A Few questions about the DVX200... (Batts, Cards, Noise, Modes)

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maxer6

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I received my DVX200 yesterday and have a few questions I was hoping someone might be able to answer...

The battery slot seems to be much taller than the battery; I was wondering if Panasonic is planning on releasing a high capacity battery or if anyone has found a larger capacity battery that works?

Has anyone tried memory cards larger than 128GB? Do they work? Any issues? I plan on getting some SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-3 cards, 128GB, but bigger is always better right ;)

When powering the camera on or off, what are the mechanical noises it's making? (reminds me of an old cassette recorder) I assume it's a self test and/or parking of the motors/filters?

What are the disadvantages of FastScan mode for UHD/4K? FoV narrows, so I assume instead of scanning a ~5K patch of the sensor and downscaling, it is scanning 1:1 at 4K/UHD; so my guess is it will affect noise and sharpness slightly (and FoV obviously), anything else? Is there a noticeable decrease in rolling shutter?

When pressing the Auto White Balance (AWB) button, why does the video go black for a second?

Moving the zoom ring while it’s in servo mode, I assume that’s bad for it right?

Anyone know if you can output 4k (not UHD) via HDMI and record it (as 4k, not UHD) on an Atomos Ninja Assassin or Shogun? (If I ever find the marketing person who started using the term 4k for UHD, I have a boot to introduce them to...)

Feature Suggestions:
- A way to Save/Load settings (all settings, not just scenes)
- Add more user assignable buttons to the icons screen
- When the viewfinder sensor turns on the viewfinder, don't turn off the LCD (or make it an option)

A future ‘mod’ I may do.. Install a toggle button in the EVF behind the diopter to toggle the proximity sensor LED on/off thus allowing the LCD/EVF auto switching to be enabled/disabled. (assuming Panasonic doesn’t add the keep LCD ‘on’ option I suggested).
 
maxer6 said:
The battery slot seems to be much taller than the battery; I was wondering if Panasonic is planning on releasing a high capacity battery or if anyone has found a larger capacity battery that works?
Click to expand...

I know of no 3rd party batteries for it yet; it uses the same batteries as the PX270 and HC-X1000. I would think it almost certain that Panasonic will eventually release a bigger battery, but I know of no concrete plans to do so.

Has anyone tried memory cards larger than 128GB? Do they work? Any issues? I plan on getting some SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-3 cards, 128GB, but bigger is always better right ;)
Click to expand...
I know of no reason why they wouldn't work; there is no limit in the camera so as far as I know it should work with all SDXC card sizes, but yes it would be nice to have someone verify that they've tried them and that they worked.

When powering the camera on or off, what are the mechanical noises it's making? (reminds me of an old cassette recorder) I assume it's a self test and/or parking of the motors/filters?
Click to expand...
That's likely the "clunk" of the lens optical image stabilizers settling in. When powered on they're energized and active, when powered off they release.

What are the disadvantages of FastScan mode for UHD/4K? FoV narrows, so I assume instead of scanning a ~5K patch of the sensor and downscaling, it is scanning 1:1 at 4K/UHD; so my guess is it will affect noise and sharpness slightly (and FoV obviously), anything else? Is there a noticeable decrease in rolling shutter?
Click to expand...
Your assumptions are correct. Instead of scanning a 5K patch, it scans a 4k patch, so the FOV is narrowed. It will be slightly lower resolution and there may or may not be a detectable increase in noise. But the rolling shutter effect is largely eliminated. "Fast Scan" is basically the same mode as UHD 60P/50P, but applied to the other frame rates too.

When pressing the Auto White Balance (AWB) button, why does the video go black for a second?
Click to expand...
That's the auto black balance. It happens if you hold in the AWB button. If you just press and release, it'll do only a white balance; if you press and hold it'll do a white balance followed by a black balance.

Moving the zoom ring while it’s in servo mode, I assume that’s bad for it right?
Click to expand...
That is most definitely discouraged.

Anyone know if you can output 4k (not UHD) via HDMI and record it (as 4k, not UHD) on an Atomos Ninja Assassin or Shogun? (If I ever find the marketing person who started using the term 4k for UHD, I have a boot to introduce them to...)
Click to expand...
You definitely can externally record UHD 23.98/25/29.97p and 4K/24p on external recorders via HDMI. You would be able to do so for UHD 50/60p if the recorders had HDMI 2.0, which as of yet they don't. The camera outputs it all, but the recorders all have HDMI 1.4 ports so they can see only up to 29.97 fps in UHD. The Assassin will definitely record it, I haven't tried a Shogun.

