Sony PDW 700, PDW F800 camcorder Field Guide

VORTEX MEDIA’S
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PDW-700
PDW-F800
FIELD GUIDE
by Doug Jensen
PREFACE
If the PDW-700 and PDW-F800 aren’t the world's most advanced commercially sold cameras ever invented, then I’d like to know what is. I will
guarantee you that there is no other camera that offers all the specialized shooting functions, recording formats, customization options, paint
settings, playback controls, and in-camera editing tools that the F800/700
provides. The camera is even a full-blown playback deck and optical disc
drive! It’s the Swiss army knife of cameras if ever there was one.
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From the outside, at first glance, the F800/700 might not look that
different from other camcorders you've used before. But don’t make the
mistake of thinking that just because Sony has cleverly designed it to look
and feel like your trusty old D600 or F900, that you can just power it up,
pop a disc in the slot, flip a couple of switches, and start shooting. If you
do that, you still might get good video, but you won’t be maximizing the
performance capabilities of the camera or taking full advantage of all the
advanced features it offers.
As I have spoken with other F800/700 owners it is obvious to me that
many of them are barely scratching the surface of what their camera can
do. You might find yourself in that same situation. Even though I'll be
the first to admit that you don't need to be an expert on every aspect of
a piece of equipment to get good results, I do believe that the more you
learn about the F800/700, the more likely it will be that you'll discover
the unique features, shortcuts, or settings that will make a huge difference
to YOU.
I encourage you to open your mind to the possibilities that XDCAM HD
offers. Embrace the changes. Forget the past! Why shouldn’t you replay
clips in the field? Why shouldn’t you delete bad takes right away? Is setting
timecode even necessary anymore? Is there any reason to lay down color
bars? Can you save time in post by inserting ShotMarks and Clip Flags?
Should you integrate proxies into your workflow? Why not design your
own custom menu system exactly the way you want it? Why not take a few
minutes to customize the Assign Switches? What about programming the
clip naming to avoid duplicate file names? And why wouldn't you want
to change a few easy paint settings to really improve the "look" of the
camera?
If the F800/700 is your first XDCAM camcorder, I can guarantee it will
revolutionize your whole way of doing business if you permit yourself to
consider all the new features it provides. But if you don’t understand those
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features, or can’t remember how they work, you’ll never use them. That’s
where this book comes in. This field guide is designed to get you off on the
right foot with the F800/700 and flatten the learning curve.
Over the next three hundred pages we’re going to take a closer look at the
most important features that I think you need to understand in order to go
out and shoot excellent video. Some features are going to seem completely
familiar and others are going to take some concentration to fully grasp.
Please understand that there is no “easy” button on the F800/700. Nor
should there be! This is a high-end professional tool that requires certain
skills, knowledge, and experience to master.
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The PDW-700 and PDW-F800 are definitely not entry-level cameras. So
with that in mind, I’m going to assume that you have experience shooting
video professionally and understand basic concepts like white balance,
zebra, timecode, and exposure. You won't find too much "generic" filler
in this book that would apply to all cameras. I didn't want to write a book
that wasted time telling you what you already know or what you can learn
from plenty of other sources. The purpose of this field guide is to focus on
what really matters about the F800/700 only — hard facts, solid information, and useful tips and techniques that can't be found elsewhere.
But, as they say, “there is more than one way to skin a cat”. I will show
you what I believe is the best or easiest way to accomplish something, but
don’t be surprised if you discover alternative techniques that work even
better for you.
I hope "Vortex Media’s PDW-700/F800 Field Guide" will give you the
inside edge that you need to quickly become proficient with your camera,
and get more out of it than you ever thought possible.
Doug Jensen
Director/Cameraman
Vortex Media
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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How to use this Field Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Parts Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Viewfinder Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
LCD Monitor Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Thumbnail (Playback) Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Status Confirmation Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Menu Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Operation Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Paint Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Maintenance Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
File Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Diagnosis Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Disc Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Thumbnail Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
A Brief Introduction to XDCAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Highlights of the PDW-F800 AND PDW-700 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Differences Between the Two Camera Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
25 Steps for initial Set Up and Quick-Start Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Viewfinder, LCD Monitor, and Sub LCD Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Color LCD Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Viewfinder Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Sub LCD Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Status Confirmation Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Batteries and Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Power conservation tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
XDCAM Professional Discs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Erase (Re-format) a previously used disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Disable the Format Disc command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Check a Disc's properties and give it a name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
XDCAM Disc file structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Directories on an XDCAM disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Root-level files on an XDCAM disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
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Menus Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Camera Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Menu navigation tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Camera Menus tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
The User Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Basic techniques for customizing the User Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Insert a User Menu page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Delete a User Menu page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Move a User Menu page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Advanced techniques for customizing the User Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Create a custom User Menu page from scratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Add the new page to the User Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Reset the User Menu pages back to the factory default . . . . . . 97
Recording Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
Choose a Recording Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
24P mode limitations . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Mixed Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Custom Clip Naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Create a custom clip naming system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Prefix data files for clip names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Using clip names for notes and logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Assign Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Allowed switch assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
How to program an Assign Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Explanation of all Assign Switch functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
How to delete the last clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
How to use Freeze Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
User Assign (UA) switch options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
How to program a User Assign switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
