waveform monitors
 

Hrm... where can I find more info on these? Such as price/place to buy, etc?

Moore

I personnaly don't need a portable scope. I use my Gould AS3000 or my Hameg HM312 for videoexperiments at home. I know Fluke has handheds(www.fluke .com). I think Tektronix too. The Fluke prices are about $1000 as far as I remember.

I've been salivating over the new Sharp 10' LCD portable TV. I know it's big, but it's a TOY and it's compact. I had been looking at the marshal 5.6 " TFT monitors and my gaze keeps wondering back to the sharp.

Very nice. Should serve as a focusing tool with the VGA (640x480)resolution. 12VDC input (as do all of their LCD televisions)

The only question I have is about the 200:1 contrast ratio. Is that good enough? The Sharp 13" and above models have 400:1.
I have no practical experience with LCD displays except the small camera-mounted units. Sony does not state the contrast ratio of the monitor on the PD-150

The price is fairly good at around $670 U.S MSRP.

I took one of my cameras in to the retailer and tried the varous LCD TV/Monitors. The higher contrast and brightness on the 13' blew the 10" away. Then there was the Samsung with the 1280 x 1024.(not to mention the 42" plasma that you need a 2nd mortgage for :)

That's how I got into this rat race to start with. I kept going up and up in price and quality. I guess I only like the good stuff.

Amen to that.

Anyone know of a camera mount for the top of a 42" plasma monitor? :-)))

Just as a side note...

regarding the "push in/one-touch focus/pull out" method described above, keep in mind that if your image is particularly out of focus before you zoom in, the one touch will take a hideously long time to bring it in due to the nature of how auto-focus systems work... try and dial it in a bit before the zoom manually with the focus ring... I've literally had my 150 NOT focus at all if I was just doing macro work...

Good shooting!

-Shaun

I've posted this elsewhere, but the cam will focus for macro work at the wide setting, but in telephoto, the min focus distance is much greater.

Regarding minimum focus distance in telephoto... that goes wqithout saying... the point I was raising is that if the camera is focused at say 3' or less and is then zoomed in fully (12x optical) on a distant target to acquire focus and you use the one-touch, it will take (nearly) FOREVER to rack in due to the utter lack of contrasting edges to facilitate focus... my VX1000 and DSR 200 always seemed to tack up a little faster...

Good shooting

-Shaun

External monitor or LCD?
 

I've been researching this same question. I did buy a 5.6" Varizoom at one point and was so dissatisfied that I returned it. The visual angle was so limited that it was extremely difficult to use. My application is for filming stage performances. I often find that it is difficult to tell if my VX2000 exposure and focus is good when the subjects are under spotlights. The spotlight button helps, but I often still have problems when only a small part of the screen is brightly lit. This is difficult to notice on the VX2000 LCD. I have considered a 9" or 13" monitor as the best way to get a really good monitor to use when filming these events. However, the AC requirement and the overall bulkiness of this approach makes it not ideal. Recently I have been looking at the newer personal DVD players that are emerging. Some of these have great displays with respect to visual angle, but they are still pretty pricey ($800=$1000). The DC operation is ideal, but it is difficult to find out how long the battery lasts in these models (often not a published spec). The upside is that I would have a nice portable DVD player to show my work at events and tradeshows. If anyone has a recommendation on one of these units, then please let me know what it is...

I use a 5" TV set ($150) that has composit video in when I need to be free from wall-power. I take a 12 volt battery with me and power the set. It isn't at all as good as an eight-inch high-res Sony but it isn't $1700 either.