Second 30 minutes, more observations and Q's
 

Okay, so I now have armed myself with the tips and advice from all of you here at DVi and shot another 30 minutes of footage with my new A1, and Thanks to you all by the way. I wanted to post another progress report. Here is what I have observed thus far.

1- The grain issue seems resolved. I set it up as follows. L-3db,M 0db, H +3 db. AGC off
2- In manual mode this camera seems to be at it's best. The colors and sharpness are pretty amazing even at the default settings other than Grain settings as mentioned above.
3- Av mode seems pretty decent provided you wanted to use an automode and I am sure at certain times much like in DSLR Photography, there is a need for using Av, TV, once in a while in some situations.
4- The playback images are actually so clear and sharp with such close colors and tones to what I actually saw with my eyes it almost looks fake if that makes any sense?

Questions-

1- Can anyone suggest a monitor for viewing at home (not while shooting) without tying up the HD TV or using my PC? Do I need at least a 24" HD screen to see the true HD image?
2-Which is better, Vimeo or Exposure Room for hosting videos?

I feel I am at the level of "Dangerous" as a little bit of confidance can be just that depending on how you look at it. One thing I feel I need to point out here is that My Progress in this new venture into HD Video can be gauged and measured by this forum and all of you. Between my A1, Vegas Pro 8, Vimeo, and all else I have had to start learning, It has all come from this forum and all of you. Hopefully I will soon have something to show you all in the way of a completed project so I can further my learning through the critique I receive.

Thanks for everything Folk's!

Tim

Hi Tim,

Av mode is not all that useful in videography except for depth-of-field control. It is an auto-shutter mode which I can't recommend because the shutter speed really should remain consistent in a video sequence.

Tv mode (which is an auto-exposure mode) is much more useful, even more useful than full manual mode in my opinion. Tv mode locks the shutter speed, and provides instant access to full manual control via the Exposure Lock button on the side of the camera. Simply press the Exp. Lock button to effortlessly switch between auto exposure and full manual control and back again.

See our dedicated HDTV / SDTV monitor forum: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=112 -- there are native 1920 x 1080 monitors smaller than 24" but they can get expensive. Like everything else, let the pricing be your guide -- you get what you pay for in this business.

There are a dizzying array of video sharing sites out there --http://www.dailymotion.com and http://www.vuze.com and http://www.veoh.com to name just a few more. We're working hard to bring free, high-quality online video hosting to DV Info Net, and when this service is ready, it'll be our exclusive recommendation for sharing video clips. Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available -- we'll have a general announcement about this posted soon,

Hey Chris,
Thanks for all the info. Funny you said that about AV mode. This morning I was out shooting with these very mixed results in Av Mode. If you or anyone else can, Please elaborate on this?
Early on at the Golden Hour, things turned out great. Snow white birds with darker backgrounds and no blown out whites. I was using AV Mode @5.6. AGC off, Gain set to L which I have at -3Db About 9:30-10:00 A.M. I started shooting Terns (small white birds) in flight against a deep blue sky and that was when things went south. It seems as if in AV Mode, the camera kept changing the light input depending on the background or the shade of white of the bird. It actually looked as if the light changed with each beat of the birds wings, it was horrible. For the lack of a better explanation, it was like the camera was trying to compensate for the changing light but doing a real bad job at it which is very apparent in the video.
I will try TV this afternoon on birds in flight using the Ex Lock and post my findings. Thanks again Chris and everybody else!
I appreciate hearing back from you and look forward to input regarding what I described above.
Tim