SDI monitoring and Video output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Configuring the SDI outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Remote Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Test Out (composite video) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Optional IN/OUT upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
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Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Audio Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Input source selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Channel selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Recording levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Adjusting the shotgun input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Adjusting Rear and Wireless levels with Front Dial . . . . . . . . 137
Manual recording levels for CH-3 & CH-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Audio Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Wireless Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Wireless Audio menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Paint Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
General philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Dynamic Contrast Control (DCC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Overview of the Paint Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Gamma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Knee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Skin Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Matrix Linear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Matrix Multi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
User Setting Data Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Format a Memory Stick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Jump to a specific page when Memory Stick is inserted . . . . 162
Locate files on a Memory Stick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
USER Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Save a User File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Load a User File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
ALL Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Settings that are not saved with ALL files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Create an ALL file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Recall an ALL file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
Reset the camera to factory-default values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Store your own Standard Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
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Reset back to the Standard Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
SCENE files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Choose an onboard SCENE file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Save a SCENE file to the onboard memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Save a modified SCENE file to the onboard memory . . . . . . . 177
Reset a SCENE file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Save a SCENE file to a Memory Stick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Load a SCENE file from a Memory Stick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Load five SCENE files from a Memory Stick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Save five SCENE files from a Memory Stick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Sony's sample SCENE files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
USER GAMMA files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Load a USER GAMMA file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Select a USER GAMMA curve for shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Delete the current USER GAMMA file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
LENS files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Save a LENS file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Load a LENS file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Reset the LENS file settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Proxy files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Enable automatic Proxy recording to USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Copy one Proxy file to USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Copy all Proxy files to USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Format a USB device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Delete all Proxy files on a USB device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Clip Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Time & Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Thumbnail Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Clip Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
UMID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Planning Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Disc Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Technical Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
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ShotMarks (Essence Marks) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
User-Defined ShotMarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 197
Planning Metadata (for clip naming) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Create a Planning Metadata file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Configure a Planning Metadata file for Clip Naming . . . . . . . 202
End Planning Metadata clip naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Auto-Iris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Auto-Iris Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Exposure Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Clip High Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Auto-Iris Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Customize the Auto-Iris Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Zebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Zebra Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Zebra 1, Zebra 2, or both? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Shutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Recommended Shutter Speeds and Time vs. Angle . . . . . . . . . 214
Set the Shutter Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Extended Clear Scan (ECS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Slow Shutter (SLS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Hide/Show Shutter Degree Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
ND Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Peaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Focus Magnification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Focus Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
White Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Auto Tracing White Balance (ATW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Preset White Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Custom White Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Shockless White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Advanced White Balance Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
CC Filter Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
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Offset White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Dialing in the Color Temperature manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Black Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Time Data monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Setting the Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Jam-Syncing the Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Interval Recording (Time-lapse) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Auto Interval Rec mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
Manual Interval Rec (Consecutive) mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Manual Interval Rec (Single Shot) mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Picture Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Normal Picture Cache mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Notes and Tips for Picture Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Disc Exchange Picture Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Slow & Quick Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Notes and Tips for S&Q Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Shooting with S&Q Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
