just wondering which is better....

my current assignment requires me shooting for 5>6 minutes, then waiting say 2>5 minutes before needing to record again.

is it better to leave the camera on for the 'down' time, or switch it off?

my only previous experience with this sort of scenario was way back with my sp rig - and turning it off was definitely the way to go if i wanted my batteries to last!

leslie

I always switch the cam off under those circumstances. I would only leave it on, if I could expect any occurance that would happen unexpectedly and when it could not be repeated.

thanks jo,

that's what i was thinking / doing. but with all this new technology i was wondering if, like fluoro lights, they're best left on rather than straining their ballasts, or whatever, if anything, a modern camcorder can strain ;-)

leslie

I tend to leave the camera on. The F970 battery has never pooped out on me during the session. I use shot transition quite a bit and the A/B settings are cleared when the Z5 is powered off.

I would leave it on, but hit the record button a few seconds before the event starts happening. When it goes into standby mode, it takes a second or two to crank back up.

As Bill noted about the transition settings, they reset when you power down. There are a few other setting that do the same although I can't remember them off hand. I keep the cam on most of the 4-5 hour day. If a shot takes ~2h'rs I'll swap battery as I set up for the next shot. Only once have accessed 3 batteries in 1 day. (I roll tape and CF in studio)

I keep 4x F970 and 2x F770 on hand as practice. I'm not rich by any means but batteries are expendable and acceptable to drive into the ground as needed to maintain continuity of the job.

About Batteries: My experience with consumer video cameras is that Sony batteries are more reliable in both length of time and reporting of power levels. Too many times have I had cameras with other brands of battery's go from 1/2 charged to dead in a matter of minutes. The more expensive Sony's tend to be accurate and gives me one less thing to worry about when shooting.