Need Advice On Using A Panasonic AGDVX100B

Hi all.


I will be shooting a family member's wedding in a few weeks. I am not sure how well light the sanctuary will be, and I do not have the opportunity to visit the church ahead of time. From my local rental agency, I have reserved an AGDVX100B, as I was told that this is a good camera to use when in low light situations. I have also reserved an Ultra Light to help brighten up what I am shooting.

As I have been informed, the AGDVX100B can shoot in 24P, 30P, and 60i. As I have never used a camera of this level before, I was wondering if any of the experienced people on this forum could tell me the advantages/disadvantages of shooting in 24P vs 30P vs 60i. From the little that I know about photography, more exposure is gained when shooting at slower speeds. Other than that, I do not know any of the advantages/disadvantages. I have read many times that 24P gives you the "film" look, but to be honest, I do not know what that means.

Please be as detailed as you need to be. Luckily, the wedding is on a Sunday, and I pick up the camera Friday evening, so I can play with it Friday night and Saturday. Based on your responses, I can experiment and do what works best for my situation.


Thanks in advance.


Take care.

-DH

I won't answer any of your lighting questions but I will ask you another three questions.

Who is going to edit the footage?
What will it be edited on?
How do you plan on delivering the final product to the happy couple? DVD, DV, DPX sequence?

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

ok, real quick because i just lost my first post...

24 is only really for film out, otherwise just use 30p. There is no difference in exposure time, only how the signal is recorded to tape, this is not film. 30p will get you a nice filmish look with no hassles later in editing, stay away from 60i. You can adjust your shutter speed for more light but it will heavily effect how the motion looks and i dont recommend it. Go ahead and bump up the gain all the way if you need to.

The DVX is simple to use, set the wheel to Scene File 4 for 30p and set everything on auto for balance and exposure. Position yourself as close to them as possible because zooming in decreases the amount of light available for the chip. Also, get a tripod so your footage is stable and wont make you sick to watch later. The ultra-light will prob only be effective at the reception where people are close enough to be lit by it, but then it will save you. Again, shoot full auto and it will adjust for the situations. Also, make sure to turn on OIS, which is image stablizer and worth the battery drain.

Also, as much as i love the DVX, the PD's far outperform it in lowlight, for future notice...

Don't forget the sound. Place a lavalier on the minister if you can. You'll get the vows nice and clear.

Hi all.


Thanks for the initial replies.


Andrew, I will be editing the footage myself. It will be edited using Final Cut Studio on Power Mac with 2 GB RAM and multiple 200 GB drives. The final product will be a DVD-5 or a DVD-9.

Scott, the rental store also had Sony PD-150s, but having first researched other posts in this forum, it seems that the DVX100B is comparable to the PD-170. I will ask if they also have PD-170s and get one instead if you truly believe that it will out-perform the DVX100B in low light.

As far as setting the camera for full auto, that is what I intended to do. Therefore, your suggestion of going full auto makes me feel comfortable. Even with the Ultra Light, I think I should be ok, as I anticipate being no more than 10 feet away from the bride and groom on the alter. I will try to bring a tripod, but if I can not, how good is the auto-stabilization on the DVX100B?


Filmman, I do not have a lavelier microphone. Is the built-in microphone on the DVX100B good enough? At the reception, I will be bringing my XLR microphone so that I can capture the "best wishes/shout-outs" from the guests. However, I do not see myself using it during the ceremony.


The nice thing is that I get to test out a camera and see how it behaves before I buy one. I found a Internet site that sells the DVX100B for under $1200, but I have to re-check that. Eventually, I want to upgrade to a more professional camera, especially one that does most of what the others do, but especially one that handles low light well. However, I am not up on all of the features for which I should be looking. Guess I have more research to do.


To all that responded, thanks again.


Take care.

-DH

DH
Well you are set as far as your editing rig goes. DVX100 or PD170, you'll be bringing in DV-NTSC to the system and what you have can do that very well.

If you do go for the DVX100 you can shoot either of the 24f formats if you are looking for the film pulldown look. There are a few things you have to do to the footage to get to the cutting at 24 place, but if you are worried about that I would stick with standard 24 over advanced 24 because at least the raw footage will look better. I personally would go with the PD170 and get a better lighting response and keep the whole thing 29.97. It will make your life simpler so you can save the energy to console the bride when she cries after you leave the fight scene in....

TRIPOD: For weddings that drag on and on, your arm will get shakey and always at the worst time. Tripods also help you stake your terrritory so people don't walk infront of you at inopportune times. If space is an issue consider a monopod, easier to move quickly and a little less ugly.


AUDIO: Do yourself a favour and rent at least a wireless transmitter for your "XLR microphone". Before the service starts place it near the officiant. I have seen good results from pinning a wireless lav to the minister, a little lower than normal so it catches the bride and groom.
What you are really trying to avoid is having a lovely recording of the visuals of the service and the audio of you scratching your nose and breathing heavily as that mid afternooon pre-celebratory champagne starts to seem like a bad idea. That's what you'll get if you rely on the camera mic. That and every baby will sit next to the camera and cry through the I do's. I once got round the mic issue by dumping a DAT deck hardwired to a mic under a podium. Lifesaver.

