Dvx 100
 

Ive just started shooting weddings on the DVX100. Dont really understand shutter speed? What should i be setting it 2? Does it matter? Thanks.

My best recommendation if you don't understand shutter speed would be to leave it turned off. Do some test shooting with it at different shutter speeds and in different situations to see what you like best for that particular situation. I'd also recommend picking up a photography book and learning how shutter speed relates to exposure. Definitely worth your time to learn the basic principles of shutter speed, aperture and how they both relate to your final exposure and look. If you're shooting in 24p that brings in a whole new set of "adventures". I shoot with a 100A, and I love it.

I shoot with a dvx and am still figuring out all that it has to offer. You need to get Barry's book "The DVX Book". It comes with a dvd too. It is written by Barry Green, Jan Crittenden and Harry Foulds. It tells you the things you need to know - the things the owners manual just doesn't get into. It's an excellent resource if you plan to use this camera.

Generally the thing to remember is that if you depart from the default shutter speed (1/50th sec PAL, 1/60th sec NTSC) you'll generally lose picture quality. Choosing slower speeds means combining single fields to make a frame and choosing higher speeds gets you more CCD smear from bright point sources of light, as well as adding a jerkiness to pans and zooms and subject motion.

Of course that shouldn't stop you experimenting. The 100A model allows you to chose very slow shutter speeds, and this is much better for stationary night shots than using the default plus gobs of gain-up. And raising the shutter speed to something like 1/250th sec and using both internal NDs can allow you to use max aperture in bright sunlight - great for portraiture and shallow d o f.

If you shoot with locked exposure (and you most certainly should) then make sure the shutter speed, the iris and the gain are all locked down - otherwise one can vary without you knowing.

tom.