I'd Like Hc1 But I Have Some Questions
 

Hi all,
i'm quite convinced in buying one but have some doubts, thanks to who'd like to answer.

1. Can u shoot in HDV mode with shutter speed at 1/25?
2. When shooting with cinema effect can you control iris and shutter speed?
3. Can someone provide me some sample frames of someone moving with static background shot both on 1080i and 720p?
4. Could someone provide me footage shot on sunny day with cinema mode and with 1080i and 1/25 shutter?

I know its a lot... well I try...
thanks
Alarik

And also:
- can u have manual control over all?
- are there ND filters?
- I read "Although HC1 doesn't have direct control of aperture, it can be reviewed with Data Code on playback" WHAT? YOU CANT CONTROL IRIS WHEN SHOOTING? What does it mean "review it after"?

Thanks again

1) with the hdr-hc1e (pal version) you can shoot 1/25th
2) no, only exposure readings
3)the hdr-hc1 cannot shoot 720p, search around the forums for footage
4) go to dvxuser.com, find macgregor's footage named 'secret garden'. not sure what his settings are, but its definetly pal footage (with a beta g35, and oh yea, its an fx1, but we all know that the hc1/a1 has a higher native resolution :-)


and to your second post

- you can have limited manual control for exposure, shutter, focus, wb, wb shift, ae shift. im sure i left something out.
-its there, but it cant be controlled directly, i.e. automatic
-see this chart as to iris "control" http://hdvforever.com/hdv/exposure/

How do you adjust exposure in Cinema Mode?

On my HC1 , as soon as cinema mode is activated the shutter speed menu option greys-out and the exposure level lever becomes nonfunctional ....

whoops, my bad, slipped past me there. you cannot adjust crap in cinema mode.

Alarik - what it means is that you're not told at the time of shooting what shutter speed, aperture, gain or ND (if any) is being applied, it's simply an idiot's 'bar-chart' on screen. On replay you should be able to select 'display' and get told what every frame received by way of exposure (but not what ND was applied of course).

Haven't tried this in the HDV mode, but in SD the Mini DV should give up this info to any other Sony camcorder or VCR. If you replay the tape in a Panasonic or Canon they'll often missread the shutter speed, leave of the Steadyshot info and even omit the white balance settings.

tom.

Just a note though - if you set the shutter speed first, then press the manual exposure button, the shutter speed appears to lock at whatever you set it to. Not only does the data code appear to confirm that, but (for those who don't trust the data code) I have yet to find a situation where I've been able to visually detect a change in shutter speed once everything was locked. Using it this way you can lock your shutter speed and then use the exposure lever to control only aperture & gain - more than six notches left and it's only aperture. Print a label with the gain/aperture/nd ranges for the side of the screen and you've essentially got full manual control - except that you can't add gain at anything other than full aperture. It's not ideal, but it's certainly workable for most uses.

Good post Evan. It's really important with movies to a have locked-down shutter speed and to vary the exposure either with the iris or ND filters (or however the A1 is doing it with the cmos chip readout). If you let the shutter speed roam - as you can with the PDX10 in the aperture priority mode for instance - you get really wierd effects with things such as aeroplane propellers that come to a stop and even go backwards as the strobing syncs with the varying shutter.

tom.

Regarding the matter of iris control you can look at this thread:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=60555

I am as surprised as you are about this thing of seeing the basic information of the iris, shutter,... only in playback. I don't understand how Sony can do it this way.

Most manufacturers do it this way with consumer cams. I've seen panasonics and canons and when in auto for example you only see 'auto' on the screen. You have to playback to see the different adjustments.