The HMC40 is a great camera, except for one thing: its auto iris. Whatever algorithm it uses for it, they should change it ASAP, because it's useless in its current form. If any object that is slightly brighter than the rest suddenly moves into the frame, the iris closes drastically. If there are several things of different brightness moving around in the screen you see these small flashes, like the auto iris is going crazy.
For example, months ago I shot video of my girlfriend at the beach with a lot of seagulls hovering around her. If a seagull suddenly appeared on the frame, the iris would close several stops in a split second, and then open again once the seagull had passed. In all the other camcorders I had, mostly consumer grade, of different brands, I have never seen such a terrible auto iris. The iris changes, obviously, but it doesn't change all of a sudden, and certainly I don't see these flashes when there are several objects on the screen.
I hope I made myself clear. I can try posting a video of what I mean if I didn't, but it will take a few days.
Is anybody else seeing this too? I use manual exposure as much as I can, but sometimes it's just not possible to keep adjusting the iris when you have different light situations in the same take.
Is there anything I can do with the settings to make the auto iris not jump so bad all the time? This is one of the reasons that could drive me to buy a Sony camera, when what I would really like to do is get an HMC150.
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A while after I made this post, I found something interesting. I was peeking through the manual for the Sony HDR-AX2000, the other choice I'm contemplating besides the HMC150, and I found this setting in a menu:
AE Response
You can select the speed at which the
exposure is adjusted automatically
following the changes in the brightness of
the subject. You can select the speed from
[FAST], [MIDDLE] and [SLOW]. The
default setting is [FAST].
So this is exactly what the problem with the HMC40/80 and maybe the 150 seems to be. That the AE Response is set to very fast and that causes the fast ups and downs I described. I know there's nothing in the HMC40 settings equivalent to this setting in the Sony, I wonder if there is one in the HMC150. Does anybody know?
For example, months ago I shot video of my girlfriend at the beach with a lot of seagulls hovering around her. If a seagull suddenly appeared on the frame, the iris would close several stops in a split second, and then open again once the seagull had passed. In all the other camcorders I had, mostly consumer grade, of different brands, I have never seen such a terrible auto iris. The iris changes, obviously, but it doesn't change all of a sudden, and certainly I don't see these flashes when there are several objects on the screen.
I hope I made myself clear. I can try posting a video of what I mean if I didn't, but it will take a few days.
Is anybody else seeing this too? I use manual exposure as much as I can, but sometimes it's just not possible to keep adjusting the iris when you have different light situations in the same take.
Is there anything I can do with the settings to make the auto iris not jump so bad all the time? This is one of the reasons that could drive me to buy a Sony camera, when what I would really like to do is get an HMC150.
------------------------------------------------
A while after I made this post, I found something interesting. I was peeking through the manual for the Sony HDR-AX2000, the other choice I'm contemplating besides the HMC150, and I found this setting in a menu:
AE Response
You can select the speed at which the
exposure is adjusted automatically
following the changes in the brightness of
the subject. You can select the speed from
[FAST], [MIDDLE] and [SLOW]. The
default setting is [FAST].
So this is exactly what the problem with the HMC40/80 and maybe the 150 seems to be. That the AE Response is set to very fast and that causes the fast ups and downs I described. I know there's nothing in the HMC40 settings equivalent to this setting in the Sony, I wonder if there is one in the HMC150. Does anybody know?
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