ASA rating for GY-HD100E

[Guest Tim Partridge]

I have heard this camera is all over the place in terms of "speed" because the standard zoom can apparently affect it by 1.5 stops (according to some other cinematography forum). Anyone have anything conclusive or a strong opinion? I tested it this weekend for a short and it seemed like most DV somewhere between 500-800+asa without gain and no NDs (but did go very dull tight on the zoom). The short I'm doing is half completed by someone else and they used lots of available low light and it looks fine without being wide open.

[Brian Drysdale]

That ASA rating is a lot higher than any I've seen for any HDV camera. Did you have the shutter on or off? Having it switched off or at a slower shutter speed will allow the camera to operate in lower light levels. I haven't tested the amount of aperture ramping on the HD 100's stock lens, however, when I checked the ASA it was at the wider end of the zoom around 10mm.

 

Although, I gather (according to one review) the HD 100 is about a stop faster when in DV mode as against HDV mode.

[Guest Tim Partridge]

Ah, well it was DV mode, and at 1/50.

 

I am glad you have commented on it being unusually fast because that's how I felt, and when discussing it earlier with someone they were suprised I was so confident getting away with it in such low light compared to the Sony Z1 (so much so I needed second guessing in case I dreamt my experience ;) )!

 

The budget won't stretch for a 2K (which I always like to have around) so I need as much stop as possible using 500-800w lamps with white balance correction. I was confident after the tests so thanks this is reassuring piece of mind.

[Brian Drysdale]

Good to know that the extra speed is there for SD projects.

 

Using the two cameras, the Z1 seems to have more aperture ramping than the HD 100. On the surface, I wasn't aware of the HD 100 stock lens being any worse in this regard than your average ENG lens, whereas it's extremely noticeable on the Z1.

[Tim Dashwood]

It is tough to rate the HD100 in ASA because it really depends on how the response curve is setup.

 

For example, in "normal" gamma I typically rate the response at 200ASA.

 

However, you can increase the response to as much as 800ASA by maxing out the gamma.

 

I performed a test last year with the gamma set to MAX, gain on 0dB, Black Stretch 3, 1/48th shutter, and only available light at night (approx. 2 footcandles ambient, 5fc in the hotspots)

http://homepage.mac.com/timdashwood/.Movie...ly-sorenson.mov 14.5MB