Author Topic: VX1000 General Discussion (gear/set-ups, filming/editing, tips/advice, etc.)  (Read 102541 times)

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mattchew

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put a post-it on your fisheye lens cap that says turn off steady shot

Gnar'd because this is the best idea ever. Thank you. Doing that tomorrow.
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Little Debbie

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and that's why i prefer to record to card. no hate on the VX, i love the quality as much as the next guy, but at the end of the day it's an old camera, and you're still recording to a cassette tape.

somethingmustbreaknow

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^what does that have to do with anything?

Thomas

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Cassette tapes are quite reliable if you don't reuse them.
Possibilities are everywhere, search and enjoy.

CHONGO

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Cassette tapes are quite reliable if you don't reuse them.

true that. I rarely have problems with tapes.

natenola forever

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If you're consistently having tape glitch issues, try blacking your tape first, thats an old industry technique to making sure the tape has a consitant signal to record over, just take your cap cam or whatever and set it on VTR mode and record nothing to the end of the tape then rewind it and start from there.

mattchew

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Hey PALS,

What are your nighttime settings with a light?
I'm talking 11pm, with barely any exterior lighting

I know in that Beagle VX tutorial he says to not have the shutter speed drop below 90, but what about the F stop?

Thanks friends!
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natenola forever

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Hey PALS,

What are your nighttime settings with a light?
I'm talking 11pm, with barely any exterior lighting

I know in that Beagle VX tutorial he says to not have the shutter speed drop below 90, but what about the F stop?

Thanks friends!
Most filmers have a vx2000 for nighttime filming, you can drop your shutter to about 1/60 and it'll be fine. Lights are so cheap now you can get an amazing LED for $50-60 , I use a yunguno, it's the brightness of an Arri 150 but it's just an LED panel on top of your camera.

mattchew

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I have a good LED light (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TJ6JH6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) but am just wondering what the best camera settings are.

I know the vx1000's are inferior in low light but I am definitely not copping a vx2000 strictly for night footage, that feels so overboard.
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OnSlapAtWork

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Lately I have used that little moon logo program for night time footage and it comes out looking really crisp.

6feetdeep

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I have a good LED light (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TJ6JH6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) but am just wondering what the best camera settings are.

I know the vx1000's are inferior in low light but I am definitely not copping a vx2000 strictly for night footage, that feels so overboard.
Shutter at 1/50 and exposure between F2.0 - 6db i would guess, but it all depends on the camera light and available light. i try to avoid everything over 6db because of the grain. When filming fisheye at night make sure the skater is not overexposed. There won't be any "best" settings, gotta adjust it right.

CHONGO

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Vx2k are so wack. I don't even fuck with mine no more.  vx21k are a little better and I would way suggest that over a 2k

midgebones

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I have a good LED light (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TJ6JH6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) but am just wondering what the best camera settings are.

I know the vx1000's are inferior in low light but I am definitely not copping a vx2000 strictly for night footage, that feels so overboard.

So everytime I set the color settings on vx1, day or night, it always takes a little customization and tweaking to get the ideal look I want.  As someone mentioned above, there's no perfect "right" way to set colors at night since every scene/spot is different and how bright you have your LED light can affect things too, but I'll give my go-to steps for setting vx1000 colors at night that should help:

So before you start changing your settings, I would suggest starting by having your camera on with the light attached (turned on) and have the camera pointed at the skater/spot, illuminating the scene the best you can from whatever side/angle you'll be filming the skating from.

Shutter Speed: I set my shutter speed anywhere from 180 to 90, just depending on how dark the spot is.  Usually I go with 180 or 120 because I feel like keeping it at 90 adds more grain to footage than I would like.  Usually I'll have my LED light full blast if it's completely dark, or a little bit less (80% amount or so) if there's lots of street lights and things like that to help light things up.

White Balance: With white balancing, just the same with daytime, I usually try to find something closest to true white that I can get close to and set a Custom White Balance for.  If you didn't know about custom white balancing, basically it's the white balance option on the vx1000 that shows a blinking flower-like icon when it is selected.  To set a custom white balance, keep the camera on the custom white balance option, point it at something white (while lit up with the light) and click and hold the white balance button near the bottom of the battery door. You can reset it as many times as you want until it looks right to you.  If all else fails, using the daytime white balance sometimes produces really cool night footage, just looks a little yellow.

Exposure: Usually I adjust the exposure last after setting everything else, and I simply adjust it so that the skateboarder's clothes/skin/etc. are visible and clear but not blown out in overexposed light.  Usually for me it's a few ticks under the highest exposure level. but again, it really depends on the spot you're at.