A future ‘mod’ I may do.. Install a toggle button in the EVF behind the diopter to toggle the proximity sensor LED on/off thus allowing the LCD/EVF auto switching to be enabled/disabled. (assuming Panasonic doesn’t add the keep LCD ‘on’ option I suggested).
Click to expand...
The eye sensor shuts a physical door to the EVF to protect the OLED panel from damage.
If you want to disable it so that the auto-switching doesn't happen, there's a menu item in the output settings menu that lets you specify LCD-only.
 
bpap said:
Have a look: http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/products/ag-dvx200/option.html
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Thanks bpap, I added a reminder to my calendar to get some when they come out. Also, there's some 3rd party VW-VBD58/78 batteries on amazon I may try till Panasonic comes out with the high cap ones. Will let you know how that goes...

Barry_Green said:
I know of no reason why they wouldn't work; there is no limit in the camera so as far as I know it should work with all SDXC card sizes, but yes it would be nice to have someone verify that they've tried them and that they worked.
Click to expand...
If no one pipes up in the next week or so about trying a larger capacity card, I guess I'll buy one and let you guys know.

Barry_Green said:
That's the auto black balance. It happens if you hold in the AWB button. If you just press and release, it'll do only a white balance; if you press and hold it'll do a white balance followed by a black balance.
Click to expand...
Oops, missed that when I browsed through the manual...

Barry_Green said:
The eye sensor shuts a physical door to the EVF to protect the OLED panel from damage.
If you want to disable it so that the auto-switching doesn't happen, there's a menu item in the output settings menu that lets you specify LCD-only
Click to expand...
Hm, I didn't see any shutter in there when I had it apart yesterday, anyways I didn't want to set it to LCD-only because sometimes it's nice to use a viewfinder (also I know I can assign a user sw to EVF/LCD toggle). If accidentally tripping the EVF annoys me enough I may do the mod (currently I'm flipping the EVF up when not using it). When I played with it yesterday, I was toggling the power on/off to the prox sensor; when powered off, the EVF would remain off and LCD would remain on, when powered on it operated as normal turning off the LCD and turning on the EVF when bringing your face up to the EVF.

Thanks for the answers and help Barry!
 
Just wanted to update about the batteries...

IDX Makes two batteries for this camera, a 6400 mAh & 9600 mAh battery, models SL-VBD64 & SL-VBD96 which are available through Adorama.
I ended up getting a Watson 7800 mAh VS-VBD78 in the mean time while I wait for the Panasonic batteries; run time in 1080p30 for a mostly static scene was 3:37 with the OEM battery and 4:20 with the Watson. I ran the test after a few charge/discharge cycles and after letting the charged battery sit for a few days.

Also I ended up getting some 128GB cards (SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-3) instead of the larger ones (256/512) since the camera splits the recording files into 2 hour chucks and I use the cards in relay mode, and since I haven't really been in the mood to spend more money lately...

Oh, while running the battery discharge test with the Watson battery, I noticed you get about a minute of the battery icon flashing red before the camera powers itself down. I wasn't really paying attention near the end of the OEM battery discharging so not sure if it does the same. But good to know, when the battery icon starts flashing, you better have another battery ready to swap in, like right now... :) (although I typically change batteries when they get to one bar and I have a sufficient pause to do a swap)

Oh and also the camera does not charge the battery (Watson or OEM) while it's being powered externally, the external power (power adapter / external battery) only powers the camera.
 
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At last I've found a DVX200 forum! Sorry to dive in on this thread but it's relevant to the last post. Mine has no battery time remaining indication, just the barred battery icon. Is mine faulty or are they all like that?
 
I have used the Lexar 256 GB cards for all our concert recordings before Xmas with no problems at all.

When shooting UHD @ 50.00P @ 150M you get 3hrs 49 minutes of recording time using one card!

Cheers,

Vaughan
 
bazza said:
At last I've found a DVX200 forum! Sorry to dive in on this thread but it's relevant to the last post. Mine has no battery time remaining indication, just the barred battery icon. Is mine faulty or are they all like that?
Click to expand...
They are all like that. The battery the camera uses doesn't have an "infolithium"-style chip in it like the AVCCAM batteries had, so all you get is the "full-3/4-1/2-1/4" picture.
 
The battery the camera uses doesn't have an "infolithium"-style chip in it like the AVCCAM batteries had, so all you get is the "full-3/4-1/2-1/4" picture
Click to expand...

Barry, will the new large batteries coming out have that chip, or will they be the same as we've got now?

Vaughan
 
Haven't been told, but I would guess that none of them will. It is a flabbergasting mystery as to why, but for whatever reason, the new series of cameras (HC-X1000 and DVX200) don't support that feature. (unless, of course, the new batteries *do* support it, in which case I would be happy to be wrong about this!)
 
Thanks Barry, that's annoying on but I won't shoot the messenger. Whoever dreamt up the idea of missing out the time remaining feature has never sweated out the last five minutes of recording an overlong speech praying that the battery won't die!
 
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