Premium Member Michael Nash Posted May 21, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted May 21, 2004 I've got a shoot tomorrow with the DVX-100 (not the 100A). I've been testing out the camera and I'm confused about the accuracy of the spot meter. I've calibrated the LCD, VF and a consumer TV (I'm at home) to color bars from the camera. I'll point the camera at gray cards and white cards, and the spot meter will read something like "25%" when the image looks WAY brighter than that. 80% zebra stripes seem about right, though. Changing the gamma and pedestal doesn't seem to affect this discrepancy between the spot reading and the brightness you see on screen. Is the spot a measure of a linear gamma as intended for computer display, or is it a measure of IRE levels intended for television gamma? What can I trust for exposure? Can I trust the image on a calibrated monitor, or should I trust the spot meter? At present I don't have a waveform monitor, but I'll see if I can get a hold of one for tomorrow. I've been poking around 2-pop and DVXuser.com, but haven't found an answer yet. A quick reply would be appreciated, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Gross Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 I'm not sure why you're having this discrepancy. As I understood it, the spotmeter percentage reading was really an IRE reading averaging the area inside the box in the center of the frame. My experience has alwyas been this. Make sure the camera setup is set to 0 IRE not 7.5. Check also that the various functions have not been set in some crazy fashion, although this should not particularly affect the spotmeter reading. I've found that a properly calibrated monitor works very well with this camera, although it would be nice to have a waveform with me on shoots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Michael Nash Posted May 21, 2004 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 21, 2004 Well I think I've got everything setup now to where I can trust the exposure by eye, on a monitor and the LCD. It just seems odd that what looks like a properly exposed gray card on the monitor only reads about 35% with the spot meter. Likewise, opening the iris so that the gray card reads 50% makes it look about one stop overexposed. Who knows, maybe it's the gamma of my TV. I'll take a look on the studio monitor tomorrow. A waveform would help sort this out, but for now I'm just going to expose by eye and monitor and disregard the spotmeter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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