Oh, ministers always like it if you introduce yourself beforehand and ask for suggestions on where to stand etc. It's like checking with FOH at a comedy/music gig or any other place where your camera is second banana. You don't HAVE to listen to them but it's worth asking.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

The mic on the DVX is not the best so do try and get some other form of audio, you can rent a wireless lav for less than $50 probably. It's worth it, plus you can also rent a whole kit that comes with the wireless transmiter for your XLR mic as well, than you can hand a mic to anyone at the reception and it will sound great. Just make sure your settings are right on the camera audio so you get one clear channel from the camera and one from the external mic.

Honestly, i like to shoot with the DVX way more than the PD. Its got a way better LCD monitor, i feel its lighter, the OIS is pretty good, and the scene files make it really easy to a get a great look fast, you have to look deep in menus on the PD. You dont need nor want the 24 capabilities of the DVX but the progressive look is fantastic, way less video-y which is what you want for a wedding.

Anyway, just my opinion

Hi all.


Once again, thanks for the advice.

Andrew, you make good sense. Actually, I think I would prefer a tripod. That way, I eliminate any possible camera movement in any axis.

As far as speaking ahead of time with the officiant, yes, I always do this. I especially do this to find out how long the ceremony is. It would be highly unprofessional to have to change 60 minute tapes in the middle of the ceremony.

Both Andrew and Scott, I will look into renting a wireless microphone equipment. My XLR microphones are the MXL 990 and MXL 991, along with the stand attachments. Perhaps all I really need is to get a stand for the 990 and run a wire from it to the camera. What do you think about this?

Scott, when you speak about channels, do you mean that the wireless microphone would be recorded on, say, the left sound channel, and the wired microphone would be recorded on the right? Therefore, both sound inputs would be recorded simultaneously? Cool.

If I am using a tripod, then I probably won't have to worry too much about the weight of the camera. Also, if I am going to use an external wired/wireless microphone solution, I believe I would have the sound covered. However, above all, the video must be as perfect as possible. I have a concern about a low light situation making my video look horrible. This happened to me on my Canon ZR50MC. Yes, I know this camera is way out of league when compared against the DVX100B or PD-170, but it was the only camera available to me at that time. Therefore, I will probably have to go with the camera that is most forgiving during a low light situation. From the discussion, it seems that will be the PD-170, if that is available at the rental store. Otherwise, it will be the DVX100B.


Once again, thanks for the good advice gentlemen.


Take care.

-DH

Hi DH, just a couple more quick notes from a DVXB user. Since you'll just be using this camera for the first time I suggest you get familiar with the control layouts and buttons as quickly as you can; you don't want the couple's big moments ruined while you hunt for the autofocus button or the timecode settings...

1. Auto-stabilization: this is the OIS button, located on the far right of the side controls under the flip-out LCD. Turn it OFF if you have the camera on a tripod, otherwise the image will wiggle a bit; the camera gets confused if you tell it to stabilize when it's not otherwise moving. Be ready to switch it back on the moment you go handheld at the reception.

2. GAIN: Test these settings if you can! Flipping the gain switch all the way will introduce a lot of grain in the image and you can't take it out later. As you set up in the church before the ceremony, check the light levels and see if you can't get good exposure by opening up the iris first. If the church is really dark though you may have no choice.

3. ZEBRAS: make you sure you turn these on the check for overexposure in your highlights. You don't want to lose the detail in the bride's white dress!

4. AUDIO: as stated before, the onboard mic will be crap for this situation. I once recorded my wife performing on stage and her voice was too soft compared to the laughter of the audience all around me. It's very easy to split the audio channels on the DVX; just plug your external mics into the XLR inputs and make sure that a) you set the switches to 'mic' and not 'line' (very front of camera) then b) set the input source switches on the side to Inputs 1 and 2. Check your audio levels and dial them down if they're too hot. The meters are a bit hard to read as there's no numbers, so just try and keep the peaks from hitting too far into the red.

I'm not sure about that MXL990 -- you'd have to have it right between the bride, groom and minister. Most wedding vows take place in front of the altar, so the mic would be in plain site. I think your best bet would be renting the wireless lav for the minister and mounting the receiver on the camera. If you can, rent an external shotgun mic also and mount it in the shock mount and run it into the other input. That way you'll have a backup in case the lav doesn't work so well (clothing noise, breathing, etc.) FYI be sure to capture the footage as spilt mono and not stereo so you can adjust accordingly during editing. During the reception you may also want to switch out the lav with a regular handheld mic so guests can talk directly into. I used that system during quick "main on the street" interviews and it worked great

Best of luck,
JK

_______________________________________
SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!