[David C jones]

Hi Ashley-

When you turn the camera off, are you removing the cards or leaving them in? (I believe) in some settings, the timecode will reset if you remove the cards. Does it reset after reviewing a clip or just when powering down and back up again? Or both?

Dave J

[David C jones]

Hi Julienne-

I’m not an expert on what ND can and cannot do. But, personally, I would not use ND gel for this. ND is meant to cut down on background brightness. You’re pointing the camera at the SUN! Think of it like this: would you stare at the sun through ND with your eye, even if it had UV protection? X-Ray film (and mylar) is almost opaque.

As far as locking down the shot, whatever lens you use, if you’re filling (or almost filling) the frame with the sun, you WILL have to reframe the shot every few minutes. So, make sure the shot is framed up during the most important part of the eclipse. The sun (really, the earth…lol) moves. The more telephoto you are, the faster it will appear. If you want to see what I mean, try it with the moon. Fill the frame with the moon as you would the sun. Watch how fast it appears to move. You’ll get a sense of how it will go with the eclipse. I believe it will move from the lower left of your frame to the upper right.

Dave J

[David C jones]

Hi Julienne-

You need to put a piece of x-ray film (like what doctors use) or mylar in front of the lens. I’ve shot a solar eclipse with x-ray film and it works great.

DO NOT point the camera at the sun for very long (without the film covering the lens); as was put to me once, you can melt the imaging block!

I also recommend a good tripod, one you can lock down. Of course, the sun will move, and move fast, across you’re screen. So, you’ll also have to re-frame your shot often.

Dave J

[David C jones]

Hi Bill-

The only auto gain control would be on the camera. Make sure the switches are in the “manual” mode and not “auto”. Do you have both channels in “manual” mode or just one? These are the only AGC controls on the EX-1.

Dave J

[David C jones]

As someone who has had to hide a lot of lav mics, the only two techniques that work for me are the sticky triangles and the Sanken cos11x mic with the rubber mount and top stick tape.

Dave J

[David C jones]

Hi John-

The BBC has white papers on the hpx500 (not sure if they do on the 300 yet). https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp034.shtml

It’s a tough call: the 500 is 2/3″ CCD w/four card slots. The 300 is 1/3″ CMOS w/two card slots but does AVC-intra 100, is 10-bit full-raster 1920 X 1080, and also has a wireless slot. I think a side-by-side look, is in order 🙂

Regards,
Dave J

[David C jones]

Thanks for the input! I took your advice and set mine to +16 as well. The factory default is +20. The red LEDs start at +14, so, I’m again using your criteria regarding peaks.

[David C jones]

Hi Kaye-

The link in Brian’s post is a good read; esp. the part about clothing noise.

Wind screens are mostly useless outside. You’re going to have to hide it under clothing. This brings up another issue: clothing noise.

As someone who has had to rig a fair number of people with lavs, I can tell you it’s the one part of my job I hate. Clothing (whether rubbing on the mic, mic cable, or itself) is almost always a problem. The only two riggings that work for me are:

One: the sticky triangles

Two: the rubber mount with the COS 11X lav mic and Top Stick tape.

One time I even made a near baseball-sized ball of gaffer tape around the mic. I STILL got clothing noise. This was of course because the actress was waring a dress made of satin; the worst material to deal with sound.

Anyway, your mics are not the problem. It’s the rigging of them.

Regards,

Dave J

[David C jones]

Hi Peter-

I’m sure everyone has their favorite. I currently use a PSC Elite med. coiled pole. However, I mostly do EFP/ENG stuff. If you’re talking about feature film production, regardless of the brand, you should make sure the pole will extend at least 12′ if not more. I would also get one that does not have a cable inside.

Regards,

Dave J

[David C jones]

Hi Jenny-

You may want to consider getting the same mic the station you work at, has, so the sound matches those that voice there.

On the other hand, you might look into the Coles Lip Mic. The network reporters use them because the mic will cut out all background noise and give you near studio quality sound. It’s a bit pricy, but I think well worth it.

Whatever you do, make sure your apartment is quite enough when you track; ie: air conditioner, refrigrator, fans, etc. are off. Invest in a good pair of headphones, too. Like the Sony MDR-7506.

Regards,

Dave J