Setting up a DVX for quick use!

[periginald]

I run a "news organization", and often need to arrive on site with quick response time.

I just got my 100B recently, and was wondering (since I haven't had the time to spend with the baby) what I can do to allow the following:

There are only a few distinct situations I'll ever need for my projects. They're all news related (for now) and not on the "creative" side just yet. However, these are my typical situations:

- At night. Semi-urban area. Either nightclubs, bars, or on the "street" covering action on the streets and sidewalks, fires (a few recently) and other late-night events.

- Inside. Say stores or boutiques. I'll be filming local merchants and their stores. Various lighting conditions. From Halogen to tungsten to fluorescent.

- Regular outdoor / daylight material. Any and all conditions ranging from overcast, rainy, and bright sunlight. As well as dawn and dusk.


MY OBJECTIVE:

Since I haven't had the time to become intimate with the DVX (I do everything for my biz, from server management, to journalism, to photography, graphic design, sales and lots more), I'm looking for the "QUICK AND DIRTY" way to get the best results.

1. Can I program generally OK setting for the situations I described above?

2. Is it possible for me to have these settings without any "minor" adjustments onsite? Or do I still have to perform some quick tests, such as white balance adjustment, etc., onsite still, to ensure best quality.

3. The bottom line is, while I love the camera's fantistic manual adjustments, I have situations where i need to get the footage ASAP without time for tinkering.

All footage will be shot either 24p or 30p... no interlaced video at all.

Any and all advice is so much appreciated.

I thank you all in advance, and I apologize if I am not as up to speed as the rest of you experts. Since I just received my gear, I'm looking for an interim fix to cover me while I acclimate myself to the equipment. I hope you all can relate a bit.

Remember, DV isn't my full time (hopefully one day), but since I run an extremely popular site (200,000 unique visitors) I have lots of hats to wear.

Peace out everyone.

 

[Oedipax]

The DVX has an "Auto" button that you can customize somewhat depending on your preferences. It includes things like auto-iris, auto-focus, and auto-white balance that you can toggle on or off. You could also create different custom scene files for given situations and use that in conjunction with auto mode, or not. If you haven't read it already, I really would recommend getting Barry Green's DVX book which has all the information on how to do this. In particular, going over the scene file settings section and getting a feel for what the different parameters do should let you design a good setting for each of the situations you mentioned. Good luck!

 

[Motherboard]

for news stuff F3.

 

[periginald]

That's part of the problem.

I have Barry's little paperback book, but I'm trying to get a "quick fix" in terms of what the seasoned experts at dvxuser have to say about the three modes I plan on using, and what settings I should use, and how to do it...

The technology hasn't sunk into my brain yet, and was looking for a little help.

I shot a video the other day, and it was awful.. too blue, etc..

Like I said before, since I wear 10 hats, I'm frustrated that I do not have the time just yet to sit down with this machine for a couple days to work out the kinks...

So a little head start and "cheat sheet" so I can get up and running with this would be SO helpful!