Custom Presets: A lot of people seem to overlook these settings or forget to set them, but I feel like they're very important for fine-tuning color settings on the vx1.  If you don't know about custom presets already, here's how you access them...first, open the battery door to the vx1 and find the small "Menu" button just to the right of the battery slot. Click this, and it will bring up a menu.  Use the arrow buttons underneath that same Menu button to scroll down to where it says "Custom," then, click the execute button to toggle the custom setting, and set it to "On" to bring up the custom presets settings.  Using the same buttons (arrows and execute) to toggle these settings, I usually bump my sharpness up two bumps and bump the color level all the way up or just two bumps up, depending on the scene.

After these tweaks, you should be able to capture some good night footage for the next part or montage <3

Also for reference, below is a montage I made last Halloween that has some night clips in it that I filmed, you can see how difference in lighting at each spot really makes a difference in how the footage turns out. Hope this helps you out brotha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZswcrdFcGGU

UnkutTheLyrical

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Cassette tapes are quite reliable if you don't reuse them.

I think it sucks that no one was ever interested in the VX3, the hi-8 predecessor, as they were in the VX1000. The videos recorded with the VX3 such as the Zoo York Mixtape are in my opinion superior. I'm sure that 'the stats' all 'prove' that the 1000 is better in the same way that they prove that modern 16:9 HD cameras are the best, but I like those older videos better.

^BTW your video's rad but you got that fake 16:9 stretch going on. Gotta keep it 4:3 fam.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2017, 02:51:40 PM by UnkutTheLyrical »

midgebones

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Cassette tapes are quite reliable if you don't reuse them.
[close]

I think it sucks that no one was ever interested in the VX3, the hi-8 predecessor, as they were in the VX1000. The videos recorded with the VX3 such as the Zoo York Mixtape are in my opinion superior. I'm sure that 'the stats' all 'prove' that the 1000 is better in the same way that they prove that modern 16:9 HD cameras are the best, but I like those older videos better.

^BTW your video's rad but you got that fake 16:9 stretch going on. Gotta keep it 4:3 fam.

I agree with your thoughts on the VX3, always wished I could've had a chance to buy one of those but I've never found the opportunity.

And you're absolutely right about the 16:9 stretch haha, oddly enough that's the only edit I've ever posted trying out the stretch and I didn't end up liking it at all...4:3 forever  ;D

CHONGO

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Expand Quote
Expand Quote
Cassette tapes are quite reliable if you don't reuse them.
[close]

I think it sucks that no one was ever interested in the VX3, the hi-8 predecessor, as they were in the VX1000. The videos recorded with the VX3 such as the Zoo York Mixtape are in my opinion superior. I'm sure that 'the stats' all 'prove' that the 1000 is better in the same way that they prove that modern 16:9 HD cameras are the best, but I like those older videos better.

^BTW your video's rad but you got that fake 16:9 stretch going on. Gotta keep it 4:3 fam.
[close]

I agree with your thoughts on the VX3, always wished I could've had a chance to buy one of those but I've never found the opportunity.

And you're absolutely right about the 16:9 stretch haha, oddly enough that's the only edit I've ever posted trying out the stretch and I didn't end up liking it at all...4:3 forever  ;D



Yea you gotta roll 4x3 no streched. In a few videos I have watched it's okay. But most of the time it's a no for me.

shitdick22

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I just fixed my vap for the second time but this time my dumbass used gorilla glue and it fogged up the inside of my lens. Anyone know any way to fix it easily or do i have to take it apart again and used different glue?

reptar_bar

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I just fixed my vap for the second time but this time my dumbass used gorilla glue and it fogged up the inside of my lens. Anyone know any way to fix it easily or do i have to take it apart again and used different glue?

i used gorilla glue when trying to put together a raymod for a vx2000. When i used the lens on the vx it fogged up everything, luckily just the outside of the vx2's lens and not the inside. i was able to scrape it all off the vx2 glass without any damage, but the raymod was a lost cause and i ended up throwing it out. fuck gorilla glue.

Thomas

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Do you guys always stick to "the rule" shutter speed = 2x frame rate or do you change on some special occasion ?

I usually shoot at 1/50 and the footages look very natural and smooth, but maybe shooting at 1/120 will add a little crisp to the footages ?
Possibilities are everywhere, search and enjoy.

natenola forever

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Do you guys always stick to "the rule" shutter speed = 2x frame rate or do you change on some special occasion ?

I usually shoot at 1/50 and the footages look very natural and smooth, but maybe shooting at 1/120 will add a little crisp to the footages ?
the 2x thing is based on 180 degree of shutter rule from film, with interlaced footage (dv) i dont think it matters too to much how high you go, but with HD it makes a big difference i try to never go over 120 in HD or progressive scan for that matter.

CHONGO

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I just fixed my vap for the second time but this time my dumbass used gorilla glue and it fogged up the inside of my lens. Anyone know any way to fix it easily or do i have to take it apart again and used different glue?

Yea that fucking sucks. I used hot glue and it worked out great. And then I still taped the bay on with electrical tape. But yea take it off and try and get that fog off the lens.