<!> Warning Indicator Lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Customize the <!> Warning Lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Automatic Lens Aberration Control (ALAC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Automatic Pixel Replacement (APR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Back Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Bars & Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Three methods of playing back the last clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Thumbnail Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Tips for Thumbnail Screen navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Live & Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Thumbnail Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Clip Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Select Index Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Clip Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Delete a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
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Lock a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Set Clip Flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Filter Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Skip Scroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Expand Thumbnail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Chapter Thumbnail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Essence Mark Thumbnail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Clip Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Add Sub Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Change the Order of Sub Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Trim the IN/OUT points of Sub Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Delete Sub Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Clip List playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Save the Clip List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Disc Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Explanation of all Disc Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Importing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Four methods of importing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Benefits of the PDW-U1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
XDCAM Transfer — for Final Cut Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Importing via File Access Mode (i.LINK) for Windows . . . . . 286
Importing via File Access Mode (i.LINK) for Mac . . . . . . . . . . 287
Importing via FTP Mode (Ethernet) for Windows . . . . . . . . . . 288
Importing via FTP Mode (Ethernet) for Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Display the Disc and Clip properties in a Web Browser . . . . 293
Updating the Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Back focus chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Other products from Vortex Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Quick Finder chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
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29 ASSIGN SWITCH #1
30 ASSIGN SWITCH #2
31 D-TAP SWITCH
32 COLOR TEMP / ASSIGN SWITCH #5
33 ALARM VOLUME KNOB
34 MONITOR VOLUME KNOB
35 AUDIO MONITOR SWITCHES
36 VDR SAVE/STBY SWITCH
37 GAIN SWITCH
38 BARS/CAM/DCC SWITCH
39 WB MEMORY SWITCH
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VDR BUTTONS
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LEFT PANEL
80 EJECT BUTTON
91 TIMECODE MODE SWITCH
81 F REV (FAST REVERSE) BUTTON
92 AUDIO RECORDING LEVEL KNOBS
82 PLAY/PAUSE
93 AUDIO IN SWITCH (CH-3)
83 F FWD (FAST FORWARD) BUTTON
94 AUDIO SELECT SWITCHES
84 PREV BUTTON
95 AUDIO IN SWITCH (CH-4)
85 STOP BUTTON
96 AUDIO IN SWITCHES (CH-1/CH-2)
86 NEXT BUTTON
97 PRESET/REGEN/CLOCK SWITCH
87 THUMBNAIL INDICATOR
98 SHIFT BUTTON
88 THUMBNAIL/ESSENCE MARK BUTTON
99 SUB CLIP/DISC MENU BUTTON
89 SET BUTTON & ARROW BUTTONS
100 SUB CLIP INDICATOR
90 (BLUE) MENU BUTTON
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VIEWFINDER DISPLAY
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SUB LCD SCREEN
120 WB COLOR TEMPERATURE
132 ALARM MESSAGE DISPLAY
121 VIDEO FORMAT
133 SHUTTER SPEED
122 EXTENDER
134 FOCUS ASSIST INDICATOR
123 ZOOM POSITION
135 AUDIO LEVEL (CH-1/CH-2)
124 SYSTEM FREQUENCY & FRAME RATE
136 REMAINING DISC CAPACITY
125 BATTERY CAPACITY
137 REMAINING CLIPS
126 SCENE FILE
138 AUTO IRIS OVERRIDE
127 ND FILTER
139 F-STOP
128 CC FILTER
140 LENS ABERRATION CORRECTION
129 WB MEMORY
141 TIME DISPLAY
130 TIMECODE
142 REMAINING DISC CAPACITY
131 GAIN VALUE
143 REMAINING BATTERY CAPACITY
11
O 01 01 OUTPUT 1
A
700
800
700
800
OPERATION MENUS
O 02 02 OUTPUT 2
SDI OUT 1 SELECT
OFF
A
C
SDI OUT 2 SELECT
OFF
C
D
SDI OUT 2 SUPER
OFF
D
F
TEST OUT SELECT
VBS
F
G
TEST OUT SUPER
OFF
G
B
LIVE & PLAY
OFF
B
DOWN CON MODE
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800
J
700
I
J
800
I
O 03 03 SUPERIMPOSE
A
<SDI OUT 2 & TEST (VBS)>
B
SUPER (VFDISP)
C
SUPER (MENU)
D
SUPER (TC)
700
H
H
O 04 04 LCD
A
ON
B
ON
C
OFF
D
LCD COLOR
LCD MARKER&ZEBRA
0
ON
E
E
F
<SDI2 (HDSDI) & TEST (VBS)>
F
G
SUPER (MARKER)
G
OFF
H
H
I
I
<SDI OUT 2 (HDSDI)>
SUPER (ZEBRA)
OFF
700
X
800
J
D
O 05 05 REC FUNCTION
A
X
SLOW & QUICK
B
X
FRAME RATE
E.1
CACHE/INTERVAL REC
CACHE/INTERVAL REC
CACHE REC TIME
CACHE
0-2S
OFF
30
C
D
J
OFF
E
D
CACHE/INTERVAL REC
A.INT
E.2
TAKE TOTAL TIME
5MIN
F.2
REC TIME
5SEC
G.2
PRE-LIGHTING
OFF
F
G
D
CACHE/INTERVAL REC
M.INT
H
DISC EXCHG CACHE
OFF
E.3
NUMBER OF FRAME
1
I
CLIP CONT REC
OFF
F.3
TRIGGER INTERVAL
1SEC
G.3
PRE-LIGHTING
J
16
OFF
INTRODUCTION
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF XDCAM
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There are actually four generations of XDCAM camcorders:
1) XDCAM: 2/3" CCD. Records SD-only (IMX & DVCAM) onto optical
Professional Discs. Introduced in 2003, these cameras include the
PDW-510 and PDW-530. Sony calls these cameras "Phase 1".
2) XDCAM HD: 1/2" CCD. Records either HD or SD onto optical Professional Discs. Introduced in 2006, these cameras include the PDW-F350,
PDW-F330, PDW-F355, and PDW-F335. Sony calls these cameras
"Phase 2".
3) XDCAM EX: 1/2" CMOS. Records HD or SD onto SxS flash memory
cards. Introduced in 2007, these cameras include the PMW-EX1,
PMW-EX1R, PMW-EX3, and PMW-350.
4) XDCAM HD422: 2/3" CCD. Records HD or SD onto optical Professional Discs. Introduced in 2008, these cameras include the PDW-700
and PDW-F800. Sony calls these cameras "Phase 3".
As you can see, the name XDCAM really has nothing to do with the size
of the camera, the recording format, type of sensors, size of sensors, or
whether it records onto an optical disc or flash memory card. XDCAM
simply means “tapeless".
What are the advantages of tapeless? All XDCAM units (camcorders &
decks) record a new independent video file every time you press the
record button. In the default mode, each shot is a unique audio/video
file that can be watched, deleted, imported, or edited independently.
You can play back clips at random; delete bad takes on the fly; view
thumbnails of every clip on the disc; switch from playback to record
instantly without re-cuing; and best of all, there’s no need for logging,
batch capturing, or digitizing.
Vortex Media’s PDW-700/F800 Field Guide
35
QUICK START GUIDE
INITIAL SET UP AND
QUICK-START GUIDE
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In my opinion, this
chapter is the most
important part of
the field guide. If
you’re like me,
whenever you
unpack a new
camera there’s always
that moment when you say “What next?”
Experience tells you that the camera can’t
possibly be ready to go when you first take it
out of the box — but you don’t even know enough about the camera at
that point to know what needs to be changed — or how to change it.
In this chapter I’m going to do my best to answer the “What next?”
question so that you can get up and running with your camera as quickly
as possible. I’m going to assume that you have just laid your hands on
the camera for the very first time as I lead you step-by-step through the
basic settings that I think deserve your attention. When necessary, you
can refer to other sections of the field guide for more detailed information about a particular function.
Naturally, you may not agree with some of my suggestions, so feel free to
choose your own settings, skip certain settings, or go beyond these basic
steps before you actually start shooting. So, get a cold drink or a cup of
coffee and make yourself comfortable because this is going to take at
least an hour. But in the end, you’ll have an excellent understanding of
the basic functions of the camera and you’ll be ready to start shooting.
STEP 1: ASSEMBLE THE CAMERA
The F800/700 is sold as the body-only so you’ll need to assemble the
camera when you first unpack it. At the very minimum, you’ll need to
provide a lens, viewfinder, tripod quick-release adapter, shotgun microphone, and batteries. Why doesn’t Sony provide these accessories as
a package like it does with the XDCAM EX camcorders? The answer is
because there are multiple options available for all of them, and there
is nothing worse than paying for components that you do not want or
need.
40
Vortex Media’s PDW-700/F800 Field Guide
VIEWFINDER & LCD DISPLAYS
VIEWFINDER DISPLAY
The F800/700 offers four different models of viewfinders to choose
from (see page 41), but all of them will show the same basic information. There are primarily three menu pages that determine what data
is shown in the viewfinder: O-08: VF DISP 1, O-09: VF DISP 2, and
O-10: VF DISP 3. Since most of the viewfinder text overlays and icons
are self-explanatory, I won’t waste time describing each one of them
individually.
