OT: Sony AX-2000 and iris control

CVM wrote on 9/14/2011, 7:56 PM

I've looked in the manual. I've looked on-line. Now I need the help of REAL professionals... my friends in this forum.

I have a Sony AX-2000. I shoot on full auto, partial auto, full manual, and partial manual (the camera allows for this which is SO nice). Anyway, no matter how I am shooting, I cannot, EVER, manually get the iris to 'blow out' the scene. I can manually get the iris to close down, but in every style of shooting (see above), I cannot overexpose the scene. FYI... the iris ring is not mechanical, it is servo-driven.

Case in point. Shooting a brightly lit window... iris on f/8 and gain manually locked at 0db... I twist the iris ring from properly exposed f/8 to f/2 but the shot stays normally exposed. The viewfinder iris indicator says I'm on f/2, but there is no change in scene exposure. I rotate the ring back and forth from f/2 to f/8 and it scene stays put.

If anyone has an AX-2000 and can shed some light on my issue, I would be grateful!

Dave

Comments

farss wrote on 9/14/2011, 8:22 PM

I don't have the AX-2000 but your problem sounds familiar.
To actually get full "manual" control of exposure you need to get everything into manual including gain, iris and shutter speed.
It sounds to me like you have managed to get the gain and iris into manual but not the shutter speed so the camera is adjusting exposure using shutter speed. You need to press or somehow select Shutter Speed to get it into manual and stop the auto exposure system from compensating for you changing aperature.

Bob.

Jerry K wrote on 9/15/2011, 3:22 PM

I own the AX2000 and Bob is correct. For the Iris to work properly in the manual mode you need to lock the gain and shutter to a fixed value.

If the gain or shutter is set to auto it will try to compensate as you work the iris and drive you nuts. This problem is much more noticeable when shooting outside in day light.

If you like shooting fully automatic and you need to open or close the iris a few F stops you can accomplish this by using the AS mode and the small thumb wheel on the left side just below the
auto-manual switch. You will also find the AS mode which is also called AE Shift located at #5 of your assign buttons just below the handle on the left side of the unit.

Jerry K

CVM wrote on 9/16/2011, 9:30 AM

HOORAY!!!! HOORAY!!! Hooray for the super smart people on this forum!!!! Yes, it WAS the shutter speed! I didn't know it adjusted itself while on manual mode. I just 'lock' the shutter to 60 fps by pushing the button and... taadaa! complete iris control.

I was going BATTY in the field. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

Dave