Good luck

CHONGO

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I just fixed my vap for the second time but this time my dumbass used gorilla glue and it fogged up the inside of my lens. Anyone know any way to fix it easily or do i have to take it apart again and used different glue?
[close]

i used gorilla glue when trying to put together a raymod for a vx2000. When i used the lens on the vx it fogged up everything, luckily just the outside of the vx2's lens and not the inside. i was able to scrape it all off the vx2 glass without any damage, but the raymod was a lost cause and i ended up throwing it out. fuck gorilla glue.

Yea I am pretty sure on one of these pages I left a comment to not use any weird glues like that. But like you said you can scrape it off. I did that once on this little flip HD camera. I think you can just rub the fog off.

Little Debbie

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Expand Quote
Do you guys always stick to "the rule" shutter speed = 2x frame rate or do you change on some special occasion ?

I usually shoot at 1/50 and the footages look very natural and smooth, but maybe shooting at 1/120 will add a little crisp to the footages ?
[close]
the 2x thing is based on 180 degree of shutter rule from film, with interlaced footage (dv) i dont think it matters too to much how high you go, but with HD it makes a big difference i try to never go over 120 in HD or progressive scan for that matter.
On bright days, I have shot 1080/60p at shutter speeds upward of 1/1000 with no problems. See the In-focus clip on this: How To: Shutter Speeds & Frame Rates - Skateboarding Cinematographer Russell Houghten -In Focus

For me, shutter speed is sort of an additional iris control, but of course I realize there are other implications of setting this too high.

mattchew

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Has anyone ever used a VX2000/2100 with the bayo adapter for an mk1?
Does it look the same as vx1000 or does it look different?
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mattchew

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Also, does the 2000 use the same battery as the 1000?
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CHONGO

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Also, does the 2000 use the same battery as the 1000?

The 2000 can use vx1000 battery. But if you have something like this http://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41i94jg9NAL._SY355_.jpg that won't fit in the 1000 because of the weird groves.

this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/images500x500/Sony_NPF730H_NP_F730H_Info_Lithium_Battery_Pack_116485.jpg will fit in both the 1000, and the 2000.

and for the bayo. It looks different. Me and all my buddies can tell but it looks like this.

insano promo first fisheye clip is at 0:20

only thing is the vig is a little different. I like it honestly.

mattchew

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Any PALS have mic settings suggestions for the vx2000?
It sounds soooo bad.
I switched it from 12 bit to 16 bit and put the volume all the way up but when I logged the footage any loud noises were very blown out/clipped.

Also it's really crazy how much better the 2000 is at night. I did a side by side comparison with the exact same settings on my 1000 and the 2000 in really low light and the 2000 was so crisp and bright and the 1000 was grainy and looked like garbage.
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scaryghoul

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yeah cept when youre stacking night clips and you have the vx2 paired with one of those LED lamps its soo easy to blow out the footage unless you adjust everything just right. Theyre so harsh compared to the 10/20 lamp...

For your vx2000 audio, you won't get anything that sounds nearly as good as the vx1 mic, its hard to explain why the 1000 mic is so damn good. For your vx2: You want the audio at 12 bit, leave the adjustment slider in the middle. 16 bit has more layers whatever but I find it picks up the shit you dont want to hear when you listen to skateboards. if its a parking garage or an indoor park maybe lower the slider a notch. But in general I dont mess with it

Francis Xavier

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yeah cept when youre stacking night clips and you have the vx2 paired with one of those LED lamps its soo easy to blow out the footage unless you adjust everything just right. Theyre so harsh compared to the 10/20 lamp...

For your vx2000 audio, you won't get anything that sounds nearly as good as the vx1 mic, its hard to explain why the 1000 mic is so damn good. For your vx2: You want the audio at 12 bit, leave the adjustment slider in the middle. 16 bit has more layers whatever but I find it picks up the shit you dont want to hear when you listen to skateboards. if its a parking garage or an indoor park maybe lower the slider a notch. But in general I dont mess with it
Yes About 12 bit,my buddy filmed some lines in a parking garage and at a spot on a busy street on his vx2 with it at 16 bit and when we watched the footy we heard everything but the skateboarding. Some of it sounded like those ghost hunter shows haha

Damn I left my bubbler at my parents house

Statebird

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Any PALS have mic settings suggestions for the vx2000?
It sounds soooo bad.
I switched it from 12 bit to 16 bit and put the volume all the way up but when I logged the footage any loud noises were very blown out/clipped.

Also it's really crazy how much better the 2000 is at night. I did a side by side comparison with the exact same settings on my 1000 and the 2000 in really low light and the 2000 was so crisp and bright and the 1000 was grainy and looked like garbage.

set audio manually, I do 2 bumps right from the middle for longlens, 2 bumps left for fisheye. still not as good as vx1 but its a lot better.