Some sample dvx100a stills and a clip...
 

Hey all. Well this is my first full day with the dvx100a and I am impressed. I was a little bored and threw a little demo clip together after shooting at a local park which also demonstrates the extra slow zoom on the "A" model. It was an overcast day, so that's why the sky isn't showing up.

The thing I still don't understand after reading countless posts is the deal with shutter speed. I know that the smaller the shutter speed (1/1000) etc. makes the picture darker and people who want a more film look use like 1/24 but I still don't really get it's relevance to something I'd be shooting. The 1/24 gives more a delayed feel like film right but with 24p on already, is this really a concern? Anyways, here's some stills and the clip in windows media:

FYI, I cut this in Vegas 4. It's my first time with Vegas from a premiere loyalist and after trying the demo for premiere pro, I was severely let down... Vegas is written better IMO as it handles large file sizes with ease. Premiere Pro was giving my computer (p4 2.4 gigahertz, 1 gig of RDRAM and ATI Radeon 9600 tx card) a difficult time not to mention Vegas and 24p go well together ;).

Clip (3.5 megs)
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~berobert/dvx100ap wmv.wmv

Stills
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~berobert/dvx100a 1.png
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~berobert/dvx100a 2.png
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~berobert/dvx100a 3.png
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~berobert/dvx100a 4.png
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~berobert/dvx100a 5.png

Hello Bryan,

Your baby has been delivered? ;-)

The footage looks good, natural colors so far I can see. Regarding the shutter speed: that depends on what you want to shoot. A slower speed gives more field of depth etc. And has a motion blur for moving objects. Motion blur is something that adds to the film look effect I had to think about special effects modeling software for movies and computergames: to add more realistic feeling to CGI they even process motion blur with fast movement of camera's or spaceships etc.
The 24P effect already will give you the "filmic look" if you exposure properly. Experiment with the shutter speeds to find different settings for different circumstances.
Vegas is also great. Rock solid and a good combination together with the DVX100A.
Good luck with it!

Peter

Slower shutter speed gives more depth of field? I believe you mean the wider the aperture the narrower the depth of field (i.e., tweaking the Iris on the DVX).

If myself have found the motion blur of 1/24 to be too slow-motion like. Also couldn't get good stills out of 1/24 if there was much motion in the frame. The factory default of 1/48 seems to work beautifully in most scenarios.

Hi Imran,

I think we mean the same thing. What I tried to say was that a slower shutter speed gives "more light" so you are able to close the iris more which gives a broader depth of field. From the time I had my fully manual controlled Nikon FM photocamera, I was constantly combining shutter speed and iris to find an optimum for my photos.

Peter

The deal with shutter speed is that even if you're set to 24fps, if the shutter speed is very fast, say 1/100 in really bright light, each frame is only going to be exposed to light for 1/100 of a second, even though there will be 24 frames shot per second. So the two are really independent of each other in that respect. The only restriction is that for smooth video you can't have the shutter open longer than the frame, i.e., the shutter speed can't be lower than the FPS. Otherwise set the shutter to whatever produces the exposure and level of motion blur you want.

Gotcha Peter S. - we were saying the same thing, basically.

hmmmmm sounds good. From what I take it though for a filmic look, I should stick with the shutter mode off (1/50 listed in panny book) or maybe one slower at 1/24? Then if it's a bright scene and I want a shallow depth of field, I can bump up the ND filter so I can open up the aperature or iris more to give a more shallow depth of field. So really the only time I would want a higher shutter speed like 1/120 or higher is with fast action like car chases when I want to expose details in the movement etc.?

Well I think I'm getting a better grasp now that I have a camera where all these settings can really come into play. Now if I could just understand all the gamma settings..... ;)

Hi Bryan,

Nice shots of Pullen Park. I haven't seen the Andy Griffith statue in person yet.

I have a DVX100 and always shoot in 24AP. I leave the shutter set to 1/48 to emulate a 180 degree film shutter (ie. the shutter is open for half of the time of the frame, therefore the shutter is 1/(2*24) or 1/48). This gives a motion blur identical to film. This can be set either with shutter mode off or, can be set by using the syncro scan shutter function in the menus.

If I am shooting in low light, I may set the shutter speed to 1/24. If there is motion, you will get more motion blur at 1/24 and it may be too much (ie. too dream like). However, with the DVX100A you can set the shutter even slower, this can be used to create a dream like image with lots of motion blur, or simply can be used to capture a fairly static image in low light.

The main use for higher shutter speeds would be to create a stuttered look to the motion such as in some of the action scenes in various modern war movies. However, unless you are going for special effects, most will keep the shutter at 1/48 and control exposure via the iris aperature.

Also, as the others stated, the shutter speed does not directly affect depth of field. A shallow depth of field can be achieved on the DVX100A by keeping the iris as open as possible and zooming in on the subject.

Nice to hear from a local Randall - that's also some great info too. I think I've gotten a much firmer grasp on the effects of these shutter speed and depth of field tweaks from these posts and having some time with my dvx. thanks guys!

How can you NOT love that camera? Is it just me or do all of you guys get "warm fuzzies" when you see good DVX footage?

Sorry I don't know you personally... but in case you haven't jumped into mics yet, you are in for a delightful surprise with the DVX from what you were used to.

Easy, high-grade audio capture will accompany those fantastic colors and images... as simply as "plug and play".