There’s a Pentax K-01 in there somewhere. I had hoped to use it as shown for a video shoot tomorrow. And while the setup looks complex, it’s that way to make up for some shortcomings of the camera.
That Tascam on top for example is hooked up to the Sennheiser shotgun mic because if I hook the Sennheiser to the K-01 I have no way of monitoring audio. The K-01 doesn’t even show level meters on the rear LCD while recording or playing back. That’s an interview without any audio or poor audio just waiting to happen. Thus the Tascam.
Just below the Tascam is a SmallHD LCD display. Why bother, you might ask, if the K-01 already has an LCD? One reason – the K-01 doesn’t provide focus peaking while recording video. Only before. So if the subject moves – say leans forward during an interview – you can’t use focus peaking to regain focus.
No worries, I think, the K-01 has HDMI out! I’ll just hook up the SmallHD and use its focus peaking to make sure that my subject stays in focus.
Alas, all’s not well in videoland. The K-01’s HDMI port is only capable of playing back photos and video. It’s not live during recording. Not only that, the moment you plug in an HDMI cable into the K-01 it goes immediately into Play mode with no way of taking a picture or shooting video.
I was so looking forward to trying this setup out tomorrow. I guess I’ll just have to swap in the Panasonic GH2…
So close Pentax, so close…