FX1000 has arrived - first impressions

Greg Laves · January 9th, 2009, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Liebergot

Yes, you can white balance while recording.

If you are recording you can change the WB lever between Preset/A/B. But I couldn't change the WB on A while I was recording. So in Jeff's situation he would have been OK if he an indoor WB on A, for instance. And an outdoor WB on B. Then it is just a matter of being familiar with the controls so you can flip the switch without taking your focus off of the Bride/Groom and ruining the shot.

Martin Duffy · January 10th, 2009, 02:44 AM

Anyone out there using the CF unit. Any feedback on it welcome.

David Jonas · January 10th, 2009, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Laves

If you are recording you can change the WB lever between Preset/A/B. But I couldn't change the WB on A while I was recording. So in Jeff's situation he would have been OK if he an indoor WB on A, for instance. And an outdoor WB on B. Then it is just a matter of being familiar with the controls so you can flip the switch without taking your focus off of the Bride/Groom and ruining the shot.

I am familiar with the A/B settings, however there are times when the lighting changes dramatically from what it was white balanced to and you want to do a custom. While recording with my Panasonic DVC80 its just a matter of pointing at a white object and press the white balance button and you are done. This has been a standard feature on all Panasonic cameras I have used, however for all the Sony Cams you have to stop recording. Don't make much sense to me.

Jeff Harper · January 10th, 2009, 07:04 AM

Thanks David, my point exactly. In my case I had an outdoor WB saved that was of no use as the lighting had changed dramatically from sunny to very dark with clouds.

It's one of those things that unless you shoot weddings or do other run and gun paid work you don't care about.

Edit: I realized as soon as I wrote the last statement here someone will likely disagree or point out I am mistaken. In that case I take it back. Please disregard as it was an offhand comment.

David Jonas · January 10th, 2009, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Thanks David, my point exactly. In my case I had an outdoor WB saved that was of no use as the lighting had changed dramatically from sunny to very dark with clouds.

It's one of those things that unless you shoot weddings or do other run and gun paid work you don't care about.

Which is why I am going to stick with panny cams for now. My only problem with Panasonic is that they have abandoned tape formats for P2 and AVCHD. One is expensive and the other is difficult to edit.

Terence Murphy · January 10th, 2009, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Laves

I just had a "malfunction" with the FX1000 that I have on loan. I took a fresh battery out of the camera bag and put it on the FX. About 30 seconds after I powered up I got a warning that the battery was too hot and the camcorder shut down.

Greg -- no ideas for you, but were these Sony batteries or an off brand?

Ken Ross · January 10th, 2009, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Jonas

I am familiar with the A/B settings, however there are times when the lighting changes dramatically from what it was white balanced to and you want to do a custom. While recording with my Panasonic DVC80 its just a matter of pointing at a white object and press the white balance button and you are done. This has been a standard feature on all Panasonic cameras I have used, however for all the Sony Cams you have to stop recording. Don't make much sense to me.

Well actually, if you think about, it would be footage you'd almost certainly have to drop anyway. It would be very distracting to see the wrong colors and then the camera zooming on a white object as you change the MWB and then pull out again to the subject matter.

For that reason I can't get too excited about whether I can change the MWB while recording or not.

Jeff Harper · January 10th, 2009, 09:49 AM

My take on the WB while recording is it would be a nice extra. But wouldn't be something you would appreciate until you had to use it.

In my case we sync our cameras up for everything from ceremony thru entire reception, and we do not stop recording for that reason.

I can think of one scenario where the feature would have benefitted me in the past.

We were taping speeches/toasts with PD150 and VX2100 and the speakers were in front of windows. The light coming through the curtains made both indoor and outdoor WB presets undesireable. If I could've pointed at table cloth and set a manual white balance, my footage would've been much better. In post I never did get the footage from the cameras to match, it was bad.

David Jonas · January 10th, 2009, 09:52 AM

Ditto Jeff. I mostly do multicam shoots and you don't want to stop recording because it would mean re-syncronizing.

Ken Ross · January 10th, 2009, 11:26 AM

Probably still better to resynch than have the footage off for the duration...and possibly be uncorrectable. A pain yes, but at least you'd be back to capturing quality footage.

Greg Laves · January 10th, 2009, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terence Murphy

Greg -- no ideas for you, but were these Sony batteries or an off brand?

All of the batteries are Sony brand.

