-
Rental unit: Horrible audio and 48 fps glitch
Hello:
We got a demo of a HVX200 last weekend and had a few days to test it out. When you take the time to experiment with the scene files/modes, you can get GREAT blacks, even in low light, with ZERO NOISE. Some modes DO introduce noise though.
Loved the camera, but we had the luxury of having a Powerbook on hand to dump footage to… Panasonic/Apple MUST figure out a better naming structure for importing P2 clips.
I have a feeling this was a preproduction model as it came in a DVX100 box AND was serial number in the 30’s.
Two things we noticed about this particular camera:
1. All audio recorded with the on camera mic had a clicking noise that is likely the P2 cards writing. Granted we were only testing this, not using on a ‘real’ shoot, but that seems unacceptable. Anyone else have bad audio with the built in mic?
2. We were intrigued to test the undercrank and overcrank. I can honestly say that 12fps looks good, 60fps looks AWESOME, and 48 fps does great, BUT that mode introduced some weird ghosting effect. At 720p 24 and 720 24PN, whenever we set the fps to 48, it displayed a band of ‘ghosting’ effect on the lower third of the image. Like it was a bad BNC cable or bad TV reception. Weird. Anyone else have this happen to them? Again it could just be this individual camera.
Try to get your hands on this camera to try out some of the variable speed features. Better than any NLE tweaking. Just remember you get no audio when using undercrank or overcrank.
Thanks!
Rhett -
3 Replies
-
[Rmcclur] “I have a feeling this was a preproduction model as it came in a DVX100 box AND was serial number in the 30’s.”
if it had a serial number it is a real unit
[Rmcclur] “1. All audio recorded with the on camera mic had a clicking noise that is likely the P2 cards writing. Granted we were only testing this, not using on a ‘real’ shoot, but that seems unacceptable. Anyone else have bad audio with the built in mic?”
since there is not a mechanism it should not me anything on the cards. they do not make noise. My tests in a sound booth gave me less than 1db audible noise from the camera.At that level of audio are you sure it was not your watch?
[Rmcclur] ” BUT that mode introduced some weird ghosting effect. At 720p 24 and 720 24PN, whenever we set the fps to 48, “ Sure it was not flair in the lens? this is not normal and I would take the footage to the rental house to have it checked ( and you did not say whom you rented from)
Gary Adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation
Chicago, IL USA -
None of that sounds normal. On my unit there’s no clicking whatsoever, and as Gary pointed out the unit has no moving parts so there’s nothing that could be clicking.
And 48fps looks every bit as clean as all other frame rates, there’s no ghosting or smear or anything. I shot every frame rate in every mode for an article I did on another website, not sure whether Ron would be cool with me linking to it or not but I did a full framerate article and I can assure you that every frame rate performed exactly as expected and was completely clean with no artifacting or ghosting or anything.
—————–
Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available on ebay and at Amazon (https://www.fiftv.com/db) -
Follow up:
We checked with the rental company (purposefully remaining nameless as it is not their fault). The 48fps ‘ghosting’ glitch IS real, but isolated to that one camera. The audio issues are still unexplained, but I think we just got a lemon.
Otherwise we had a great time shooting with the 200! If it had a removable lens it would be a mini Varicam!
RM
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up