AG-DVX200 4K Large-Sensor Handheld Camcorder

Thanks for posting Noel. Nice images although I feel the camera is struggling with the highlights. Do you think a settings change could improve this?
 
Has anyone played around with the Area function on this camera? It is supposed to have a function that blurs the background but I don't see it doing it. Also I am wondering why 29.97fps is not available in AVCHD. You only get 59.97fps and 23.97fps... If a client is an interview and they want AVCHD and it is going to wind up on the web, which do you choose?
 
greytail said:
Has anyone played around with the Area function on this camera? It is supposed to have a function that blurs the background but I don't see it doing it. Also I am wondering why 29.97fps is not available in AVCHD. You only get 59.97fps and 23.97fps... If a client is an interview and they want AVCHD and it is going to wind up on the web, which do you choose?
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My biggest client wants everything shot in 30p, so I sort of feel your pain... but since I assume you're not uploading the raw .mts files to the web, what's preventing you from converting 60p to 30p in post? If you're going to edit it, just edit in a 30p timeline, and no one should know the difference.
 
greytail said:
Has anyone played around with the Area function on this camera? It is supposed to have a function that blurs the background but I don't see it doing it.
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I'm not sure what you're expecting, but I don't think you necessarily understand what AREA does maybe? The AREA function lets you specify a portion of the screen that the camera should concentrate its efforts on. You can select a small section of the screen and instruct the camera to concentrate its autofocus on that small area, or to expose in that area, or to both focus and expose, or to report the brightness in that area.

The level of background blur is not some sort of separate feature or function, it's determined by your aperture, the distance from the camera to the subject, and the distance from the subject to the background. There's no separate "blur the background" feature.

Also I am wondering why 29.97fps is not available in AVCHD. You only get 59.97fps and 23.97fps... If a client is an interview and they want AVCHD and it is going to wind up on the web, which do you choose?
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No idea why 1080/29.97P isn't included in AVCHD, but it isn't. 24P is totally suitable for web use, and then again, so is 60p, but unless you need the high action motion rendition of 60p, I'd probably stick to 24p. Or just use the .MOV/.MP4 version of FHD 30p; granted it's more bitrate (50 megabits instead of around 21 megabits) but it'd give you the 30p you're looking for.
 
Maybe because 29.97p is a bastard format that never had a place in the broadcast world. Same as with Blu-ray which also does not support 29.97p. The formats most likely to be used are 59.94p 29.97i (interlaced) and 23.976p. Those who wish to shoot AVCHD likely lean more towards broadcast work because software or hardware they use supports the AVCHD flavor better.
 
I suspected that this was what the Area function does...I read it in the manual. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something because of all the marketing hype about "beautiful bokeh!" I tried it in a darken room and got a red box around a bottle of wine I was using as a subject. Everything looked in focus including the background. The lens was wide open, the bottle was 8-9 feet away, and the background, a kitchen was well lit and all in focus. I am wondering if the red outline on the box is a warning of not enough light because I really didn't see anything change.
 
Mike Harvey said:
Hey Jim, since you've now had some hands on time with it, what's the battery life like? I've read the PX270 with the same batteries isn't that great, but I've read elsewhere folks using those batteries getting extremely long run time with them.
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haven't had any of the new batteries(production run) to test out.....as soon as we do, I'll post it...
 
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joe 1008 said:
Finally some footage I really like. Thank you, Noel. Looking clear and with nice dynamic range, not "tweaked" like so many examples before. Maybe with the DVX200 one has to be VERY careful with the settings?
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Just wanted to add a couple of notes here:

a/ I shot this with a mindset of grabbing some b roll, something this camera will do a lot of for doco etc.
b/ I really was struggling for time to grab some shots to work with, not a bad thing as it's probably the space this camera will do a lot of work. Smaller budgets, less time, get good shots fast. I'm sure if someone has a lot of time they can easily surpass what I've done here.
c/ Post took literally an hour - again time factor (minus export time).
d/ The grade is minimal. De log, plus very minor colour adjustment all within FCPX.
e/ All shot on V-Log L.
 
greytail said:
The battery life is pretty similar to an AF100. I accidentally left it on without the LCD pulled out and battery use seem pretty negligible. BTW is Scene 1 likely to need color saturation boost to make it look like a GH4 in natural mode. Here is a video containing shots by both cameras. Can you tell the difference?
https://vimeo.com/142730112
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I am in the market for a new 4K camera and I really wanted to buy this camera because I really like the GH3/GH4 look. But many of the video clips people are putting out there do not impress me.

For instance this example above. While the colors look fantastic, many of the shots in this clip look soft, sort of like a 5D Mark III that hasn't been sharpened in post. I have seen this on the GH4 if you use the 12-35mm f2.8 and stop it all the way down to F22 - it gets soft and mushy looking. Film below F8 and it looks sharp as a tack. Did you use the ND filters on these clips or just stop down the lens? Also was it filmed in 4k or HD?

Also the bokeh with this camera doesn't look too good on a lot of the outdoor "test" shots I have seen in videos. That being said, I saw some macro footage that had really nice bokeh.

I would really like to see someone with alot of skill and experience do a wedding film with this to see what its capable of before dumping $4k on the camera. Otherwise I'm considering the Ursa mini instead. While the Ursa mini doesn't have ND filters and a few other things, the footage looks great.

Am I being too picky or does anyone else notice these things too?
 
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vorrik said:
I am in the market for a new 4K camera and I really wanted to buy this camera because I really like the GH3/GH4 look. But many of the video clips people are putting out there do not impress me.

For instance this example above. While the colors look fantastic, many of the shots in this clip look soft, sort of like a 5D Mark III that hasn't been sharpened in post. I have seen this on the GH4 if you use the 12-35mm f2.8 and stop it all the way down to F22 - it gets soft and mushy looking. Film below F8 and it looks sharp as a tack. Did you use the ND filters on these clips or just stop down the lens? Also was it filmed in 4k or HD?

Also the bokeh with this camera doesn't look too good on a lot of the outdoor "test" shots I have seen in videos. That being said, I saw some macro footage that had really nice bokeh.

I would really like to see someone with alot of skill and experience do a wedding film with this to see what its capable of before dumping $4k on the camera. Otherwise I'm considering the Ursa mini instead. While the Ursa mini doesn't have ND filters and a few other things, the footage looks great.

Am I being too picky or does anyone else notice these things too?
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Yes, the footage was GH4 and DVX200, all in UHD and yes, it was the 12-35 .f2.8 lens! It doesn't look soft to me, but thanks for pointing it out.
 
vorrik said:
I have seen this on the GH4 if you use the 12-35mm f2.8 and stop it all the way down to F22 - it gets soft and mushy looking. Film below F8 and it looks sharp as a tack.
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What you describe is diffraction limiting - it happens when the PHYSICAL dimension (*NOT* f stop) of the iris becomes small relative to the wavelength of light.

The f stop it will correspond to will depend on the resolution of the system, and the size of sensor, which is why for HD - and certainly for 4K - the tendency is more towards larger sensors. On 1/3" HD cameras there is very little room between a lens being wide open and stopped down such it starts to diffraction limit. Only a couple of stops of useful range. Which is why on such cameras exposure control has to be a (small) iris adjustment, in connection with a variable ND. What is actually happening may not be obvious to a user.

Posting a "camera test" with a highly stopped down lens (one into diffraction limiting) would be a highly pointless exercise........
 
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