Some generic HD100 Q's...
 

I got it in Wednesday at suppertime, and dissappeared into my office with a bowl of food and the camera. I put the batts on to charge, and started putting it together for the first time, and it was amazingly straightforward. However, reading the manual has raised a few questions.

1- What is M.O.D.?

2- They say you should not charge a battery without fully discharging it. To do so may damage or shorten it's lifespan. But, they never say HOW to properly discharge them.

3- They also state you shouldn't record to the first 2-3 minutes of a tape. Why?

These are just the tip of the iceberg, I have many more.

#3 The tape could be prone to drop-outs within the first 2-3 minutes.

I have not had any problem recording after 10 seconds though.

Typically Minimum Object Distance; the closest you can focus the lens when at full telephoto.

Keith,

#2 - regarding the battery charging, I've always been told than li-ion batteries should be "floated", that is kept nearer full charge, as opposed to "deep cycling" (running fully down before charging) as we did with ni-cad batteries. I found the part in the manual you refer to, and I wonder if something about the JVC batteries is different, or if that is a mistake in the manual, perhaps a left over from the ni-cad days that didn't get changed. If you check with JVC, let us know the results.

I know if you continue to charge a li-ion battery after it is fully charged that can over heat it and cause damage, but all my chargers, including the JVC unit, shut off when the battery is fully charged.

In my case, I use both the JVC stock batteries and a special battery box/belt that uses two NP-1 li-ion batteries. I've always tried to never let the charge go below 50% on the NP-1's, and I've had them 4 years now, with no apparent reduction of power available time. They've probably been recharged somewhere around 350 - 400 times.

Good question, let us know what you find out.

Gary Morris McBeath
SaltAire Cinema Productions

Thanks to all three of you, each covering a different question! You just need to work on the timing, you posted them out of order ;)

These were things I had never heard before, but it is different than the old miniDV stuff I'm used to.

ask away Keith, maybe we'll get it right this time! ;)

Thanks Mark, I will... when I have more. Right now, I'm still getting familiar with finding all the switches, buttons, and knob without looking. The iris still seems to evade me. Not used to it being on the lens. I don't even have any way to capture at the moment, so it doesn't make too much sense to be shooting a lot. I'm hoping to get a good bid on a Decklink. Speaking of which, how would I connect the componant out of the cam, to the BNC of the deckling? It would be the single link.