Ted,
Sounds like a very enjoyable endeavor, made all that much more enjoyable by the involvement and appreciation of your wife!

This topic has come up in the past. I seem to recall that the main issues at hand were (a) setting your exposure and (b) white balance.

I am absolutely not and expert on this topic but, fwiw, here is how I might approach the task.

Re: exposure I'd set my shutter to 60 and try to get a decent average exposure with the iris. The zebras, in this case, might not be very useful during the shoot since the lighting will probably change in hue and intensity with each scene. I might see if the white stage lights could be turned on beforehand while someone in a white shirt stood on stage. Set your zebras to 90 and tweak your iris to that person. Then, using Manal mode, leave the camera set as is.

Re: white balance, with all of the color changes common to theatrical lighting I wonder if it isn't best to use an "indoor" preset?

As I say, these remarks may be poor guidance. But that's how I might approach the task knwing little else.

Good luck, and let us know how you ultimately tackled this and the results.

Ted,

I've shot a fair number of theater,dance, and music concerts and the biggest issue you will have is contrast, and dealing with changing lighting. For white balancing, use the incandescant setting. This will allow your camera to capture the changing color with relative accuracy. I would also consider bumping the "setup" upwards a few notches to open up the shadows and lower the overall contrast.

Regarding the spotlight setting: Try it during a dress rehearsal, but I've found that in many situations it still leads to overexposed faces. Perhaps using it in concert with an AE shift adjustment will give you a good result, as well as an automatic response to changing lighting.

I usually set the camera on Manual exposure, and adjust the aperture when necessary. This can lead to a few seconds of camera induced exposure change "bumps", but for me it's preferable to know my overall exposure is correct.

Ditto what ken said about shutter speed and zebras.

Good luck.

Barry

Checklist for new camera?
 

I'm waiting on a GL2 I ordered from Zotz Digital (great place to order from by the way)....and I was wondering what kids of test I should put it though to check to make sure nothing is wrong with it?

Anything I should tape, like light and dark backgrounds to check for hot spots or dead pixels? Anything mechanical, like tape transport? Is there a checklist I should go over?

Mic questions
 

Hello, i`m reading all these things about mics and what i want to know is the differents between a zoom mic and a shotgun.

I make footage from rallycars an if i`ll zoom in to the car then i want to zoom also i with the sound, how can i do this??

(sorry for my bad typing)
greetzzzz

Well,

I'm no expert but I beleive that you can't zoom with sound. A zoom mic may be a misconception. There are shotgun mics which can either be cardioid or hyper-cardioid. These types depend directly to the shape of the pick up pattern which affects them. Most of the conversation involved around mics and video are about the shotgun style of mic ( long thin with a narrow pick up pattern ). These mics are traditionally used in two ways - camera mounted, and on a boom. The boom is a long pole operated by a boom person. The boom allows for the mic to be placed at an optimal location to pick up sound. Usually close to the action or the talent. Camera mounted is *alright* but it will pick up sounds that are in front of the mic which may not be the talent/action solely.

For your purposes, you may want to have a mic closer to the action, which would go to an external recording device ( ex. MD ). Then mix those sounds in during post preduction ( editing )

I'm not sure how much of this you knew so I added all I could think of. I may not be entirely correct. If anyone can add to this please do.

Patrick

The "zoom microphone" typically has multiple pickup elements. The zoom effect amounts to varying the mix of sound from the several elements to electronically change the net pickup pattern to make it more focused on things in front of the mic and to increase rejection of sounds from the sides and back.

I believe that they are mainly seen in the consumer market. However, I can't say how well they work, but probably not as well as the corresponding fixed pattern mic for any given 'zoom' setting.

A shotgun mic has a pickup pattern that is focused to the front and provides a greater rejection of sound from the sides and back - perhaps by a factor of 10 or more depedning on the frequency of the sound. Shotgun mics usually do this by having long pickup tubes (a bit like a shotgun barrel) with slots that provide acoustic cancellation of the sound waves from the side and back.

I don't think there is any list, at least not to my knowledge. Just
USE the camera. Put tape in it, record varying things. I did that
at least because I was curious to see what it would and would
not do.

Just do the things that makes the most sense to you and can
satisfy you!

Congratulations Jim! You're in for a real treat. It's a fine camera.

There is one anomaly, documented first in this thread, then more recently in this thread which you should check for. Please read through the first thread completely. I know it's long but it's worth the read.

Have fun, Jim!

Pentax: best filters for my XM2 (GL2) ?
 

Hi, I've heard that Pentax filters are thes best. I want to buy a polarizer and a UV filter. I 've found these 2:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh1.sph/FrameWork.class?FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist_html___41637___PEUV58___REG___CatID=0___SID=F32F2 70CEC0

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh1.sph/FrameWork.class?FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist_html___40964___PECP58___REG___CatID=0___SID=F32F2 70CEC0

(I haven't found how to enable HTML: sorry)


Do I need an adaptator for these 2 filters? (if you have a link...)

Is there any others filters that does the same good job and cheaper?

Thank in advance.

filters are a subjective thing: some say b+w, some heliopan and others swear by hoya. i went for pentax baby!!!!

i'm planning on gettng a pentax polarizer in the future. the hoya shmc filters are very good option also (cheaper). i've been told that pentax filters are made with hoya glass and rings and they apply their own patented coating. the heliopan multiple coating (uv) filters are hard to get (special order) but they have the best of both worlds: schott glass/brass rings and a pentax formula based multicoating.

in europe you might a better deal on these filters than we can. good luck in your choice.

p.s. - no filter adaptor is needed if the xm2 has the same 58mm thread as the gl2. all in all the hoya shmc is the best bang for the buck (at least here in the us)!

I have a B+W filter on my GL2. Very very nice, and pretty cheap. Great filter! You won't be disappointed.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh5.sph/...ID=F2B75AC2CA0

problems with xm2
 

Hi, I'm pretty new to this forum. I've been reading messages for a couple of months and find it very helpful.
I bought xm2 about a week ago and started noticing a strange thing. It's hard to see through a viewfinder or lcd but on a tv screen I can clearly see how images are distorted at the edges. It's like a slight fish-eye effect. I tried filming in frame and normal modes and also with and without a UV filter. The distortions are very noticeable especially when I pan accross something vertical like buldings. I tried viewing some still shots on my pc and I get the same problem. So I think it might be something with the lense.

Did anybody have anything like this? Any advice? Should I just take it back?

Thanks for your help.

That's strange. There must be something wrong with the cam. See if you can have it replaced or repaired, since it is a new cam.

A picture would help. If you have the lense at its widest setting
some distortion will occur as well (naturally).

RGB flickering in low light
 

I was doing some tests last week and one of them was zooming and focussing to a grey carpet in my room while lights were rather low.
What I saw was some red, green, blue "flickering" in the pixels ...
Could this have something to do with my UV filter? (Prinz UV filter - I'm going to update it to a B+W soon)
Or is this typical for low light conditions ... ?