going from tape to tapeless

[Craig Seeman]

What are your questions?
Probably one important question is whether you find CMOS acceptable for fast action sports.
You might consider JVC HM100, 700, 790 series. They’re also XDCAM EX but are CCD cameras.
EX1r will have 1/2″ sensor though whereas the HM100 is 1/4″ and 700s are 1/3″

Honestly if I were shooting football and soccer exclusively I’d consider the JVC HM700.
It’s shoulder mount, CCD (no rolling shutter), the smaller sensor may not be an issue in this case because deep Depth Of Field is fine for sports documentation. It also has interchangeable lenses.

EX3 has interchangeable lenses but it’s still not true shoulder mount.

[Lee Hopper]

thank you

[Bob Tompkins]

Lee,

I would suggest that you find a reputable camera dealer in your area, not a consumer camera store, and go to them and look at all of your options. This is not the place to make a $6-10,000.00 decision. Most dealers will allow you to demo the different models and to see if they work for your workflow.

[Craig Seeman]

I should mention as a creative tool I prefer the EX camera because of the bigger chips and I do shoot Tennis with it but it’s for local cable spots. I like the greater DOF control. I shoot primarily tripod with hand held only for very short periods. I do mostly corporate work and some local cable spots. That’s a different set of circumstances than documenting a sporting event though. That’s why there is no “best” camera.

Both JVC HM and Sony EX use XDCAM EX codec which is much easier to use than AVCHD based cameras.

[Brent Dunn]

I do shoot a lot of fast action sporting events. I’ve done a lot of soccer and football games with the EX-1 and a V1U, both CMOS.

I’ve shot both in 1080p and 1080i formats. 1080i tends to be a bit better with fast action movement.

If you are doing High School or College sports for review sake, then you don’t need to go out and spend a bunch of money. If there is no editing and you are also burning direct to DVD, you should be able to do this during the event without post burning.

If you are covering a lot of games, it’s almost better to stick with tape for ease of storage of media. Otherwise with a XD Cam, SD, or CF media recording format, you will have to spend time transferring this media to a hard drive and then making a 2nd copy to another drive or archiving media.

It’s not cheaper going tapeless. It’s not really a timesaver except when ingesting media for editing. Tape is the original file. You will need to re-use your SxS or SD cards over and over again. Therefore you will need to transfer the media to a computer, back it up, & then erase your cards for the next shoot.

I find that there really isn’t going to be much difference in your product if your shooting in HD. It sounds like you have an SD camera, so you will notice much better detail. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much quality in the “Direct to DVD” recorders.

Good luck..and never miss the goal of touchdown : )

Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Films
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.net

Sony EX-1,
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro Tower, Quad Core,
with Final Cut Studio

HP i7 Quad laptop
Adobe CS-5 Production Suite

[Lee Hopper]

Thank you all for your inputs