Sony DCR-PC1000

[meekal]

sorry guys.... truly. i certainly never meant to sound agitated.... that's the whole "PLEASE DON'T TAKE....." preface part - stevesally was brand new to the board and his only OTHER response had been to try another board! (http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=119264&highlight=hc90)

there had just been 2 page discussion about almost the same thing in last 4 days (http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=118785&highlight=hc90) i just wanted to him know the [some of the] options available to him to access the priceless wealth information available here.

again, sorry if i offended anybody... that was never my intention.

 

[zboss]

The lower the LUX number, the better the camera performs in low light. My experiences with the PC1000 is it performs pretty well. The waters here in Southern California are pretty dark quite often but the videos turn out very well. I also sold one to a customer in British Columbia and he said his videos have turned out great. However, as with most video, I would highly suggest shooting with lights!

OK - newbie question here. I have a PC1000 that I bought for UW Video but have not yet decided on a housing. During low-light use of the camera top-side I have noticed that it has difficulty auto-focusing in low-light. Is it standard practice to set the focus distance before placing in the housing? How does auto focus work through the housing window?

 

[peterbkk]

Auto-focusing does work through the housing window underwater as long as the water is clear, the subject has clearly-defined edges and there is enough light. UW lights help with the last point.

But, underwater, auto-focus will often cause the camcorder to "focus hunt" in less-than-ideal conditions, especially in low-light or when there are a lot of plankton in the water.

Setting manual focus before putting the camera in the housing (eg 1 meter) can work but then limits what you can shoot.

Some housings have controls that let you set the focus manually underwater. This works OK but is a bit slow and the focus is often hard to see on the monitor.

The best solution is what Light and Motion call Momentary Auto Focus. Other housing manufacturers may have the same feature but I think that you'll only find it in electronic housings with a LANC connection to camcorder.

You point the camcorder at the subject and press the MOM button. The camcorder goes into auto-focus, finds a focus distance and then sets that manually. Then you shoot. No focus hunting.

Then, for the next subject at a different distance, you can press the MOM again and it sets the focus to the new distance and locks it.

For a general setting, at the beginning of a dive, you can set the MOM off your fin tip and this will give you a lock-in at 1.2 meters until you press it again.

MOM is quick, easy and it works.

Regards
Peter

 

[zboss]

Auto-focusing does work through the housing window underwater as long as the water is clear, the subject has clearly-defined edges and there is enough light. UW lights help with the last point.

But, underwater, auto-focus will often cause the camcorder to "focus hunt" in less-than-ideal conditions, especially in low-light or when there are a lot of plankton in the water.

Setting manual focus before putting the camera in the housing (eg 1 meter) can work but then limits what you can shoot.

Some housings have controls that let you set the focus manually underwater. This works OK but is a bit slow and the focus is often hard to see on the monitor.

The best solution is what Light and Motion call Momentary Auto Focus. Other housing manufacturers may have the same feature but I think that you'll only find it in electronic housings with a LANC connection to camcorder.

You point the camcorder at the subject and press the MOM button. The camcorder goes into auto-focus, finds a focus distance and then sets that manually. Then you shoot. No focus hunting.

Then, for the next subject at a different distance, you can press the MOM again and it sets the focus to the new distance and locks it.

For a general setting, at the beginning of a dive, you can set the MOM off your fin tip and this will give you a lock-in at 1.2 meters until you press it again.

MOM is quick, easy and it works.

Regards
Peter

Peter - thanks for your concise response.

 

[caribbeansoul]

OK - newbie question here. I have a PC1000 that I bought for UW Video but have not yet decided on a housing. During low-light use of the camera top-side I have noticed that it has difficulty auto-focusing in low-light. Is it standard practice to set the focus distance before placing in the housing? How does auto focus work through the housing window?

I have a PC-1000 in an Ikelite housing. You are able to set the manual focus through the housing controls and it is pretty simple to use. Using the manual button/dial on the left side of the camera, you can choose which manual function you want to assign to the dial, without having to go into the onscreen menus. Press the button next to the dial for about 5 seconds to pull up the menu. Scroll to choose the focus function and press the button to select. Then you can use the dial to manually focus. The Ikelite housing allows you to have the LCD screen open for viewing, so it is not too difficult to get the shot into focus. To switch back to auto focus, simply press the manual button again to switch back and forth. You can also use the manual dial to adjust exposure, white balance shift and AE shift.

I think the Gates housing also lets you use the manual button/dial feature.

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Yes Caribbeansoul, the Gates does allow you to use the manual button/dial feature.

 

[Doc Harry]

I feel your pain brother.

I'm looking at underwater video systems myself. The amount of information out there is overhwhelming, it's nice to have someone gently point you in the right direction...

Besides, the "search" function never works for me. Every search that I have ever tried on ScubaBoard gives me:

"Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms."

I can seach on "mask" in the "Fins, Masks & Snorkels" section and I get:

"Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms."

As long as the search function doesn't work, I'll be asking a lot of basic questions myself.

 

[zboss]

Thanks caribbeansoul!