getting a DVX100
 

whats up everyone, i'm planning on buy a dvx100 in 2 weeks. I have heard this camera is hard to use. Is this true? I heard that the cam has like 1000 different kind of settings for the color and stuff. and would it be good for filming skateboarding? Also, has anyone see what the new Century optics fisheye looks on it? Does it have lots of viyetting?

hey.. i have used the DVX100 for shooting some skating and it works incredibly, much better than the Gl2 that alot of people use. It is also metal vs. plastic. I wont even get into the 24p part.

Also, first day i went to the park i couldnt shoot much because everyone knew about the camera and wouldnt leave me alone.

good luck!

Mike--The DVX isn't really intended for novice users, or rather it is difficult to realize the full POTENTIAL of the camera if you are not familiar with basic photographic theory (do you have any experience with just basic still photography--exposure, depth of field, etc.). That said, the camera is still great and you can leave almost everything on automatic and still get great material. I'd definitely recommend this cam over any other in its price range, and as your knowledge and experience grows the camera grows with you and you will be able to get better stuff. My only reeservations about the camera are that it seems to have a few bugs, a couple reliability issues I have experienced personally and a few others on these boards have had, but I wouldn't worry too much about this. The cam is warrantied and the benefits far outweigh these issues.

Do you plan to shoot 24P? If so, keep in mind you won't be able to use automatic focus, and really if there's one peeve I have about this camera it's that the res on the viewfinder is quite poor and therefore focus is difficult to get. But the LCD looks great, and you may be using this more anyway. In any case, just remember, you can keep things pretty much fully automatic and as you learn more start to experiment and make image adjustments (for shutter, iris, video settings) according to your own eye and knowledge. Hope this helps,

Peter

P.S. I have the Century .6 and it looks pretty good, though no zoom through. If you get the fisheye, let us know what you think.

Peter:

I just ordered the .6 Century. Have you used in macro focus?

Not yet, that I can recall. I will try that and report back.

Peter

The .6 allows for zoom through up to about Z65 or Z70. The "fisheye" is really about a .5 converter, it's wider than the .6 but not dramatically so. If you want fisheye, the new .3x Super Fisheye is the ticket.