Michael Johnston
Forum Replies Created
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Well, first of all, the VG900 (and other similar cameras) uses SLR lenses and that produce a shallow depth of field. Very very difficult cameras for beginners to shoot with. Most beginners or novice shooters won’t be able to maintain proper focus with this camera. The best Sony camera for your needs is the NX5U. Great image, excellent steady shot, and the thing can practically shoot by itself in auto mode. However, while the camera is in your budget, it leaves no room for the “extras” you’ll need to buy. The HMC150 is essentially Panasonic’s version of the NX5U, minus a few features like HD-SDI output which I doubt you’d ever use.
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Frankly, based on your description and what you’ll be using it for, I have no idea why you’re wanting a camera like the VG900. You don’t need a film look for lectures. Here’s what I suggest:
Camera: Panasonic AG-HMC150 – $2795
Tripod: Manfrotto MVH502A – $399
Bag: Petrol PC202 Deca Mini Camporter – $136
Wireless: Sennheiser EW 100 G3 Combo System – $799
Mic: Rode NTG2 Shotgun – $269That’s a great starter kit for your budget.
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Oh, I forgot one more thing. If you’re going to be recording at 24Mbs, I’d suggest you shoot on SanDisk Extreme class UHS-I SDHC cards. Sony claims you can use class 10 but I’ve had problems using cards that are not UHS-I.
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I personally have not experienced your problem with my NX5. Sounds like a shutter issue. Try changing recording formats from 1080i 24Mbs to 1080i 17Mbs. For some reason, I see no difference in quality between the two BUT 17Mbs seems easier to process and easier on the PC processor. Try that and let me know if it makes a difference.
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What’s your budget? Tell me that and then I can put together a list of stuff to meet that budget.
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How did your shoot go? Obviously, the camera doesn’t adjust for backlight automatically unless the backlight feature is turned on. You can also increase the auto exposure using the AE SHIFT in the menu to around +3. Let us know how your shoot went.
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I’ll do some testing and get back to you.
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First, make sure you record something onto a card that is in the camera. Next, begin installing the CMU software. Do NOT connect the camera until prompted to do so. When prompted, connect the camera via USB. The LCD screen on the camera will ask if you want to connect (yes or no). Select yes. When the auto play window opens, just close it. Now go back to the installation and click next or continue. The setup wizard should finish installing with no problems. I would advise that, once version 1.1 is installed, going to Sony’s UK site and updating to version 2.1. Don’t worry, the update works perfectly with U.S. software. The easiest way to find the 2.1 update is by googling “sony content management utility 2.1”. Look for a search result that takes you to DVInfo message board where the link has been posted. Good luck.
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I have to say I’m pretty irrate right now. I’ve been shooting on an EX3 and editing on FCP7 for the past year. Now, I’m moving away from MAC to PC (Because FCPX doesn’t cut it) and I have 3 TB of footage that has all been exported from FCP as XDCAM EX 1080/60i Quicktime .mov files. All I want is a simple damn codec so I can open those files in MPEG Streamclip and convert them to another format as needed. It shouldn’t be that hard and I certainly shouldn’t have to spend $149 for a simple codec download from calibrate just to view XDCAM clips on a PC. This is ridiculous. What the hell is Sony thinking? Why don’t they provide the codec for Windows for free? What a joke.
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FCP 7 supports native XDCAM EX 35Mbs Long-GOP codec so, using log and transfer in FCP, the files should have stayed native and simply re-wrapped into an .mov container. They should not have been converted to ProRes at all. The best way to check is go to the folder assigned to the scratch disk where the .mov raw files were imported to, right click on an .mov file, and click on info. A box with info should open and the codec should be MPEG2-GOP. If not, let me know what it says and I can trouble shoot from there.