Re: WB for changing conditions. That is what the "auto tracing white balance" (ATW) is supposed to be for but the only time I have ever seen it work seemlessly was on a Sony BetacamSp demo video. It never worked that well for me with any camcorder.

Charles Patterson · January 25th, 2009, 11:26 AM

Does this camera use AVCHD? So what software do most of you use to get capture to computer and then burn to a Blu-Ray DVD?? I know I will need to get a Blu-ray burner to save movies on DVD. How is the quality after burning to Blu-Ray on an HDTV??

Michael Liebergot · January 25th, 2009, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charles Patterson

Does this camera use AVCHD? So what software do most of you use to get capture to computer and then burn to a Blu-Ray DVD?? I know I will need to get a Blu-ray burner to save movies on DVD. How is the quality after burning to Blu-Ray on an HDTV??

No the FX1000 records to HDV tape.
If you were to record to the MRC1 CF recorder, it also records in HDV format.

Charles Patterson · January 25th, 2009, 12:08 PM

So Michael, you say then all I need is Blu-Ray burner and software like Power Director to burn tape in HD to a BD disc. Correct? I have a Blu-Ray player hooked to my HDTV. Then can watch in HD the movies I make with this camera in HD? Thanks for reply

Ken Ross · January 25th, 2009, 12:13 PM

Does anyone know if the FX1000 has DV or synch control? I know the Z5 has it, but I see no mention of it with the FX1000.

It would seem to me that if it doesn't have it, it would require a totally manual operation of the HVR-MRC1 unit, making that device far less convenient to use.

January 10th, 2009, 02:44 AM	#212
Martin Duffy Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 156	CF unit Anyone out there using the CF unit. Any feedback on it welcome.

January 10th, 2009, 07:04 AM	#214
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Thanks David, my point exactly. In my case I had an outdoor WB saved that was of no use as the lighting had changed dramatically from sunny to very dark with clouds. It's one of those things that unless you shoot weddings or do other run and gun paid work you don't care about. Edit: I realized as soon as I wrote the last statement here someone will likely disagree or point out I am mistaken. In that case I take it back. Please disregard as it was an offhand comment. Last edited by Jeff Harper; January 10th, 2009 at 07:41 AM.

January 25th, 2009, 11:26 AM	#222
Charles Patterson Tourist Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Humboldt, Tn Posts: 4	Burning to DVD Does this camera use AVCHD? So what software do most of you use to get capture to computer and then burn to a Blu-Ray DVD?? I know I will need to get a Blu-ray burner to save movies on DVD. How is the quality after burning to Blu-Ray on an HDTV??

January 25th, 2009, 12:08 PM	#224
Charles Patterson Tourist Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Humboldt, Tn Posts: 4	Burning to DVD So Michael, you say then all I need is Blu-Ray burner and software like Power Director to burn tape in HD to a BD disc. Correct? I have a Blu-Ray player hooked to my HDTV. Then can watch in HD the movies I make with this camera in HD? Thanks for reply

January 25th, 2009, 12:13 PM	#225
Ken Ross Trustee Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New York Posts: 1,945	DV or Synch control? Does anyone know if the FX1000 has DV or synch control? I know the Z5 has it, but I see no mention of it with the FX1000. It would seem to me that if it doesn't have it, it would require a totally manual operation of the HVR-MRC1 unit, making that device far less convenient to use.

January 10th, 2009, 09:49 AM	#218
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	My take on the WB while recording is it would be a nice extra. But wouldn't be something you would appreciate until you had to use it. In my case we sync our cameras up for everything from ceremony thru entire reception, and we do not stop recording for that reason. I can think of one scenario where the feature would have benefitted me in the past. We were taping speeches/toasts with PD150 and VX2100 and the speakers were in front of windows. The light coming through the curtains made both indoor and outdoor WB presets undesireable. If I could've pointed at table cloth and set a manual white balance, my footage would've been much better. In post I never did get the footage from the cameras to match, it was bad.

January 10th, 2009, 09:52 AM	#219
David Jonas Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Orlando, Fl Posts: 60	Ditto Jeff. I mostly do multicam shoots and you don't want to stop recording because it would mean re-syncronizing.

January 10th, 2009, 11:26 AM	#220
Ken Ross Trustee Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New York Posts: 1,945	Probably still better to resynch than have the footage off for the duration...and possibly be uncorrectable. A pain yes, but at least you'd be back to capturing quality footage.