Digital 8 TRV-350

do u guys know of any filters that make your video look more filmmy and how much they are thanks for the help

Tiffen sells something they call their "Film Look DV Kit." I don't have any personal experiences with trying for the "film look," so I couldn't say how effective the kit is. I stumbled on it while shopping for filters.

If nothing else, it'll give you an idea of what kind of filters might be used for that effect. The filters are described here:
http://www.adorama.com/TF58FLK.html

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 10, 2004 02:58 PM: Message edited by: nunquam ]</font>

I bumped some Digital 8 footage to BetaCam SP that was shot with the new Digital 8 460, the newer Digital 8 camera that costs less, and is all touch screen, gasp.

The blacks are too black and the whites are too bright. The 350 gives a better image because one can control the exposure. DO NOT TRUST the Japanese to give you decent auto functions. They are fixated on zero black and ultra high contrast to rival film, but when they do it on normal resolution video products they are 100 percent in error.

I wouldn't take this new camera if it were given to me. If I did, I would smash out the lens and only use the camera to play back video, not to capture it. [img]graemlins/thumbs_down.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 01, 2004 10:56 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]</font>

what do u guys think of the sony DCR-TRV140 for $208

The only real downside I can see is the lack of analog inputs (and no analog output, I assume).

I looked at a couple of reviews on Epinions.com and Amazon.com, and read that this particular model of Digital8 camera is not backwards compatible...meaning it won't play analog recordings on 8mm and Hi8 tapes! This feature is one of the great advantages of D8, and I'm shocked that this model can't do it.

Even if that's not important to you, the analog access should be...I often output video via my D8 to my VCR, sometimes passing it from my computer, thru the D8, and out to the VCR. I've also used my D8 as a kind of digital VCR, taping programs directly from the TV.

Even though $208 seems like a great price for a digital camcorder, you might want to keep shopping.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 16, 2004 05:01 PM: Message edited by: nunquam ]</font>

[img]eek.gif[/img] Just remembered...some early models of the Sony Digital 8 camera had an unintended use for their Night Vision.

On some older models, if you turned on the Night Vision feature during the day, you could "see" through some types of clothes...a kind of "x-ray vision"! I'm not sure how it worked or why, but once Sony became aware of it, they re-tooled the Night Vision so it couldn't do that. You can still find the cameras for sale on the Net (for a pretty price). I've seen some of the footage on the Net and it's pretty startling.

I bring the TRV-350 along as a B-roll camera. It comes in quite handy when the BetaCam SP camera is on sticks with a teleprompter attached and the client wants a quick b-roll shot.

I was surprised at how loud the head drum is. I moved in close to make sure I got good audio on a quickie interview and the camera noise was quite loud. I had to roll off the high end to minimize the sound and it's barely acceptable at best.

I might have to look into a shotgun mic. If there is any kind of ambient noise in the background, then the camera noise is minimized, but if the room is silent, the camera mic picks up the spinning head drum sound.

That's an inherent problem with Sony consumer-grade cameras. They have a dynamic gain control that will automatically adjust based on the volume of the room. In some situations, its actually very beneficial, but in the "silent" condition you mentioned the camera boosts the gain in an effort to pick up something. Unfortunately, the something it finds is the motor. As far as I know, there's no way to turn off the automtic gain on the mic. You're best bet for pro applications is to get an external mic.

Quick question on the 350... does it have a "hot" accessory shoe on the top of the camera?

I had a TRV-230 that finally gave-up-the-ghost and died a horrible, twitching death. I'm looking to replace the camera but it looks like Sony got rid of the feature in the new models. Too bad, because I have a great little shotgun mic that clips into the accessory shoe and runs sound directly into the camera without requiring any wires. It was a quick and easy solution, and provided very satisfactory results.

sn films: I had the same problem with auto gain on a TCR DRV 240 some years ago. If you get an external mic it makes no difference. You still get the camera searching for some audio to record and only picking up ambient hiss.