DVX102B 1st Impressions, Squeeze mode ok

A

afram

New member
This posting is primarily for newbies who are considering the dvx102b.. i've had it for a week and it's been great..
The first footage i took with it was very satisfying, the image quality is immediately 'broadcast quality'.

This is my first pro vidcam and I am still new to premiere pro, and i was relieved that footage taken in Squeeze mode is meant to be simply imported into widescreen projects and come out great. I tested this by videoing a circular object which came out perfect on widescreen DVD export.

As far I know there is no special premeire project setting for the dvx102 - probably cos' tho pictures are captured by the ccd progressively (one full frame a time) but recorded on tape in standard PAL 50i format.

I chose the dvx because it promises film-like video, but i haven't had the chance to really compare the different looks yet.

But two points i can say, one the camera is highly tweakable and two, it is easy to check the effects of the tweaks; this is because the video image changes as you tweak it on the menu in real time. You can save up to eight different tweaks.

The camera feels comfortable and steady in the hands and is pro looking without being too bulky and difficult. The front shade detaches easily and the camera can be stuffed into a regular camera bag.

But I reckon my 35mm camera manfrotto tropod 190B is not steady enough for this camera. And I probably should have purchased a chunker video head than the 701RC2.

Footage taken under indoor fluoro lighting (using preset F2) is great. I found low light shots suprisingly bright.

I don't think lanc remotes work with the dvx102b. The manual is very basic and I don't think a pdf version of it is available on the net. However it took me only a week to become very comfortable with all it's functions and pecularities.

I am happy with my purchase. I am glad I didn't go HD, i'll do that 5 years from now. :)

(Perth, Western Australia) :thumbup:
 
yay australia. i'm going to buy one in a couple of weeks, hopefully. i'm trying to build a 35mm adapter at the moment. how do you like the depth of field on the cam? do you have a 35mm cammera? maybe compere it to a 50mm lense at f/2.8 to really see the film look difference. f/2.8 is the average isn't it?
 
You can really get some nice shallow DOF with the DVX100 if you light or ND down to F2.8 and back up and zoom in when possible. It's not bad at all. Especially if you turned down the detail settings so your backgrounds don't get artificially sharpened.
 
thanks all for your comments, i'm just gonna take the liberty to ramble on a little more, mostly a basic 101 on the 102, but i'm hoping it may be useful to new users..

Zebra
there were two things that confused me a bit:
  • there are not only two zebra settings but the two are different patterns too, one is like backward slash and the other a forward slash, i leave the first at 80% and the 2nd at 100%
  • the Z number on the LCD screen is the Zoom level, nothing to do with Zebra!
progressive vs interlaced
yes there is a noticeable difference in quality, downside is that AF takes longer in P mode

white balancing
there three positions "preset, chA and chB" on the switch...

i leave the Preset as is (ie 3.2k and 5.6k), cos white balancing with a piece of white paper outdoors sometimes does not look as pleasing as 5.6k, it's useful to have a quick reference setting to turn to...

i set the Ch B to AWB, and one USER button to AWB LOCK, this way i have the choice to try AWB anytime and lock it if happy

downside in this arrangement is you only have one ChA to tweak and set
 
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