AC160 Iris ring turn direction.

[Mel Brunetto]

I'm wondering if anyone has a solution for me. I just purchased the AC160, great experience so far, the only complaint I have is that I wish the Iris ring direction were reversed, in other words I'm used to operating the Iris wheel on my HMC 150 in the opposite direction, and now I'm finding it hard to reprogram my brain circuitry to this new cam, Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kwkeirstead]

Nothing can be done, so far as I know... You will get used to it.

It might be a good idea to upgrade this unit to 160A (unless you mean 160A when you type 160).

There is an accessory from Sudio 1 Productions (remote controller) that I expect you will find very useful ($120).

http://www.studio1productions.com/zoom-controller-dvx.htm

I did a review of this unit here somewhere at dvxuser.com

 

[Mel Brunetto]

Thank you for your quick reply Kwkeirstead, my fellow Canadian, I'm from Windsor Ontario, the most southerly city in Canada.
You are correct, my model is the 160A with the latest firmware update. My wife said the same thing to me, "you'll get used to it"
On the HMC 150 there is an option in the menu setting that allows you to reverse the direction of the wheel, however this is not in the case with the 160A and after practicing for a few weeks, I'm still messing up my iris turn directions. The remote unit you recommend looks quite sturdy, and the price is right as well.
Thanks for the tip.

 

[kwkeirstead]

I do a lot of theatre. I practice accessing the controls in the dark... I think it's a good idea to get to where everything is instinctive.

 

[bhuwanchander]

Here is user manual guide to AG-AC160, and I hope this will help you to resolve your query and help you .

I'm wondering if anyone has a solution for me. I just purchased the AC160, great experience so far, the only complaint I have is that I wish the Iris ring direction were reversed, in other words I'm used to operating the Iris wheel on my HMC 150 in the opposite direction, and now I'm finding it hard to reprogram my brain circuitry to this new cam, Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kwkeirstead]

OK, little or no chance Panasonic is going to rewire the ring to get it to turn in the opposite direction BUT if you are mostly using the cam on a tripod and are willing to use a remote, I can put you in touch with the owner of Studio 1 Productions who make an excellent remote for the 160.

I think it would be easy for them to re-wire the remote so that when you turn the iris ring on the remote, it goes the opposite way to the way the remote works in the standard product. You would have to pay them for the custom re-fit.

Now, if you don't do most of your work on tripod or on a rig where you could attach and use a remote, then you get back to your current muscle memory problem and whereas, over time, doing nothing you will eventually adapt to the way the iris works on the 160, you will be worse off, having to turn one way for handheld on the cam and a diferent way on tripod at the remote.

As I am sure you have noticed, if you post the parameters to the LCD, you immediately see which way the iris is going so if you are not posting the iris reading on the LCD, it might be a good idea to engage the display.

Many of the folks here have multiple cams and unless they are from the same manufacturer, the buttons etc are likely to be different across the cams with not much that can be done about this.

I run down a printed checklist before each event, just to make sure the settings for the last event are not inappropriate. Again the LCD helps but the other day someone had a problem with 3 identical 160s, all at the same Scene File but possibly with different saved parameters at one cam that gave everything an unwanted color cast.