Sony HDR-TG1 at DVinfo.net

Adam Stanislav · February 24th, 2010, 03:54 PM

Has anyone used a pair of Sony HDR-TG1 High Definition Handycam Camcorders for 3D work? As Handycams, they are not professional camcorders. What, however, seems nice about them for 3D work is their 32 mm width, which means you could easily place two of them next to each other and have plenty of room to adjust their distance.

Though I see no synchronization capabilities in their description.

Just trying to build something similar to what Pavel describes here but on a budget.

Giroud Francois · February 24th, 2010, 08:33 PM

well the TG1 is becoming pretty old now, so i think you can find newer camera with same kind of feature for less money and better performance today. (and specially for the fact that 3D require 2 cameras).
i had no problem with far thicker cams like the sanyo FH1.
And take in account that anyway, with a side to side mount, one of the cam will have the lcd (wich open usually to the left) blocked.
that looks not so important, but for example on the FH1, the camera does not power up with the LCD closed. Fortunately you can flip it.
another way to avoid this problem is to mount camera side to side but one flipped up.
you will have to flip the video in post but lots of 3d mount use this trick.

Adam Stanislav · February 24th, 2010, 10:58 PM

The flippable LCD is one of the reasons I thought it might be good for 3D. Thanks.

Giroud Francois · February 25th, 2010, 09:30 AM

if you go for realtime monitoring there is another parameter to check.
some cameras (most) have the plugs and some commands hidden behind the lcd.
since the camera are pretty close and you will probably not able to open one of the LCD, this could be a concern.(at least it is on the Sanyo FH1).
It can be solved sometime by making a custom cable, but most of these small camcorders use multi-purpose, strange shaped connectors.

Pavel Houda · February 25th, 2010, 02:28 PM

Giroud is correct. That is one of the reasons why I used camcorders with viewfinders. At the CES, the Canon guy told me that all their camcorders can be controlled with the finder closed. That has to be tried with other brands, because the specs never mention such detail. Camcorder Info has sometimes more data. Some camcorders can be controlled with IR, even with the lcd closed and no viewfinder. I believe that someone mentioned such thing about the Sanyo's, but I may remember wrong. Some have unfortunately the power button under the screen, so even if you can control them with IR, they had to be first turned on out of the mount, then inserved and controlled. That is a pain. I don't know about the particular model you asked about. Try to look over YouTube. Someone always reviews the camcorders there. You can message that person if one can control the camcorder with the screen closed. This is my $0.05 worth. PS. I don't see any IR port or Lanc port on it either, and accordint to the descroption, everything is controlled on the screen,
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...view-35556.htm ,
personally, I'd look at something else.

Adam Stanislav · February 25th, 2010, 09:00 PM

All right, thanks. I shall look somewhere else.

Giroud Francois · February 26th, 2010, 02:38 AM

my 2nd choice would have been canon hf100, all is perfect on this cam , except price.
external power +video out on the back
power button on the top
small enough
good video quality, low light ok.

February 24th, 2010, 03:54 PM	#1
Adam Stanislav Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Rhinelander, WI Posts: 1,258	Sony HDR-TG1 Has anyone used a pair of Sony HDR-TG1 High Definition Handycam Camcorders for 3D work? As Handycams, they are not professional camcorders. What, however, seems nice about them for 3D work is their 32 mm width, which means you could easily place two of them next to each other and have plenty of room to adjust their distance. Though I see no synchronization capabilities in their description. Just trying to build something similar to what Pavel describes here but on a budget.

February 24th, 2010, 08:33 PM	#2
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	well the TG1 is becoming pretty old now, so i think you can find newer camera with same kind of feature for less money and better performance today. (and specially for the fact that 3D require 2 cameras). i had no problem with far thicker cams like the sanyo FH1. And take in account that anyway, with a side to side mount, one of the cam will have the lcd (wich open usually to the left) blocked. that looks not so important, but for example on the FH1, the camera does not power up with the LCD closed. Fortunately you can flip it. another way to avoid this problem is to mount camera side to side but one flipped up. you will have to flip the video in post but lots of 3d mount use this trick.

February 24th, 2010, 10:58 PM	#3
Adam Stanislav Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Rhinelander, WI Posts: 1,258	The flippable LCD is one of the reasons I thought it might be good for 3D. Thanks.

February 25th, 2010, 09:30 AM	#4
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	if you go for realtime monitoring there is another parameter to check. some cameras (most) have the plugs and some commands hidden behind the lcd. since the camera are pretty close and you will probably not able to open one of the LCD, this could be a concern.(at least it is on the Sanyo FH1). It can be solved sometime by making a custom cable, but most of these small camcorders use multi-purpose, strange shaped connectors.

February 25th, 2010, 02:28 PM	#5
Pavel Houda Major Player Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Laguna Hills, CA Posts: 352	Giroud is correct. That is one of the reasons why I used camcorders with viewfinders. At the CES, the Canon guy told me that all their camcorders can be controlled with the finder closed. That has to be tried with other brands, because the specs never mention such detail. Camcorder Info has sometimes more data. Some camcorders can be controlled with IR, even with the lcd closed and no viewfinder. I believe that someone mentioned such thing about the Sanyo's, but I may remember wrong. Some have unfortunately the power button under the screen, so even if you can control them with IR, they had to be first turned on out of the mount, then inserved and controlled. That is a pain. I don't know about the particular model you asked about. Try to look over YouTube. Someone always reviews the camcorders there. You can message that person if one can control the camcorder with the screen closed. This is my $0.05 worth. PS. I don't see any IR port or Lanc port on it either, and accordint to the descroption, everything is controlled on the screen, http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...view-35556.htm , personally, I'd look at something else.

February 25th, 2010, 09:00 PM	#6
Adam Stanislav Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Rhinelander, WI Posts: 1,258	All right, thanks. I shall look somewhere else.

February 26th, 2010, 02:38 AM	#7
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	my 2nd choice would have been canon hf100, all is perfect on this cam , except price. external power +video out on the back power button on the top small enough good video quality, low light ok.