July 2007 - Institute of Videography

Articlelittle help in this situation beingdifficult to see in sunlight, havinga narrow viewing angle and isoften fixed to one side of thecamera that makes it impossibleto view at certain times.Compromise ThreeFocus GearingThe JVC GY HD 100/200 seriescamera is unique in having aproper, professional lens withfocus, zoom and exposure ringsexactly where a professionalwould want them to be. Withregard to focus, there aredistance markings on the lensbarrel and manual adjustment issmooth, quick and easy – orrather it would be if theviewfinder was of sufficientquality to let you see when youare actually in focus! This is aproblem exacerbated in the otherHDV cameras by the fact thatthere are no distance markers onthe barrel and the only distanceinformation you will get in theviewfinder will disappear onceyou stop adjusting the focus ring.If this was not bad enough, thegearing of the focus ring makesaccurate adjustment extremelydifficult taking several turns, forinstance, to go from 0.5 metresto 10 metres, but merely theslightest twitch to go from 20metres to infinity. If you findyourself on full zoom in low lightwith a shallow depth of field,quick, manual focusing becomesalmost impossible. The cameramanufacturers make great playof various gimmicks to help youto focus, e.g. focus assist,peaking, zoom focus, etc. but,frankly, these tend to work inideal conditions when you leastneed them and not work at allwhen you do!Compromise FourBalanceWith the exception of the JVC GYHD 100/200 series that is a verywell balanced shoulder mountedcamera, the sub £5000 HDVcameras are designed as handheld units. Almost universallythey are difficult to hold steadyfor prolonged periods and theplethora of different supportsystems offered as accessories istestament to problemsencountered by users.The worst offenders are, notsurprisingly, the larger models,the Z1 and the Canon XL H1 -but the Sony A1’s audio modulealso makes this relativelylightweight camera front heavywhen compared to the domesticversion of the same camera.Compromise FiveErgonomicsIn relation to broadcast cameras,these cameras are small andconsequently the placement ofcontrols is a problem for themanufacturer. www.iov.com Focus Magazine August 2007 19