Have 8 hours to use camera for first time before wedding this Saturday

B

bobdylan

New member
Hi,

I lined up a wedding to shoot this Saturday where the couple is basically covering the cost of the rentals. I can't afford to rent a camera to play with beforehand so I'm going to have to wing it. I'll get it on Friday around 5, so I have around 5 hours to get used to it before Saturday.

I'm renting a DVX 100b. What advice would you give someone in this situation?

-I want 16:9 and am planning on using Squeeze, the manual states,"images may be poorer when you play back in squeeze mode." Should I just shoot 4:3 instead?

-I’ve read the manual about white balance and I’m kind of confused about it, what’s important to know from experience with camera? It isn’t the biggest deal if the picture is somewhat compromised, I'm planning on not setting it.

- Should I adjust the black balance, the manual says you should do this when you use the camera for the first time.

-I’m renting the camera so the settings will be already set by the last person who used it. What should I do to the settings to reset it/shooting best picture for complete novice.

-Do I have to turn phantom power on/off?

Is there anything else I should know?

I am very grateful for whatever advice you could give. I read the manual but user experience plays a big part. Thanks in advance.
 
Squeeze mode looks good. Shoot squeeze.

White balance is very easy to set. On the left of the camera, there are 2 switches. The 2nd one from the front of the camera controls WB. For manual WB, set it to A or B. You can manual WB for each of these if you need to switch on the fly. To set the balance, hold down the button labeled AWB on the very front of the camera under the lens. It will say AWB OK if you do it successfully. If your white surface is too bright, it will say NG Level Over or if it is too dark, it will say Low Lux. As for black balance, I have never even tried to set the BB.

Phantom power is only necessary if you are using a condenser mic without its own battery power. But, it draws more off the battery.
 
Please don't take this personally, but it sounds like you are in way over your head here. Have you ever shot with any pro-level camera before?

Black balance is set once, when the camera is new out of the box, and since this is a rental unit I'd say that's been taken care of.

White balance is a very basic function, and not setting it can leave you with an image that is unusable in some situations. Using white balance on the DVX is no different than any other camera.

Squeeze will look bad in 60i mode (Progressive OFF), but will be fine for 24p mode. Don't use 24pA unless you know what you're doing.

And what's your mic setup? That will determine the use of phantom power.
 
Just make sure you are in focus as best as you can. You can always fix poor white balance and even brighten your video up on the computer. You can not really fix something that is out of focus without making it extremely noisy.

Squeeze will look great.
 
You've asked the right questions and received good answers. You'll do fine. Even guys with years of experience make mistakes so don't fret it if you do.

Just make sure you know where to be at all times. And stabilize the cam!
 
I think your in for a rude shock. Sorry man, but if you cant figure it out in time your going to be SOL on the wedding day. No one likes an angry bride.
 
On the back, switch the scene file to F3 (not to be confused with F-stops on the iris)! That is the stock scene file that best suits weddings, but when you go to it, go into the menu, select scene file, then scroll down to the 2nd page and change the progressive to whatever you choose, because I believe the default is OFF which is 60i... After changing the progressive, press menu to go back once and click save so it will stay when you power off and re-power on the camera.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top