New User Problem

JimB · July 17, 2004

I am a new user to this camera. I think I have set it up properly, but I'm having trouble with distant images being washed out. Any ideas?

Stas Tagios · July 18, 2004

Could you clarify "washed out?" Are the objects overexposed? Out-of-focus? Are you shooting inside or out? If you could provide some more specific details or post an image, that might help in assessing the problem.

JimB · July 18, 2004

I'm shooting outside, the surrounding trees are in focus with good contrast & detail but the building off in the distance is washed out. It appears to be in focus, but no detail. It appears to be over over exposed.

It's a new camera. I've set the white & black balance. That appears to be OK.

I'm also having a problem with audio playback on the camera. It's so low you can barely hear it. I have the MON/VAR button turned up high.

Thanks for your help.

Alvin Pingol · July 19, 2004

I'm shooting outside, the surrounding trees are in focus with good contrast & detail but the building off in the distance is washed out. It appears to be in focus, but no detail. It appears to be over over exposed.

What color is the building? If it is a bright color, like beige, off-white, yellow, peach, etc., it will be overexposed ("washed out") due to the smaller dynamic range that most all video cameras have. In addition, if you are exposing for the trees, you are exposing for a dark color. This means that you have to allow more light to reach the CCD, and this extra light is just too much when it comes to the building's exposure (if it is a light color).

If you do not want the building to be overexposed, there are different ways to alter the amount of light that reaches the CCD. You can stop down (increasing the f-stop number), increase the shutter speed, or use filters, like Neutral Density. Of course, doing any of this will underexpose the trees, and they may turn out too dark. You need to find a balance where the image is exposed so that building does not blow out, but the trees are still exposed well enough to retain detail.

Stas Tagios · July 19, 2004

As Alvin excellently explained, video, particularly lower-end formats like DV, have less latitude/dynamic range than film or HD, making it more difficult to capture all the visual information present in high contrast scenes, like shooting indoors with daylight streaming through a window in shot, or filming something outdoors in shade and trying to retain detail in areas lit by direct sun.

This effect can be exacerbated depending on the colors or your subject matter; e.g., filming dark green trees against a white, overcast sky will likely mean you have to expose either for the trees and risk your sky blowing out to white with no detail, or exposing for the sky and potentially losing detail in the dark trees.

Short of standard pro production tools like big silks to soften sunlight and lessen its intensity, the best way to lower the contrast of your image to a level the DV can handle is, via ND filters, low contrast filters, and supplemental lighting (to raise the light on your subject to match that of an overexposed background, for example).

As for the low audio, I know that low audio from the camera's headphone jack was a common complaint on the original DVX-100, but I'd read somewhere that this problem was remedied in the 100A. I have the 100, so I can't be sure of this.

Is it just your monitored audio that's low, or is the signal you've recorded on tape low as well? Make sure you have your manual audio controls adjusted properly to get a sufficiently loud signal going to tape (your peaks should fall between -12 and 0 db), and use headphones for monitoring (if you aren't already); the camera's tiny speaker isn't the best way of monitoring your audio.

Phil Rhodes · July 19, 2004

Hi,

> video, particularly lower-end formats like DV, have less latitude/dynamic range

> than film or HD

Careful. It's not necessarily true that a DV camera will have less dynamic range than a hi-def one. It may generally be true, but there's nothing to force this to be the case.

Phil

JimB · July 20, 2004

Thanks for the help. I will try the advice given. This camera has long learning curve, at least for me it is.

I have the recommended settings for the audio. The sound seems OK after I capture & replay it. When I open the viewing screen & play the video the sound from the speaker is very low, almost inaudible.