Jason Hamilton

I'm looking at shooting a documentary and I need a little help with the best way to light things on the fly. I'll be shooting with a dvx100b and i'll be in dark bars and clubs quite a bit which is why i need a quick and easy lighting solution that will give good results for a one man crew. all help is appreciated thank you

i got the camera at henrys in toronto (they are one of the only authorized dealers in the city as far as i know)

well i just got my dvx100b and i can't wait to start playing (the box didn't have the software bundle it was supposed too but i'm investigating that) if anyone has any advise about settings and what please post away.

kewl thanx

When working with a DVX100 series camera what is a good light meter for calculating your fstop? this is a double post but i didn't get any answers in the dvx100 section so... thanks jay

When working with a DVX100 series camera what is a good light meter for calculating your fstop?

u could just firewire it into your computer then convert it to what ever format you wish (to save harddrive space) or shoot it to a dvd for viewing.

well the dvx100b is officially released, haven't read anything about performance or any hands on comparisons between it and previous versions though.

that's a good call, not sure if the upgrades are interdependent or not

Functionally the AGDVX100B is the same camera as the A. Some of the changes include: Recessed Picture/Scene mode wheel, fixed detent feature. Increased travel on LCD screen.. bends forward. Camera base that holds the tripod mounting holes is now exposed, can be replaced if you strip the threads. New tape drive carriage to conform to Environmental regulations. Stronger door latches. Ability to turn off ALL the displays in the viewfinder by holding down the "Display" button for a few seconds. LCD display switchable aspect ratio. Normal 4:3 switched in menu to 16:9. As for pricing, we haven't set a price yet, but stay tuned to www.dvcpro.ca for the latest product information.

anyone know of a good panasonic deal in detroit mi that i could find a dvx100ap at? thanx jay

great thanx jay

the panasonic rep for canada has informed be that shipments of the dvx100b will begin at the end of october. i'm hoping he will send me a list of changes (if so i'll let you all know) jay

is the dvx100b supposed to have any major changes or just minor tweaks? is there any info on expected changes or a release date? thanks jay

just wondering if this is just a product code change or if they've actually done some tweaking to the camera. thanx jay

just quality wise and if they are right for the dvx100 camera ie they fit properly etc. jay

are tiffen filters (round 72mm) good for the dvx100a? and what is a good tripod for this camera? thanx jay

braveheart has always been a favorite of mine, i love those wide passing shots of the mountains.

the problem with mac's that will be driven by intel chips is the same problem with all intel laptops they will lack 64bit technology and they will be single core for at least one gen of the chip. which means they will be using dated technology, i'm not sureing about any of you but when dealing with thread intensive instructions the more cores the better. 64bit instruction sets on coming slowly but most new programming is designed for multi-thread/multi-instruction capability. which only leaves you with one cpu, the amd turion64 x2. now when it comes osx and vista, osx is still a ported 64 bit operating system (ie its 32bit pretending to be 64bit) whild vista is a natural 64bit operating system. one thing that means is all the old 32bit viruses out there that attack current winxp systems can't touch a 64bit operating system. with mac's chip switch it opens mac users up to the same virus that can attack any x86 based computer, its all instruction sets. mac is also banking on their brand loyal customers to buy all new mac's with intel chips in them b/c they haven't put much into backward compatibility. lastly 98% of virus infections are THE USERS fault. sure they happen more with pc users then mac users but there are more pc users by about a facter of 20 or so. to put that in perspective imagin if there were only two cars that you could by and 99% of people bought car A and only 1% of people bought car B. which one do you think would have the greater number of thefts? car A right. now you would probably have people who drove car B saying 'hey i don't even have to lock my doors look how safe my car is' which is just dumb all around. OSX isn't the holy grail of programming genius, its just less used and therefore less attractive to someone looking to shut down/or infect as many computers as possible. what make mac's as good as they is the same thing that makes a gaming console great at playing games; a mac is a mac is mac just like an xbox is an xbox is an xbox nothing changes so its really easy to write code that gets the best out of the hardware when you know the hardware is always going to be the same. but in the end if you buy a turion64 x2 it will cost you less money give you the combatibility of a pc and the performance of a dual cpu system with average battery life.

i would say buying dvx100a would be the better way to go, i've seen it as low as 2099 usd online, and you can get one with a kit on ebay for cheap as well. then when you shoot your short you just rent any sound and lighting equipment you need on a day to day basis. jay

thank you so much for all the info guys

i'm just wondering if anyone can direct me to some websites or books that are good for learning the basics of lighting.

richard, i don't want to get into this little fight but i do have an actual question relating to my original post. where did you go to school? and second did you learn the skills you needed to make it into the business from school or did your degree get you in and then you learned what and how things actually were in the 'real world' so to speak? i'm not asking to be a dick, i'm asking b/c a lot of the schools like the toronto film school say that they give you good hands on experience so that you don't have such a learning curve when you get into the industry (that is to say you already kind of have experience). once again i'm asking in all honesty. thanx jason edit: and one last quick question, would you hire someone from one these trade schools ie the toronto film school or the new york film academy etc or do you hire university grads exclusivily?

well i definately have a lot to consider here. for right now i'm going to purchase a dvx100a, teach myself the basics and shoot some work over the next 12 months or so. i will also be investigating the toronto film school, the toronto film college as well as the universities in the area to see what looks best for me. i have a contact in the tv business through my father that i will be discussing all this with as well...basically anything i can do to gain some insight into what is worth doing to learn as much about the film business as well as making films in general i am going to do. any film work i complete will probably be posted on boards like this to get some constructive critiques etc. i really appreciate all the info guys thank you all very much.

francoc, what kind of equipment do they have and do the teachers have as much experience as they say they do? any info you could provide me would be great. i'm open minded about what school to go to at the same time i want to learn as much as possible.