figure out how to lock down my IRIS on my DVX200.
I have it set to manual and it doesn't seem to matter If I have the IRIS button set to "open" or "STD", the exposure changes when anything light like my shirt gets in the shot. Really messes me up especially with time lapse.
I'd certainly appreciate some help on this.
Thanks.
Roger

[Barry_Green]

If the Iris says STD, that means it's automatic Iris.

If it shows a number (or OPEN), that means manual Iris.

Iris is not the only way exposure gets adjusted though. You will have to ensure that the automatic shutter and automatic gain are turned off. On top of that, other functions can automatically adjust that may look like exposure adjustment in some situations, like auto knee or DRS.

[Roger Bansemer]

Hi Barry,
Thanks for your help. I've been playing with the settings this morning and still haven't gotten it right.
Would you please tell me where to find those other settings of Auto Shutter and Auto Gain are that you spoke about so I can change them.
I feel quite stupid but I'm stuck and there are so many settings. I've reset the camera back to the factory defaults so I can get a clean start on this.
Roger

[Barry_Green]

The shutter is almost certainly the culprit. Press the shutter button, you should see the shutter speed displayed at the bottom of the display. If you don't see the shutter speed, that means the camera is in auto shutter, so press the button again until the shutter speed shows up.

[Roger Bansemer]

Hi Barry,
You're very good to get back to me on this. Thanks. You solved the problem. I made a note of this to put on the camera. It's a simple thing but often I'm stumped even though I went through your manual which I have printed.
Thanks again.
Roger

[Barry_Green]

Glad to have helped!

[BONLEV]

sunny day and try to film wide open. Everything is in auto (auto gain, auto iris, auto shutter) en the the iris says std wide open (= F2.8) what I want for the most blurry background. I was filming some flowers in the garden but moving the camera a bit to the left of right the Iris stopped down to F3.5 or higher. I thought raising up the shutter to 1/100 or higher and then the display said to lower the nd filter. If I want to zoom on a sunny day I think it is best to leave everything in auto because zooming in changes the iris values?

What are the tips/tricks to shoot outside with this camcorder?

[BONLEV]

just watched the footage again I made this summer. In vlog outside I see some noise on my wifes black sunglasses. But I wanted to shoot at F2.8. shutter was 1/350 and 1/64 nd. So how do you do this?

[Larry Chapman]

sunny day and try to film wide open. Everything is in auto (auto gain, auto iris, auto shutter) en the the iris says std wide open (= F2.8) what I want for the most blurry background. I was filming some flowers in the garden but moving the camera a bit to the left of right the Iris stopped down to F3.5 or higher. I thought raising up the shutter to 1/100 or higher and then the display said to lower the nd filter. If I want to zoom on a sunny day I think it is best to leave everything in auto because zooming in changes the iris values?

What are the tips/tricks to shoot outside with this camcorder?

Per Barry's previous comment.....if you see STD the camera is in Auto-Iris. To get the smallest DOF set the lens wide open and adjust the other settings on the camera to get the exposure you want. Also, putting the camera in Macro mode seems to help get small DOF and zoom in as much as you can.

[Larry Chapman]

just watched the footage again I made this summer. In vlog outside I see some noise on my wifes black sunglasses. But I wanted to shoot at F2.8. shutter was 1/350 and 1/64 nd. So how do you do this?

The DVX200 is known for being a bit noisy in vlog unless you record in 4:2:2 with an external recorder. It can't do 4:2:2 to SD cards.