Controls
The menu settings for the camera section were very easy to navigate and understand. I could change virtually any feature in a matter of seconds, or completely setup the camera for a different look in less than 5 minutes. Detail and gamma were two of my favorite choices for image manipulation. Both horizontal and vertical detail can be adjusted over a very wide range as well as the detail frequency and the balance between them. Gamma changes were equally versatile. Black stretch and compress is located on a switch on the side of the camera and produces a very "film like" gray scale under a wide range of lighting contrasts.

I never used the full "auto" function the camera provides, as I needed to match scenes and didn't have enough hours on the camera to trust it. But the manual says in full auto mode, all you have to do is point it and focus. Everything else; auto-tracking white balance, auto exposure, auto gain and auto shutter, is controlled by the onboard processing circuits. I have no reason to doubt it. As it was, the only time I got into trouble was when I screwed up. Isn't that the way it should be?

The camera white balanced under almost every condition. The only time I had a "no good" from the white balance circuit was in an overlight situation. Closing the iris solved that problem. Hint: Put the lens in "auto" just before white balancing and you will minimize this issue (which is what you should do anyway!). The filter wheel has three positions: indoor (3200K)/outdoor (5600K) and outdoor with ND filter. The white balance switch also has the normal "preset" function which works well when in a run and gun situation as long as your lighting situation is close to the proper color temperature for indoor/outdoor. Don't use it under fluorescence or at sunrise/sunsets. Mixing different lighting was another non-issue. I've learned a lot of tricks shooting with the Ikegami and applied many of them during this shoot. One of the most important is tricking the camera into a proper white balance when you have a variety of different color temperature lighting at a location. With a small crew and limited time and budget, we couldn't turn off, flag off or color gel every window, bad light or the sun. So we'd do the best we could, then angle the white card to favor the color temp we wanted. Bingo! Instant proper white balance regardless of filter setting or light level. OK, sometimes there was a slightly small "weird looking" corner of a wall in the background, but overall, the scene looked real and the actors skin tones were right on target.

Next: Audio

 

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Audio
Ergonomics and Performance
Durability, Down Side, Bottom Line