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Picking the right camera and setting HD shoot to make post easy
I am working on a training video for a client. The first shoot was a learning experience for one and all. I learned a lot about what I did wrong and they got to learn a lot about what they did and did not want in the video. We are going to go back and re shoot the whole thing.
I called on someone I know that owns a Panasonic AG-DVX100B and brought him in as the resendent expert. The client originally wanted HD, but the camera man talked me, who talked the client out of HD. Than, after the shoot, I ran into Drobo’s a demo video shot in HD and I have fallen in love with the idea of shooting this video in 720p HD. I have spoke with the client about the reshoot being in HD and depending on cost, he is all for it. Now I need to learned the technical stuff…
The final output will be web, DVD, and Blueray. I keep seeing all over the place how folks love the 24p film look. What is wrong with 60p? One would think that if shot in 60p, it can be converted to 24p, yes, no?
So, the two camera’s the local rental place has are:
Sony HVR V1U
Panasonic AG-HVX200Is there going to really be a difference? Considering we initially used a Panasonic, I am leaning towards the Panasonic AG-HVX200. Looking at the specs on the camera, it has a LOT of different 720p frame rates: 12, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 30, 32, 36, 48, 60fps
I default thought is to shoot at 60fps and covert to slower frame rate, given the output media, mind you this is as some might say, simply a talking head video, so from a bandwisth perspective am I better off shooing in 24, which is also the standard for NTSC, correct?
In the end, what would you advice to make my post processing as pain free as possible.
Sam
P.S. The machine this will be edited on will be a Quad Core 2.66 MHZ Xeon machine with 8G RAM, and 2 WD Velociraptor drives, so hardware should not be an issue:)
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2 Replies
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The Panasonic codec will be superior but you can’t shoot tape (you’ll need P2 cards or an HD recorder), I think above all, the HVX will be familiar to the camera guy since he is used to working with the DVX.
We now always shoot 30PN on the Panasonics (HVX200 or HPX500)
You can also shoot 1080 but the requirements for editing will be higher (not much in resolution gains given the chip size).
If you decide to go with the HVX, pick up Barrie Green’s book and spend all the time you can reading it before getting to your shoot, it’ll be an invaluable resource, especially for a rental.
Vince Becquiot
Director | EditorKaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area -
First off, I am going to be the camera man next time. I quickly realized that the person I hired did not really add anything other then a camera, which cost about the same as renting the camera.
I am a pretty good still photographer so thing like lighting and composition I understand. As far a the technical aspect of this stuff, I am a programmer that worked for 2 years in an image analysis division of a major corporation, I understand a lot of the technical aspects of digital imaging, including things like YC waveforms and Vectorscopes. Stuff the camera man I hired did not understand, he had zero clue as what to do with the Macbeth Color Checker I handed the actor. The Macbeth Color Checker was filmed on my behalf, but not used to calibrate the camera. Which explains the high lights not being all that high. But I digress…
The rental place does rent two 8GB P2 cards with the Panasonic AG-HVX200 and I will have a laptop with external 500GB HD on location. The only question is how can I download one P2 card while filming with the other? They do have the Panasonic AJ-PCS060G P2 Store Drive for $50, is that the best solution?
Also, where might I find this book by Barrie Green? I don’t see it at Amazon?
Sam
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