Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Kazimir
(Post 426979)
John,
I don't plan on using the "premium" Sony Digital Master tapes. I don't think there's any improvement in image, just lower chance of dropouts.
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It's digital -- that's precisely right. No tape has any effect whatsoever on image quality, just on dropouts. You probably want to use a high quality tape for HDV if possible. HDVs absolutely no more or less likely to drop out than DV (though more likely than DV-CAM, due to the slower speed), but the damage incurred in a dropout can obviously spread across multiple frames.
I'm very happy with Panasonic AY-DVM63MQ "Master Quality" tapes... (also available in 33, 43, and 83 minute lengths, and I think the "MQ" has just been replaced with "AMQ", a tweaked formulation). I buy these in in bulk from B&H, the price is only a bit more than plain old consumer grade tapes from a big box retailer. If you're doing serious shooting, it's not just the tape, either, but a reasonably well made shell and other mechanicals, so when you want to do something with tape 10 years from now, you not only don't have dropouts, but the tape still works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Kazimir
(Post 426979)
I did actually use one Digital Master tape that came with the camera, and a few others that were just standard DV tapes you buy in a drugstore. I haven't noticed dropouts when playing back any of them. At 3x the price I simply can't justify the extra expense, so I will live with the slighter chance of dropouts.
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My belief is that the question of dropouts TODAY is probably pretty small, but over time, it'll increase, perhaps dramatically. I did a project back in 1994, shot on consumer grade analog tape of the day, mastered on pro-quality SVHS. When I went to make the DVD eight years later, I had planned to restore everything from the original tapes, and found that they were full of analog dropouts, even having been kept in reasonably good conditions (sealed and kept in a cool and dryish cellar, which is my home office... I have original $50 "Gold Disc" CDs that still work, stored here, despite the expected <5 year life on those in the day).
I do also believe that some of the "pro" quality tapes are overpriced. Thus, I settled on the Panasonics, and I'm quite happy -- pro quality, reasonable price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Kazimir
(Post 426979)
J
I have not used the telephoto lens so I can't comment.
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I've been using a 3rd party wide angle (Raynox 0.5x... looks like it was custom made for my HV10, which I actually bought a year after the A1), a moderate priced ($150-ish) I bought before I owned the A1U. I haven't tried either Sony. Technically speaking, if the lens is designed specifically for the A1 lens, they might deliver a better add-on. I do agree that some of the 3rd party lenses, including pretty much any of these 1-element things, are crap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Kazimir
(Post 426979)
J
Hey Laurence, what do you do about batteries for the light on the A1U? I imagine a QM91 would be far too big and bulky to stick on the back of it. Do you use smaller M-series batteries? If so, how long do they last on the light?
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I like the QM71s... I have bunch of them, but don't run lights from them. They're about a large a thing as I could have poking out the back of the A1, and deliver decent (~3hours) life.