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My advice is to turn them all on — decide which ones you want to keep
— and then turn off all the others. For example, I have all of them turned
on except for O-09: VF DISP 2 > DISP ZOOM and DISP ALAC. Why?
Because I can judge the focal length of the lens just by looking at the
picture, and I already know my Fujinon lens has ALAC activated (see
page 252), so there is no reason for me to have that information cluttering up the viewfinder. But your needs may be different than mine, so
make your own choices. Notice that menu O-08: VF DISP 1 > VF DISP
is sort of a “master” switch that can be used to turn “OFF” the other
displays all at once — regardless of their individual menu settings. Of
course, that can also be accomplished much easier by simply flipping
the DISPLAY switch [113] on the front of the viewfinder.
A feature that isn't mentioned in Sony's operation manual is that you can
use menu O-01: OUTPUT 1 > TEST OUT SELECT to choose whether to
monitor composite video (VBS) or only individual channels ( Y, R, G, or
B) in the viewfinder.
Vortex Media’s PDW-700/F800 Field Guide
57
VIEWFINDER & LCD DISPLAYS
As we saw earlier, most of the markers can be superimposed over the
SDI OUT 2 and TEST OUT video signals according to the settings on
pages O-01: OUTPUT 1 and O-03: SUPERIMPOSE. An exception to this
is ASPECT MASK, which cannot be output via SDI.
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An interesting feature found on menu page O-14/13: MARKER 2 is
called USER BOX. It provides an easy way to display a customized rectangular marker in the viewfinder, of any dimensions, anywhere on the
screen. NOTE: USER BOX is disabled on the PDW-F800 if menu O-15/–:
FOCUS ASSIST > FOCUS AREA MARK is turned on.
If you’re going to be shooting with the recording format set to
IMX50/40/30 or DVCAM, then you'll want to know about the O-17/15:
VF SETTING > VF ASPECT (SD) menu. This setting specifies whether
the viewfinder and LCD monitor aspect ratio will be set automatically
or will always be set it to 16:9 when any of the SD recording formats are
being used. When “16:9” is selected, the screen is always displayed as
a 16:9 even when O-26/24: FORMAT > ASPECT RATIO (SD) menu is
set to “4:3”.
The four menus ASPECT, ASPECT SELECT, ASPECT MASK, and ASPECT
MASK LVL on page O-13/12: MARKER 1 have no function when the SD
aspect ratio is "4:3".
SUB LCD SCREEN
The small monochrome SUB LCD SCREEN on the side of the camera has
dedicated displays for TIME [141], REMAINING DISC CAPACITY [142],
Vortex Media’s PDW-700/F800 Field Guide
61
XDCAM DISCS
4.
The first line, USER DISC ID, is the name of the disc. Title1 and Title2
are optional fields for describing the contents of the disc, the client
name, the project ID or any other information.
5.
You can also see the total duration of all the clips on the disc, the
remaining capacity of the disc, and how many times the disc has been
reformatted.
6.
Rotate the MENU knob [24] to scroll down to the USER DISC ID line
and select it. NOTE: You cannot use the arrow buttons to scroll down
on this page.
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7.
74
A virtual keyboard will appear so you can type a custom name. An
easier way to enter a name is to plug-in an ordinary USB keyboard or
mouse. NOTE: The O-07: POWER SAVE > ETHERNET/USB menu must
be “ENABLED” to use the USB terminal.
Vortex Media’s PDW-700/F800 Field Guide
USER MENU
ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
FOR CUSTOMIZING THE USER MENU
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In the following example, I’m going to show you how to customize the
default USER MENU by creating a totally new menu page that did not
exist before. You can create up to 19 such custom pages, and your imagination is really the only limit as to what you can do. For example, you
might want to build a custom menu page that only contains the audio
menus that you routinely change — even though those menus may have
originally been spread over four different pages.
Earlier we only moved whole pages, now we are going to move individual menus from multiple pages and place them on a new page.
It might be helpful to think of each individual menu as being a building
block — and you can take those building blocks and arrange them in any
order you want on a menu page.
Each menu page can hold up to 10 menus. How many menus are there
to choose from? I’m not exactly sure because I’ve never taken the time
to count them all and some of them are repeated on multiple pages. But
I do know there at least 500 menus spread out on 84 menu pages. Out of
those 500 menus, how many do you really need to change on a regular
basis? I know I only change a couple dozen and that’s why I have crafted
my own menu system that looks nothing like the original. I suggest you
consider doing the same.
Later, if you find that you do need to use a menu that you have not made
part of the USER MENU, you can always go back to the TOP MENU and
drill down to it because nothing outside of the USER MENU has been
changed. But the rest of the time you won’t have to see a bunch of
seldom-used menus cluttering up your menu system.
So, what sort of custom menu page should we build? The possibilities
are endless. Why don’t we build the custom menu page I described
earlier called U-01: HD-SDI OUT #2 ? For your convenience, this menu
is shown again on the next page. If you recall, I took all the menus that
pertain to SDI OUT 2 and consolidated them onto one page — and then
I gave it a custom name.
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NOTE: If you have a PDW-700, you won't be able to add the last two lines
shown on this custom page. Those functions only exist on the F800.
Vortex Media’s PDW-700/F800 Field Guide
RECORDING FORMATS
To download an excellent White Paper on the performance characteristics of MPEG-2 Long GOP vs. AVC-I video compression .
Go to http://www.VortexMedia.com/XDCAM.html
(password = “HD422”)
As you can see from the chart below, there are dozens upon dozens of
possible recording format combinations to choose from. In fact, there
are several additional aspect ratio and audio options for the SD modes
that aren’t even included in this chart.
