Sony DSR-300A

[Robert Perry]

Hello,

First off, forgive me if I have posted this in the wrong forum area, I noticed another DSR-300 related question in this forum.

I recently purchased a Sony DSR-300A with the Fujinon Lens. During testing before purchase, the camera auto focused on a subject I was pointing at (at least I could have sworn it did). However, since bringing it home, it does not auto focus at all. I have to manually focus the lens when zooming in. The person I purchased it off of (Technologist at a College) was pretty sure it will auto focus when you zoom in, some of the students were sure of this as well from using it.

Is there a feature, or menu setting I have overlooked?

[Shaun Roemich]

No auto focus, I'm afraid. And yes, I've used the camera. Chances are whatever you were zooming in on happened to be at the distance the lens was focused at.

[Robert Perry]

I Was affraid of that. Are there lenses you can buy that Auto Focus, or is this a limitation of the camera itself

[Don Bloom]

Any camera that uses a professional type lens such as the 300 which I used and loved for a long time doesn't really have or use an auto focus feature. I state it this way becaue I did have a JVC5000U that had an auto focus which BTW is a feature of the camera, and frankly, it was as useless as a dog at a cat show.

[Robert Perry]

I can see that, anobject that is far enough away (Such as when I shoot outside) require no focus, even at full zoom. It would be a nice feature to still have for the just in case scenarios

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Robert Perry

I can see that, anobject that is far enough away (Such as when I shoot outside) require no focus, even at full zoom.

Chances are that the lens is "stopped down" so far (f16 or f22) when you are outside due to that big burning ball of gas in the sky that the depth of field is so large as to show most things in focus. With a wide open aperture on a 1/2" camera like the 300A, it is possible to get a REASONABLY shallow depth of field that would still require focusing.

[Robert Perry]

The good news is I realized I had my focus wide open, where as if I go to 30/10 or a little lower, wide angle is still focused as well as it remains focused half way zoomed (had to play around a bit)

On another note, bit of a stupid question. Right now the camera is shooting in 4:3. How do I change it to film in 16:9. Tried searching the manual and the internet only to be told the camera can do that, but not how to switch to it. IN SHORT..... When I pull video off the camera onto the computer, it is always in 720x480 resolution (too low IMO) and I want to increase the resolution as high as I can to reduce the chances of pixilation showing on a TV when the film is burned to DVD

thanks for all the help

[Sander Vreuls]

It can't shoot 16:9.
It's a 4:3 only camera, so SD is the best you can get out of it. The good thing is that the quality of DVD is SD as well so if it goes to DVD it should be fine. You could always pillarbox it.

[Robert Perry]

What about Blu Ray, I have a customer interested in what I filmed for him being burned to Blu Ray.

Why does the information manuals state that the 300A can film in 16:9?

[Sander Vreuls]

DSR-500 can, DSR-300 can't. They're both in the same brochure and share the manual.

DSR-300 series is all 1/2 inch 4:3, so DSR-300, DSR-300A, DSR-370, DSR-390 are 4:3 while DSR-500, DSR-570 are 2/3 inch 16:9/4:3

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Robert Perry

What about Blu Ray, I have a customer interested in what I filmed for him being burned to Blu Ray.

If you're trying to go to BluRay (a High Def delivery format), you bought the wrong camera. The DSR300A is a great midlevel SD camera that I'm sure you got for a song, but it's not HD and never will be. I know a number of people that have done satisfactory upconverts to HD and/or film prints from 2/3" DigiBetacam but that is/was another league of SD production all together.

[Robert Perry]

So in essence, (btw, you bet I got it for a song... about 150.00 CDN along with a DSR-70 Deck for 100)

I am interested in doing weddings, so for customers that insist on Blu Ray format, I'll just have to inform them that it will still be DVD quality (SD)

BTW, Using a Canon Rebel XT DSLR with a wide angle, and zoom lens, and this Video Camera, what would a lot of you suggest be a good price to charge for doing weddings. Right now I am building up a portfolio and have a very steady hand with both pieces of equipment. I only ask this question as a general reference to go on. I would be performing both video, and photo

[Robert Perry]

Any opinions to my above immediate post

[Khoi Pham]

From all of the questions that you asked, don't be offended but I don't think you know enough to charge, so you better do a few for free first before thinking about charging, this way you will learn so much and they won't get mad at you if you screw up because it was free.

[Robert Perry]

I've learned never to get offended, only take constructive criticism. I have a wedding set for October for a Co-Worker, I will be employing a variety of knowledge on that day including my other video camera (small Canon) and my DSLR both which I am VERY well knowledged in using.

I have been told that I am a very technological person, so I have till then to learn a lot of the features of the DSR-300. This past weekend, I went shooting at the airport (Aviation Enthusiast) and got myself very comfortable with shooting in advanced mode. Learned to white/black balance before shooting, and relocating. Had the correct filter in place, etc. Once home, I spent about 2 1/2 hours in post using MAGIX Movie Edit Pro, adjusted a few colors, corrected some sound, and was very satisfied. I have also been making myself familiar with the wedding tips post on this forum. Very informative I might add.

I would more like to know for the immediate future, what one would charge as an amateur looking to build his portfolio.

BTW, Search "Nascar_Perry" for a video I did with the DSR-300 before the weekend I described above. It should be titled Departures and Arrivals.......