Quality of the auto features?
- Thread starter stanw
- Start date
Jim Carswell
Well-known member
Never used them. Can't say.
Jim
Jim
Daniel J
Well-known member
Most professionals use manual settings. Auto iris can really give you poor footage since it is always adjusting to how much light is in the view. The autofocus can cause the same problems especially in darker settings. I personally use auto focus pretty often, but I never use auto iris.
VenezuelanD
Well-known member
I find myself sometimes shooting event videography, and in these situations I use the auto focus and iris (though to a much lesser extent) fairly often.
Auto focus - Pretty decent, though it gets sluggish in 24 or 30p mode compared to 60i. I have not tested it in any of the different speed modes, since if i'm shooting event videography I'm normally shooting SD. It has the same draw backs as any auto focus mode - fishing and problems with low light, though it seems to have a slight delay so it wont fish if someone walks in front of the camera quickly.
If you are locked down on a tripod, use the AF button to set the focus, but leave it in manual mode, this ensures correct focus and prevents any posibility of fishing (of course this is almost impossible to do when filming a football or basketball game)
Auto Iris - I havent used this extensively, but its pretty adequate, while on auto iris you can still spin the iris wheel and correct the auto exposure by about a stop and a half either way. To do more you have to pop into manual mode, though I might be wrong about that, I don't use this feature often.
With any AE, avoid light sources behind the subject, as the AE will try to bring this source within parameters and often shadow your subject. Specially against a sunset, table lamps, or naked light bulbs that may pop into the frame. I find it best to simply set my exposure at the beginning of an event, and calibrate manually.
Jim,
I don't mean to sound rude, almost all the comments I have read from you have been helpful or informative, but honestly what was the point of your post?
Auto focus - Pretty decent, though it gets sluggish in 24 or 30p mode compared to 60i. I have not tested it in any of the different speed modes, since if i'm shooting event videography I'm normally shooting SD. It has the same draw backs as any auto focus mode - fishing and problems with low light, though it seems to have a slight delay so it wont fish if someone walks in front of the camera quickly.
If you are locked down on a tripod, use the AF button to set the focus, but leave it in manual mode, this ensures correct focus and prevents any posibility of fishing (of course this is almost impossible to do when filming a football or basketball game)
Auto Iris - I havent used this extensively, but its pretty adequate, while on auto iris you can still spin the iris wheel and correct the auto exposure by about a stop and a half either way. To do more you have to pop into manual mode, though I might be wrong about that, I don't use this feature often.
With any AE, avoid light sources behind the subject, as the AE will try to bring this source within parameters and often shadow your subject. Specially against a sunset, table lamps, or naked light bulbs that may pop into the frame. I find it best to simply set my exposure at the beginning of an event, and calibrate manually.
Jim,
I don't mean to sound rude, almost all the comments I have read from you have been helpful or informative, but honestly what was the point of your post?
the auto settings aren't bad, I used them a bit when I first got the camera. Gave me a decent image, but all of the auto settings tend to play it safe, so if you want an image that pops you're gonna want to go manual.
Autofocus can be very slow if you're shooting 24p or 30p because it only gets 24 or 30 images per second to sample from, but it's no worse than any DV cam i've used on autofocus.
Autofocus can be very slow if you're shooting 24p or 30p because it only gets 24 or 30 images per second to sample from, but it's no worse than any DV cam i've used on autofocus.
Ted Spencer
Veteran
I find it much slower in 24P than my Sony DCR-TRV950 (which of course is strictly 60i). Enough so that it's useless on most things I've tried. It doesn't really matter to me though, because I much prefer manual focus anyway.
Both auto-iris and auto focus on any camera will do a lot of "hunting around" for a setting, so they're only usable on consumer/family level jobs for the most part (like your one-year old throwing his birthday cake on the floor).
So I use the HVX for anything where quality matters, and the Sony for quick & dirty point & shoot stuff. The Sony's small, light form factor lends it to that kind of thing as well, so it actually gets enough use to warrant keeping it for just such purposes.
Quality-wise, compared to the HVX it's the video equivalent of a disposable still camera (except it cost me $2000 about 7 years ago!). It's a 3 CCD DV machine though, and it does a pretty respectable job.
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that's my point. with the Sony you're feeding the autofocus 60 images per second, w/ the hvx in 24p you're feeding it 24 images per second. it should follow that it will take the camera longer to figure out precisely what should be in focus when it gets 2.5 times fewer images
ScottNelson
Well-known member
I use auto-iris momentarily to see where the camera thinks the exposure to be, then adjust manually from that point on.
Same with auto-focus. I leave it in manual but press the momentary auto button to see what the camera thinks, then adjust manually from then on.
Only in extreme cases as a last resort would I use either auto-focus or auto-iris on a continuing basis.
Tips for focusing include using the EVF DTL switch with the viewfinder set to B/W for fine focus adjustment (easier to focus with no chroma).
Same with auto-focus. I leave it in manual but press the momentary auto button to see what the camera thinks, then adjust manually from then on.
Only in extreme cases as a last resort would I use either auto-focus or auto-iris on a continuing basis.
Tips for focusing include using the EVF DTL switch with the viewfinder set to B/W for fine focus adjustment (easier to focus with no chroma).