Recording Format
Bit Rate
Y/C Sampling
NTSC
1080
50 Mbps
4:2:2
59.94i / 29.97P / 23.98P
50i/25P/50P
PAL
MPEG HD420 (HQ)
1080
35 Mbps
4:2:0
59.94i / 29.97P / 23.98P
50i/25P/50P
MPEG HD420 (SP)
1080
25 Mbps
4:2:0
59.94i / 29.97P / 23.98P
50i/25P/50P
MPEG HD422 50
720
50 Mbps
4:2:2
59.94P / 23.98P
50P
MPEG HD420 (HQ)
720
35 Mbps
4:2:0
59.94P / 23.98P
50P
MPEG HD420 (SP)
720
25 Mbps
4:2:0
59.94P / 23.98P
50P
IMX (50)
525 / 625*
50 Mbps
4:2:2
59.94i / 29.97P
50i / 25P
IMX (40)
525 / 625*
40 Mbps
4:2:2
59.94i / 29.97P
50i / 25P
IMX (30)
525 / 625*
30 Mbps
4:2:2
59.94i / 29.97P
50i / 25P
DVCAM
525 / 625*
25 Mbps
4:2:0 / 4:2:1*
59.94i / 29.97P
50i / 25P
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Resolution
MPEG HD422 50
*PAL
NOTES:
•
The PDW-700 requires the optional CBKZ-FC01 23.98P software for
24P recording and playback.
•
The PDW-700 requires the optional CBKZ-MD01 SD software for SD
recording and playback.
•
Image compression uses the MPEG-2 Long GOP system.
•
MPEG HD420 1080 (HQ) and (SP) are actually recorded as 1440x1080
anamorphic images.
•
With the 720/ 23.98P modes, the video undergoes 2:3 pulldown and
is recorded as 60P.
•
With the SD formats, you have a choice of 16x9 or 4x3 aspect ratios.
•
All HD formats record four channels of audio sampled at 24-bits.
Vortex Media’s PDW-700/F800 Field Guide
99
ASSIGN SWITCHES
ALLOWED SWITCH ASSIGNMENTS
NOTE: Some of these functions will not be shown, depending on
the model of camera being used and the installed options.
1
2
3
4
5
COLOR TEMP
RET
PAGE #
FRONT MIC MONO/STEREO
FUNCTION
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
112
PICTURE CACHE ON/OFF
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
112
SUPER (VFDISP&MENU)
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
112
MARKER *
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
RE-TAKE
=
=
=
=
=
ATW
=
=
=
=
=
=
221
RETURN VIDEO
=
=
=
=
=
=
115
LENS RET
=
=
=
=
=
=
115
REC SWITCH
=
=
=
=
=
=
116
TURBO SWITCH
=
=
=
=
=
=
116
ZEBRA
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
209
FREEZE MIX
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
117
113
113
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COLOR TEMP SW 3200K
=
118
COLOR TEMP SW 4300K
=
118
COLOR TEMP SW 5600K
=
118
COLOR TEMP SW 6300K
=
118
ELECTRICAL CC
=
118
CC 5600K
=
=
=
=
=
118
ZOOM TELE/WIDE
=
11
ZOOM WIDE/TELE
=
118
SHOT MARK1
=
=
=
=
=
=
196
SHOT MARK2
=
=
=
=
=
=
196
CLIP FLAG OK
=
=
=
=
=
=
194
CLIP FLAG NG
=
=
=
=
=
=
194
CLIP FLAG KEEP
=
=
=
=
=
=
194
FOCUS MAG
=
=
=
=
=
=
119
DIGITAL EXTENDER
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
119
CLIP CONT REC
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
70
UA01 to UA10 **
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
120
REC VIDEO SOURCE ***
=
120
* This function will override O-13/12: MARKER 1 > MARKER.
** This option does not appear if nothing is assigned with menu E-21:
EDIT ASSIGN SEL (see page 120).
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109
SDI MONITORING & VIDEO OUTPUT
power consumption of the camera. By how much? Well, Sony couldn't
tell me and there is no way to measure it myself, but it appears to be
minimal. I leave one SDI connector turned on all the time and have not
noticed any decrease in battery life.
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It’s important to note that the two SDI connectors are not equal. SDI
OUT 1 is always a clean HD-SDI or SD-SDI signal with no risk of getting
markers or other displays superimposed over the video. Therefore, if
you’re using the camera to send a live feed, or perhaps for recording to
a portable device like Convergent Design’s nanoFlash, then SDI OUT 1
is the safer choice.
On the other hand, although SDI OUT 2 can also be configured for a
clean signal, it has the additional capability of superimposing timecode
numbers, most of the viewfinder data displays, camera menus, and even
zebra and markers (F800 only).
A nice feature is that choosing SD-SDI, even while the camera is configured to record with one of the HD formats, will send a down-converted
SD signal out of the connector. Menu page P-10/09: SD DETAIL can be
used to modify the quality of the SD output signal.
Another function to know about is the “Up Converter”. In a situation
where clips have been recorded with one of the SD formats you can still
output an up-converted HD signal from the SDI outputs. Menu page
M-23/24: UP CONVERTER offers several settings that can be adjusted
to fine-tune the up-converted video.
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PAINT MENUS
OVERVIEW OF THE PAINT MENUS
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P-01: SW STATUS
The primary purpose of this menu page is to quickly check the status
of several important settings that are scattered among the other 16
Paint Menus. In fact, there is nothing on this page that isn’t also found
elsewhere. For example, GAMMA on this page is the exact same setting
as P-04: GAMMA > GAMMA. If you change one menu, then the other
one will be updated automatically.
SETTING ON SW STATUS PAGE
GAMMA
BLACK GAMMA
MATRIX
CORRESPONDS TO:
P-04: GAMMA > GAMMA
P-05: BLACK GAMMA > BLACK GAMMA
P-12/11: MTX LINEAR > MATRIX
P-13/12: MTX MULTI > MATRIX
KNEE
P-06: KNEE 1 > KNEE
WHITE CLIP
P-06: KNEE 1 > WHITE CLIP
DETAIL
P-08/07: DETAIL 1 > DETAIL
APERTURE
FLARE
TEST SAW
P-08/07: DETAIL 1 > APERTURE
P-03: BLACK/FLARE > FLARE
M-13: CAM CONFIG 2 > TEST SAW SELECT
P-02: WHITE
This menu allows you to manually set the color temperature to any
desired value. You can view the image change “live” on a color monitor
or viewfinder while you make adjustments (see page 230).
