-
What causes wavy lines in Betacam SP footage over black areas?
Hi,
I have 2 SONY 537 cameas shooting BetacamSP that I just had checked out with a technician who said they are both adjusted correctly.
I have a set consisting of 2 director chairs with a black muslin back drop.
I am only using Flourescent lights at 5100 degress K to lite the set.
Both cameras are recording a set of wavy lines over the black areas of the backdrop.
On one camera records almost a perfect picture with only barely noticeable wavy lines over the black areas and the other camera with the exact same settings records an image where the wavy lines over the black areas are very noticeable.
I thought it might be the flourescent lights but I took both cameras outside and videotape an old sign that has white lettering on a black background, and I still am getting the wavy lines over the black but not as noticeable outdoors in sunlight.
Does anybody know how to fix this problem? Desperate!
The Infomercial King
-
8 Replies
-
How many hours are on the heads of these old cameras?
Did you set them up on a chart and look at their output on a waveform monitor and vector scope? -
Record the video out of these cameras to a DV tape deck or a BetaSP deck (or just look at the output directly on a monitor) and see if the problem is still present in the “live” image.
-
Hi,
Thank you for responding, I am pretty desperate and on a very tight budget.
I am not sure how many hours are on the “heads of the cameras”? They are docked to PVV-1A backs, do you means the number of houyrs on the heads in the PVV-1A backs? How do I read the hours on the PVV-1A backs?
The company I bought them from said that they had tested the cameras and adjusted them and the picture quality is fantastic! Extremely sharp picture on both cameras except for light white lines at a 45 degree angles that seem to be flowing across the screen. I think these lines are across the whiole screen but you can only see these very thin white lines when they are over an area of black on the screen.
I have a Media 100i non-linear editing system which has a vectorscope–I cfould take the composite output from the camera and put it into the vectorscope in the Media100i but what would I look for?
The Infomercial King
-
The video out from both cameras, from the composite out on the side of the camera, to a monitor show the wavy white lines.
I recorded the output to a BVW-50 deck and the recorded video has the wavy lines.
The Infomercial King
-
Well then, “wavy lines” does not tell us enough about the problem.
It seems unlikely that two camcorders would develop the same problem or condition independently at the same time.
I think you still need further consultation a qualified tech at YOUR end.
-
Hi,
You are probably right and I plan on taking them to a tech.
I had hoped to shoot some testimonials this weekend but I guess it isn’t a simple adjustment.
It is a shame because almost brand new SONY 537 cameras can be bought direct from SONY’s factory that were just in use in their factory and never sold for only $1,500 each. That’s how I go mine.
Thank you for your help.
The Infomercial King
-
From the sketchy description, it almost sounds like RF interference. Are you near a broadcast TV or radio transmitter, or commercial/public safety 2-way radio?
Have you taken the cameras to a different location, far away from the studio or building where you are seeing the “wavy lines,” and if so, do they stay or go away? -
The 537 camera was a cheap industrial camera with minimal shielding and interference could indeed a possible problem.
One of the major differences between the lower cost industrial cameras and the higher end broadcast counterparts was the amount of shielding in the camera head.
Tony Salgado
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up