HD10 problems

[Heath McKnight]

Hi guys,

As I've been posting all week, I've been screwing around with my HD10. Here's what I have figured out, summed up:

1. It's tough to do dogme 95 with this camera, as it's HD. Lighting is essential! i'm gonna shoot some stuff on our news set (built and lit for HD). But the image is great, regardless.

2. The auto-iris is a NIGHTMARE, literally. I pride myself in not being a video or film junkie, but I woke up this morning after 6 hours of sleep from either a nightmare or a thought: I can't use this camera if I can't get around/turn off the auto iris.

I posted in some other threads my NYC filmmaking buddy cancelled his order when his JVC rep said they're re-doing the camera because pro owners don't like the controls and lack of a lot of manual options.

This camera may go back as early as Monday if I can't find out how to fix it. any help is greatly appreciated!

Frustrated,

heath

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Heath, you still having those nightmare's??? ;)

Murph

[Apostolos Nikolakopoulos]

I bought a couple HD10Us before a gig I have next Sunday. I took delivery of one and the one is coming in a day or two. I'm seriously starting to doubt whether I'm going to keep them after all I've been reading about not being able to adjust the iris.

[Bob Furlong]

Hi Heath,
I shot great footage "off the cuff" . I simply locked my shutter speed at 30f.p.s., this of course keeps the jitter down.
understanding the shortcomings of this camera you just ned towork around them. Keep your subject moving in consistant light, don't bounce around from high key to low key. Keep the sun behind you. All the basic tricks they taught us while shooting FILM work perfectly here.
Many of us have been spoiled with zebra stripes and auto setting. This camera forces you to think about every single shot and how it is set up.

Don't give up on HDV. You could go back to DV and Beta, but then you'll have the old troulbes of interlacing, and a (now that I've been working with HDV) a very very small image.

Oh and one more thing.... Yoda sa, a master is never defined by his tools.

- Bob Furlong
still in News Promotion

[Heath McKnight]

Man, guys, I posted that around a year ago! Whoa!

heath

[Apostolos Nikolakopoulos]

What do we do about the lack of manual iris control. Any workaround or do we send the HD10 back?

[Heath McKnight]

If you search around our site, with our handy search function, you'll find it's actually a little easy to use.

I also recommend checking out some stuff here:

www.hdvinfo.net

I have a review of Darren Kelly's HDV Training DVD, which has tips on shooting. Real great stuff!

heath

ps-As for chroma noise, Lumiere HD has one.

[Apostolos Nikolakopoulos]

I've already read most of the stuff in that forum, bought Darren's DVD which I'll receive on Thursday and I'm planning to buy the Lumiere plug in to edit in FCP. The question is, am I going to be able to control this thing for wedding videography?

[Heath McKnight]

YEAH!

On the HDV Roadshow, they showed all sorts of wedding stuff. You may want to convince the family to not darken the reception and wedding halls.

Thanks,

heath

[Glenn Gipson]

Hmmm…I’m back to thinking about buying this cam again…but I’m hearing so many bad things about it (was gonna buy a DVX100 *yuck, no 16:9*, then a PDX10 *yuck, no progressive*, but now my funds are delayed again, so I'm back to rethinking my cam options.) The resolution and 16:9 are so tempting on this cam. I’m shooting a comedy with mostly interior scenes and a few exterior ones. The camera would be mounted strictly on a tripod for all of my shots. Even though my movie will end up on DVD, I very much like the ideal of screening at festivals in HD, but I fear this cams various quirks. What do you all think? I have never been so indecisive about anything in my life as I have been with choosing a damn DV cam. And B&H is no help, they have almost every cam they sell on display, except the HD10, so I only have web clips to go off. I guess I'll just have to buy that HD10 DVD.

[Heath McKnight]

That sounds like your best bet, though you can buy an anamorphic adaptor for the DVX100A, which is a great camera!

heath

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Guys, guys....listen to Heath! He's actually used the HD10u in various situations that you are inquiring about.

Also, I have personally shot some great footage and can backup everything Heath says. It's not brain surgery...light more than DV, plain and simple. If you have a low light situation that can not be avoid then consider renting a DV cam for a day or whatever. But, the bottom line is that HDV is the better value for long-term use. I think we've all outlined that on here for about a year now.

Something to ponder - HDV is HD. HD is the future. DV is the past. They will not be making DV standards better because it's a standard already. Therefore, the next thing is HD - a new standard that HDV embraces. It's within our budgets (ok, just barely...but, still) and is superior to DV. Let's also remember what Heath quoted about "tools". In any situation with video you need light...it's all about light. So, having to have a little more light to get HD footage isn't really a big deal. I'd say that Weddings might be the only time when someone other than yourself as a producer might have more say about light then you. It's a Wedding, and obviously it's about them and not you. Otherwise, 98% of the time you can adjust your lighting. (Actually, news production can't always light the way they want to...it's circumstance with news usually.)

Anyway, it's been a long haul for a lot of us HD10u users this year. We're pretty darned determined to move forward with HDV because we've seen the results. (and really worked hard to educate ourselves) I think if we had any advice at all on whether to purchase the camera or even use it...check out some of the footage online. LumiereHD has some links to clips shot on the HD10u...and Darren's DVD is a great place to start too.

Oh...speaking of footage - we all started to talk about free HDV footage in another thread. I'm still into getting that going if anyone else is up for it. I'm going to start a new thead again regarding it.

Murph