AG-DVX100A lack of 16:9 ratio

[Ed Dooley]

The DVX100A has 2 kinds of 16:9 built-in, and one as an add-on. One (the least recommended) is a simple letterbox mode. The 2nd is a digital squeeze, which squeezes the 16:9 image onto the tape. The best option is the Panasonic anamorphic adapter, which also puts a 16:9 image onto the tape in 4:3 mode, but looks better than the digital squeeze.
Ed

[David Battistella]

The anamorphic adaptor is heavey and limits the focal length of the fixxed lens and you loose two stops.

The squeeze mode is a more seemless (but lower qulaity?) way of doing 16×9. The Canon uses a digital 16×9 as weel.

The advantage to the Canon id that you can use Canon interchangable lenses and just use the squeeze mode (but you might notice a slight loss in quality) but with the squeeze mode your focus will stay sharp through the whole range of the lens and you will not loose two stops.

You can weigh the advantages for yourself, in doc situations its nice to shoot in squeeze mode because you can not control every lighting situation etc and it’s nice to not have the extra weight of the lens.

David

[Ed Dooley]

It’s funny to hear about the adaptor being heavy. Coming from a hernia-inducing broadcast camera world,
I think you could add another 10 pounds to the camera and it would still feel light. 🙂
I used one on a project with a 3 week schedule of shooting all day-every day, then a week of the same, then another
week of the same, and I felt that even with the added weight to the front, I still could do very smooth handheld stuff
without fatigue. By the end of the day I lost the “big camera envy” I had at the start. All the big-rig crews (and all much
younger guys!) in the bar each night were exhausted, but not us! The quality is the main reason we went with the adaptor.
Ed

[David Battistella] “The anamorphic adaptor is heavey and limits the focal length of the fixxed lens and you loose two stops.

The squeeze mode is a more seemless (but lower qulaity?) way of doing 16×9. The Canon uses a digital 16×9 as weel.

The advantage to the Canon id that you can use Canon interchangable lenses and just use the squeeze mode (but you might notice a slight loss in quality) but with the squeeze mode your focus will stay sharp through the whole range of the lens and you will not loose two stops.

You can weigh the advantages for yourself, in doc situations its nice to shoot in squeeze mode because you can not control every lighting situation etc and it’s nice to not have the extra weight of the lens.
“

[Marc Rolph]

Yeah, I agree. With a background in news videography…I just have to laugh when I hear about any kind of weight issues with these new cameras. What I wouldn’t give to be back at one of those hostage stand-offs that we would be on for like 36 hours, with a camera like the DVX100. I might not have the back and knee problems I have now.

[David Battistella]

Guys, i remeber hauling around a tk with a 3/4″ sonny 110 deck. I was not complaining that it adds weight as much as confirming that it is a heavy piece of glass threaded on to the front of the lens. This camges the camera’s balance, etc and it does put some wieght on the lens. Since you can not really see how the lens is mounted on the DVX putting stress (weight) on the lens can (n the very long term) have an effect.

Also, the adapter severly shortens an already weak lens (in terms of it’s telephoto range), by not being completely sharp all the way through the zoom. If you never need to zoom the lens to the maximun and you are willing to loose that part of the lens the adapter is great, but to me, in a doc situation I would rather have the whole lens and suffer a bit in squeeze mode. IMHO.

David