18Jan Aputure V-Screen VS-3 7 inch IPS HDMI field Monitor features Firmware update
Quick heads up, if you have an Aputure VS-3 IPS monitor, there is a firmware update available here. This update addresses the focus peaking issues I mentioned in this earlier post. So far i’m still pretty happy with the VS-3, i’ve been testing it on a few projects with the Canon c100 and the monitor, unlike the c100, has done pretty well. Hopefully I’ll get some side by side shots of the c100 and 5d mark III posted this weekend, the graininess and layout of the c100 controls has yet to grow on me. Audio interface and top handle are great but when i’m just trying to film me speaking into the camera, the c100 is a pain to use. Also I’ll be upgrading the Aputure VS-3’s firmware this weekend and posting some focus peaking results.
January 18th, 2014 at 6:00 pm
I purchased a c100 recently and it’s also been a bit of a struggle coming from the 5D iii. I do however feel it’s a matter of just learning how to use the camera because it’s so different than the DSLR. When I get a shot right the footage is great, much better than dslr. It Does seem to read a lot darker than DSLR footage in general and I do notice the noise but there are definitely things you can do about that. Wide DR is especially noisy so I wouldn’t shoot with that preset. Doing some research online I found some custom presets that definitely help with the noise Another really useful tool for noise is auto black balancing, especially while shooting with a ninja because otherwise I get a lot of interlaced looking footage every couple of frames
January 18th, 2014 at 7:51 pm
The biggest problem for me so far has been the crawling noise and lack of proper remote control support. Even though i’m not extremely excited about the layout of controls, they are easy enough to find and use. I often have to adjust to the ergonomics of rental cameras on different jobs so in that regard the C100 really isn’t that bad. However crawling noise starts to creep into shots as low as 1600 iso and it’s very noticeable, I can run the footage through some noise filters, but at that point I may as well shoot with a 5d mark III for the loss in resolution. The ninja does help, but the interlaced output means that I sometimes mis the first second or two of a shot to junk video while the ninja adjusts to the camera. This has cost me 4 or 5 times and I’ve had to pull footage from the card to save a scene. As for remote controlling the camera the LANC support is really bad. Basically all you have for control is start and stop recording, no focus support or anything else of value works over LANC controls. For self shot tutorials the c100 is a bad move IMHO, for paying projects I use it because It’s often requested (and the camera needs to earn it’s keep), but the results so far haven’t really impressed me. In fact when asked by a client what to shoot on, I say 5dmkIII for most budget conscious clients. I’ll try fooling around with some more settings maybe I’ll find something that’ll change my mind.