P-03: BLACK/FLARE
The Master Black level functions somewhat like contrast control on a
monitor. If it is set too low, details in dark areas will be lost. This is known
as crushing the blacks. If it is too high, it will result in poor contrast, and
blacks will appear gray. I suggest that you set a black level and stick to
it because differences in blacks are very noticeable to viewers and hard
to correct.
P-04: GAMMA
Capturing a pleasing yet wide-ranging tonal scale with video cameras
has always been a challenge. Although gamma correction in cameras
was originally intended to compensate for the non-linear way that
typical CRT television monitors reproduced brightness, gamma is
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PAINT MENUS
a time. The setting on this line determines which of the three circuits
you will be adjusting in the next steps.
Scroll down to SKIN DETAIL and turn it “ON”. This activates the skin
detail function for the setting (“1”, “2”, or “3”) that you chose in Step
4.
6.
Scroll up to SKIN DETAIL DETECT and choose “EXEC”. A white box is
displayed in the center of the screen. This is where you define the hue
that we want to adjust.
7.
Re-frame the camera as necessary to put the white box over the
subject’s cheek or forehead and then press the MENU knob. This
captures the “target” hue for circuit “1”.
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5.
8.
SKIN AREA IND should automatically turn itself “ON”. This is a zebra
pattern that is superimposed over regions of the picture that fall within
the specified range of the target hue. This zebra pattern will replace
any regular zebras you currently have being displayed. You cannot
view exposure zebras and skin detail zebras simultaneously.
9.
How does the target hue look? Does it sufficiently cover the skin tones
that you want to change? If Step 7 didn’t completely capture the flesh
tones you want, scroll down and change the SKIN DTL SAT, SKIN DTL
HUE, and SKIN DTL WIDTH as necessary to fine-tune the target area.
10.
Once you are satisfied with the target area, you may want to turn the
zebra pattern off before continuing.
11.
Scroll down to SKIN DETAIL LVL and adjust the setting to anything
between -99 and 99. Positive numbers will result in a sharper image
and negative numbers will soften it.
12.
You can toggle the SKIN DETAIL setting on/off to see the difference.
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PAINT MENUS
The easiest way to understand how Multi-Matrix works is to visualize
a color wheel that has been divided into 16 equal slices of about 20
degrees each. You can then select each slice, one at a time, and adjust
the hue and/or saturation of everything in the picture that falls within
that color range — without affecting anything else in the other 15 slices.
The 16 slices are called B, B+, MG-, MG, MG+, R, R+, YL-, YL, YL+, G-, G,
G+, CY, CY+, and B-.
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For illustration purposes only. This chart is not completely accurate.
HOW TO USE MULTI-MATRIX
1.
In this example, let’s say we have an orange flower against a blue
backdrop and we want to change the hue and saturation of the flower
without affecting the blue backdrop. And we also want to change the
color of the blue backdrop without affecting the color of the flower.
2.
White balance the camera.
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USER FILES
USER FILES
The function of USER FILES can be a difficult concept to get a handle
on. The purpose of USER FILES is to store whatever values have been
assigned to the menus that are part of the camera’s USER MENU —
but not the actual structure of the menu pages themselves. This is
an important point, so let me repeat it. USER FILES store the values
(settings) of the USER MENUS but they do not have any role in determining which menus are part of the USER MENUS.
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Furthermore, USER FILES only store values for those menus that are
part of the camera’s USER MENUS. If a particular menu is not included
within the current USER MENU, then that menu’s value is not affected
when a USER FILE is stored or recalled. Confused? Don’t worry, a
couple of pages from now I’ll explain why I think there's a better alternative to USER FILES, anyway. So don’t spend too much time trying to
understand them right now.
In theory, USER FILES can be re-loaded into the camera at anytime for
immediate recall of a particular configuration. There can be up to 100
USER FILES on a Memory Stick, and if you want to recall a previously
saved USER FILE, it must come from a Memory Stick. Unlike other types
of F800/700 files, it cannot come from an XDCAM disc or USB drive.
The first two menus on page F-01: USER FILE are used to load/save
USER FILES. If there’s no Memory Stick inside the camera, these two
menus are disabled.
SAVE A NEW USER FILE
1.
Customize the values of the camera’s USER MENUS the way you want
to have them saved.
2.
Insert a properly formatted Memory Stick in the card slot.
3.
Go to menu page F-01: USER FILE.
4.
Choose menu F. ID and then create a custom name for the USER FILE.
5.
Choose menu USER FILE SAVE and the camera will go to menu page
P-00: USER SAVE.
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SCENE FILES
LOAD FIVE SCENE FILES FROM A MEMORY STICK
In addition to saving and loading SCENE FILES one at a time from a
Memory Stick, you can save/load five files at a time in a single operation.
But there’s one fundamental difference to be aware of — when you load
a single file, only the camera’s current paint settings are changed and
none of the onboard SCENE FILES are overwritten. However, when you
load five files at once, just the opposite happens. All five onboard SCENE
FILES are replaced with the new files — but the camera’s current paint
settings remain unchanged.
Insert a Memory Stick that has the desired SCENE FILES stored on it.
2.
Go to menu page F-04: SCENE FILE and select “SCENE RECALL”.
3.
Do NOT select anything on page P-00. Rotate the MENU knob and find
the page between P-01 and P-20 that has the files you want to load.
All five files must be on the same page.
4.
Once you have found the page that has the files you want to load,
scroll down to the bottom and choose “5 FILE LOAD - MEM1-5”.
