HD100-A: From a Recent Shoot. Good, Bad & Ugly....

[Carl Hicks]

Hi Mark,

Ken beat me to it, so get him your contact info and he'll help you arrange for service.

Regards, Carl

[Dave Beaty]

It's great that JVC monitors this board and is proactive in providing assistance without even asking for it. That's how commited they are to a positive experience and fixing our problems.

Looking at the footage, it looks to me like severe vertical smear being introduced by any overexposed areas, including the clouds. This smears the whole frame except where the sign or pole break the bright areas.

This camera should be calibrated by JVC.

[Mark Silva]

I'm really impressed Ken & Carl.

I checked my email just this morning before coming in here and Carl had sent me an email. I replied back. Perhaps the two of you can work out which one of you will email me back with instructions, so that I don't confuse the matter emailing you both.

Thank you VERY MUCH. I NEVER would have gotten this level of support from Sony.


Edit: I had not even hit the reply button on this message and the phone rang and Doug Mullin
from Support called me to make arrangements. That is nothing short of Stellar Support.
The Best I've experienced for Anything.

[Joe Carney]

JVCs commitment is why I ended up purchasing this cam. There are plenty of great cameras out there now days, not plenty of great service.

btw Carl, it was nice to meet you finally.

[Jim Giberti]

FWIW the lens reflection and dust in the last png is surely a result of the camera at an angle toward the sun and reflecting off of the UV filter. Even clean lenses will often look like this under the right (wrong) circumstances.
It would need a flag and better positioning to aviod it.

[Mathew Jones]

I agree with the analysis, and would add that it looks like 2 problems: both the camera being out of calibration and/or various shooting experiments/incorrect settings.

I shoot quite a bit of action sports, with a range of cameras from 16mm to DV, and with the exception of the SSE and your banding, most of the other issues would occur with other cams as well. Lens flare is lens flare, over-exposed shots are what they are, complex backgrounds with complicated lighting such as you had are always tricky.

I'm curious if some of your problems that you talk about in the still images were as conspicuous with the moving vid?

Thanks very much for taking the time to document your experiences! As I'm currently very close to purchasing one of these cameras (will rent them first), all the extra info I can gather helps.

In the same vein, the JVC team's response goes a long way to helping me make a decision.
Thanks,
Mathew

[Mark Silva]

Originally Posted by Jim Giberti

FWIW the lens reflection and dust in the last png is surely a result of the camera at an angle toward the sun and reflecting off of the UV filter. Even clean lenses will often look like this under the right (wrong) circumstances.
It would need a flag and better positioning to aviod it.

That sounds good to me. We are going to be getting a matte box and french flag /filters setup for it soon.

Can anyone recommend a good one that would work but not be too bulky and not require a mounting plate with those tubes on it?


"I'm curious if some of your problems that you talk about in the still images were as conspicuous with the moving vid?"

Yes Mathew. During logging I was like "What the Hell was that!?!" I posted stills because I wanted all of you to be able to see the full resolution of what I was seeing. The SSE was prominent enough for a small web video to show.

Even after seeing all of this though, I didn't once have an ill feeling for JVC. I knew they would "make things right." I was just telling Carl this morning in an email how the whole HD100 experience (camera + support) has really turned my impression about JVC as a company a full 180.

Glad to share the info :) Hopefully this will save some of you from having it occur during your "money" shots. :D

[Daniel Epstein]

Screw on Filters on lenses often cause flare and optical distortions like you are experiencing. Just because they are clear or UV's doesn't mean they don't cause issues in the optical path. I have rented many cameras which came with a filter on the lens and couldn't use them without taking off the filter in relatively benign situations. I know people want to protect their lenses but it has become my policy to remove clears and UV's (unless they are called for) when I am shooting since I have had them cause many problems which are minimized by removing them

[Jiri Bakala]

Originally Posted by Mark Silva

Can anyone recommend a good one that would work but not be too bulky and not require a mounting plate with those tubes on it?

I have a Chrosziel 169 Matte Box (they refer to it as sunshade) and it doesn't require support rods. Comes with a French Flag and has the capability of expanding to side shades and all kinds of other things. You need an adapter ring for the lens and that's all. You could add the support rods later, if you need to. It has two trays, one rotating 4x4 and one non-rotating 4x5.25 - it's been great, I am very happy with it.

[Mark Silva]

Originally Posted by Daniel Epstein

Screw on Filters on lenses often cause flare and optical distortions like you are experiencing. Just because they are clear or UV's doesn't mean they don't cause issues in the optical path. I have rented many cameras which came with a filter on the lens and couldn't use them without taking off the filter in relatively benign situations. I know people want to protect their lenses but it has become my policy to remove clears and UV's (unless they are called for) when I am shooting since I have had them cause many problems which are minimized by removing them

yeah, I just noticed that again today while doing an 8mm film transfer that had to get done before shipping the camera in for the calibration service.

Removing the UV got rid of some strange visual abberations. I'm concerned that not having it for outdoor shoots might risk the existing lense getting dinged.

Jiri thanks for the tip, I'll look into that!