Quick tutorial on USER buttons for DVX please???

W

wmiller@csulb.edu

Well-known member
I have taken advantage of nearly every function of my original dvx100 except the USER buttons. These are really a mystery to me in use and functionality. The manual does a bad job of explaining them, and i dont have Barry's book. Anyone care to shed some light on this subject for me? I would really appreciate it... thanks
 
In the Menu, go to "3. SW MODE". (Switch Mode) Click on it.

Scroll down to USER1. Click that, then click YES.

Now you have all sorts of choices to assign to that USER1 button. :thumbup:

(I have USER1 set to COLOR BAR.)
 
I have mine set to colour bar, white out and black out (sorry names may not be exact match)......
 
Well, for me, I select the option "Backlight" & assign it to USER 3. I assign "Spotlight" to USER 2 & I assign gain of "18db" to USER 1. Why do I assign "backlight" to USER 3 instead of the other USER buttons? Well, because when I hand-hold the camera, my left thumb is closest to the USER 3 button & incidently I tend to use the backlight function often.

Why do I choose Backlight? Because I've found it extremely handy esp. in low-light settings when I see that the images are a little too dark for my liking. I just press USER 3 & instantly, the camera auto corrects the exposure & the images become noticably brighter & much better exposed. It's that easy to correctly brighten up the images without having to use any gain :) I find the Backlight function to be the most useful for wedding dinner shoots & other places that may be a little dark. Also, I use backlight when the area behind the subject is too bright. But I try to avoid shooting at this angle. I always try to make the light face the subject instead.

I don't assign the "fade to black" or "fade to white" function to any of the USER buttons, because I can easily do this in post by adjusting the opacity setting for a video clip in my NLE. Plus, I don't want to spoil the original footage shot on miniDV & regret having recorded a fade effect to tape when it can be done in my NLE.
 
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FYI I never record fade to black or white...... I use it in production on say a camera shot rehearsal to see how my (written in storyboard) fade might look.

Colour bar is absolutely essential.
 
Hi ncje,

Well, I'm a bit new to videography, so don't mind if I ask a dumb question as to why a colour bar is essential to you? I still havn't figured why you would use a colour bar & assign it to your USER button?

For me, I just white balance whenever I'm shooting in a new location with different lighting. I always make sure I do my white balancing properly so that the colors come out right. Thanks.

Andrew
 
haha i'm glad someone asked these questions. I too just got my DVX100 (the original), and haven't quite figured out what to do with the USER buttons. Good info here.
 
Congrads SumGuyFromTX86 on your DVX purchase. Well, nowadays we have the DVX100A & DVX100B. Why didn't you get the latest model which has more gamma curves & newer features? Is it much more expensive than the original 100?
 
The price difference is as much as 1500 between a used low hours DVX100 and a brand new 100B. I love my original cuz i have the NASA chip!!! model #193!! haha
 
Oh, I see. Well, in my country, the price for the DVX100 & DVX100A is the same. But I haven't yet seen the DVX100B (DVX102B) in stores in my country yet. Neither the HVX202E. The model names are a bit different because I'm in the South-east Asia region. But the functions are the same as in the US.
 
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