5.
Select “YES” when the camera asks you to confirm the action.
WARNING: This step will overwrite all of the camera’s current onboard
SCENE FILES.
6.
The newly loaded SCENE FILES will be listed as 1-5 on the menu page
F-04: SCENE FILES.
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1.
NOTE: These actions have not changed the camera’s current paint settings or shutter speed.To actually use one of the new SCENE FILES, it
must be selected in the manner described at the top of page 176.
SAVE ALL FIVE ONBOARD SCENE FILES
TO A MEMORY STICK
1.
Verify that a formatted Memory Stick is inside the camera.
2.
Go to menu page F-04: SCENE FILE and select “SCENE STORE”.
3.
Rotate the MENU knob to advance to any page between P-01 and P-20
where you want to save the five files. All five files must be saved on
the same page, and any existing files on a page will be overwritten.
Typically you will want to find a page where all five file names say
“NEW FILE” — that means they are blank.
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METADATA
TIME & DATE
Having your camera programmed with the correct date, time, and time
zone is essential for sorting, searching, and locating clips. If you don’t
take the time to manage these settings properly, the clips you shoot will
be forever mislabeled. Both the time and date can be set via menu page
D-02: TIME/DATE. The camera will not automatically adjust itself for
daylight savings time so remember to change it twice a year. Setting the
proper time zone is also important or your clips may show inaccurate
times when you import them into you computer. Use menu O-28/26:
UMID SET > TIME ZONE to set the time zone.
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TIMECODE
In my opinion, timecode is much less relevant than it used to be when we
were shooting on tape. Nevertheless, it often still remains an important
piece of metadata and usually deserves your attention during a shoot
(see page 232).
THUMBNAIL IMAGE (INDEX PIC)
One piece of metadata most people never really think about is the
thumbnail image, or INDEX PIC, that represents each clip when you
browse through the contents of a disc or transfer clips to your computer.
In the default mode, the thumbnail image is grabbed from the first frame
of the clip, but sometimes that’s not representative of the actual content
of the clip. For example, if you’re shooting news or documentaries,
sometimes it is necessary to start rolling before the shot is completely
framed-up.
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193
EXPOSURE
SLOW SHUTTER (SLS)
“SLS” stands for “Slow Shutter” and I suggest you turn it on. The “Slow
Shutter” mode of the F800/700 provides a useful technique for shooting
in low light without turning on any gain, plus it can be used for getting
some interesting creative motion-blur effects. I must say that SLS is a
feature that can really only be fully understood by experimenting with
it yourself.
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The number of accumulated frames can be set from 2 to 16. What does
that mean in still photography terms? Well, if you’re shooting with a 30P
video format, then SLS @ 16 frames is the equivalent of shooting with
a shutter speed of 1/2 second — that’s a 5-stop difference compared to
shooting with the shutter turned off. SLS is great for low-light shooting
of stationary scenes, but be warned that it does result in unusual
effects whenever there’s any motion. Perhaps the best use of SLS is for
shooting time-lapse clips. If you want to capture time-lapse clips with
smooth-flowing motion, you'll almost always want to use some level of
SLS at the same time.
SHOOTING WITH SHUTTER SLOW SHUTTER (SLS)
1.
Go to menu O-24/22: SHT ENABLE > SHUTTER SLS and verify that it is
turned “ON” . . . and then exit the menus.
2.
Any changes that you need to make to the focus or framing are very
hard to see once you have turned on SLS — so it’s best to finish
composing your shot and focusing first before proceeding to Step 4.
3.
Flick the SHUTTER switch [19] down as many times as necessary until
you see the “SLS:” setting appear on the screen. Within two seconds
of this display appearing, rotate the MENU knob to choose a shutter
speed. The range goes from 2 frames up to 16 frames. The higher the
number, the more light gathering capability the camera will have.
4.
Turn on auto-iris and wait a few seconds for the exposure to settle.
5.
Turn off auto-iris to lock-in the setting, and fine-tune the iris manually,
if necessary. You’ll notice that any changes you make to exposure,
focus, or framing will be difficult to see.
6.
When the shot is finalized, record the clip.
7.
To exit the SLS mode, flick the SHUTTER switch a couple of times to
choose a "normal" shutter speed, or simply turn the shutter off.
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WHITE BALANCE
ADVANCED
WHITE BALANCE CONTROLS
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In addition to the basic, and not-so-basic, white balance controls we’ve
covered so far, the F800/700 offers a number of even more advanced
settings that can be changed with the menus. Be warned, however,
that all of the white balance options can quickly get complicated with
overlapping layers of settings that can interact with each other in ways
that are not always very clear. So use caution before changing anything.
This warning is particularly relevant if you share a camera with other
people who may not be aware of your custom settings — and vice versa.
CC FILTER MEMORY
Whenever the O-22/20: WHITE SETTING > FILTER WHT MEM menu
is turned “ON”, you can allocate a separate white balance memory value
for each position of the CC FILTER wheel on the PDW-F800. However,
I have no idea why you would want to do this because you’ll probably
want to re-white balance anyway whenever you change the filter wheel.
The mere fact that each CC filter is a different colored glass lens pretty
much necessitates re-white balancing the camera if you change from
one to another.
This menu is also on the PDW-700, except that it works in conjunction
with the ND FILTER wheel instead of the CC wheel. Again, I am not fan
of this function. I can’t think of too many (if any) shooting situations
where you would want to link the changing of an ND filter with a preprogrammed change in color temperature. But, if you have a reason for
it, this is the menu page to use.
On the PDW-700, you can use the M-_/16 WHITE FILTER menu page to
assign different electrical CC filters to each of the neutral density (ND)
filters, for times when you're using <PRST>.
There is no equivalent function on the PDW-F800. You cannot store
different white balance values for each ND filter. Despite what the
name may imply, the purpose of menu page M-19/20: ND COMP is not
to memorize a different white balance setting for each position of the
ND FILTER wheel. Its purpose is to compensate for very slight differences among the four ND filters so the white balance remains consistent
when you change filters. The compensation for the built-in ND filters is
Vortex Media’s PDW-700/F800 Field Guide
227
PLAYBACK FUNCTIONS
VIDEO PLAYBACK
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Up to this point, we’ve been using the F800/700 almost exclusively as
a camera, but it’s much more than just that. It’s also a deck that can
playback video like a VCR (and even record if the right options are
installed). Plus it’s an external optical disc drive that can read and write
data files when attached to a computer. It’s like getting three machines
for the price of one. If you add a computer and some NLE software,
you’ve got all the makings of an entire tapeless HD production and postproduction studio at a cost nobody would have believed possible just a
few years ago.
One thing I really like about the F800/700, compared to other camcorders, is that there really isn’t a “playback” or “media” mode that you have
to switch over to. As you’ll see as we go along, you can slip seamlessly
back and forth between playback and recording modes almost instantly.
Unlike tape, there’s no danger of causing any damage during playback,
no need to re-cue to the end, and no chance of breaking the timecode.
Unlike with tape, there’s really reason not to playback clips anytime you
feel like it.
PLAYING BACK THE LAST CLIP
Most of the time when you want to play something back it’s going to
be the last thing you shot, right? There are several ways to quickly play
back the last clip right after you’ve stopped recording:
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CLIP LISTS
18.
To set a new IN and/or OUT point, press the blue MENU button . . .
choose “Trim Sub Clip” . . . and a new page called “Clip List (Trim)”
will be displayed. Quite a bit of information about the chosen clip, and
the clip list in general, is shown on this page.
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19.
You can now use the VDR buttons on top of the camera to play and
search through the clip. Rotating the MENU knob will jog the picture
one frame at a time for very precise point selection.
20.
Notice that it is possible to go beyond the beginning or ending of this
clip and playback video from adjacent clips (on the disc itself — not
the clip list). If you choose an in/out point that goes beyond the
bounds of the current clip, the other clip will be automatically added to
the clip list for you.
21.
Pause on the frame you want to set as the new IN point.
OPTION 1: Press the blue MENU button . . . and select “Set Inpoint”
to trim the clip.
OPTION 2: With the "IN" box highlighted in yellow, simply press the
MENU knob to set the new IN point. This is my preferred method.
22.
Several settings on the “Clip List (Trim)” page will be updated to
reflect the new IN point.
23.
Use the VDR controls again to pause on the frame you want to set as
the new OUT point.
OPTION 1: Press the blue MENU button . . . and select “Set Outpoint”
to trim the clip.
OPTION 2: Press the down-arrow button so that the OUT box is now
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IMPORTING CLIPS
NETWORK MODE
IMPORTING CLIPS VIA ETHERNET (FTP)
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XDCAM's FTP mode allows transfer of media over a standard Ethernet
connection in both peer-to-peer and LAN configurations. You can
connect a computer to the camera and transfer files directly, or place
the camera on a LAN for IT-collaborative workflows. Both Full resolution and proxy files (as well as all their associated metadata) can be
transferred using FTP, as can virtually anything residing in the Edit,
General, or User Data folders in the XDCAM’s directory. A producer or
editor can log in to an XDCAM camera or deck from anywhere on the
network, and multiple XDCAM devices can be placed on a network with
each unit assigned its own specific IP address (and, where applicable,
Default Gateway and Subnet Mask).
The following step-by-step FTP instructions are for establishing a basic
peer-to-peer connection between the camera and one computer. When
it comes to networking, I cannot anticipate every conceivable configuration or problem you may run into, so please use these directions as
general advice that may or may not fit your situation exactly. Fortunately, most of these instructions only need to be done to set up the
first-time connection. Subsequent connections can be established with
just a couple of steps.
IMPORTING VIA PEER-TO-PEER FTP (WINDOWS)
1.
Install the Sony application called “PDZ-VX10 Full Resolution Viewer”.
2.
Option: Install the Sony application called “PDZ-1 Proxy Browsing
Software”.
3.
Download and install FileZilla from http://filezilla-project.org/. FileZilla
is a free downloadable FTP client that we’ll use later in this example
to access the contents of the disc. You may use a different FTP client if
you prefer — FileZilla is just one of many FTP client options.
4.
On the camera, go to the O-07: POWER SAVE > ETHERNET/USB menu
and verify that it is set to “ENABL”.
5.
Insert a disc that has clips on it into the camera. An FTP connection
cannot be established without a disc in the camera.
6.
Go to menu page M-22/23: NETWORK. The camera is able to acquire
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VORTEX MEDIA’S
PDW-700
PDW-F800
FIELD GUIDE
by Doug Jensen
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"This is the book that should
have been included with your camera."
The Sony PDW-700 and PDW-F800 camcorders are loaded with advanced
features and options that can bewilder even the most seasoned professional.
That's why you need Vortex Media's PDW-700/F800 Field Guide in your
camera bag. It's packed with essential information, tips, warnings, undocumented functions, and page after page of practical advice. This guide will
help you set up your camera, configure the menus, create custom Scene
Files, name clips, export proxy files, and much more.
In the no-nonsense style for which Doug Jensen is known, he cuts through
the clutter of confusing, misunderstood, and undocumented features. He
explains each camera function and provides step-by-step instructions for
how to use them. His suggestions and advanced techniques will improve
the quality of your footage, streamline your workflow, and make you more
productive.
No matter how well you think you know your camera, you will learn things in
this field guide that you didn't know before — plus it makes a handy reference
anytime you need a quick refresher course.
With over 300 pages of detailed information, you won’t find a single important
topic left out. This field guide will change the way you use the Sony PDW-700
and PDW-F800 camcorders.
$99.00
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