HVX-200 Vs. Varicam- What do you think?

[Harry Pallenberg]

Its my opinion that the ‘regular joe’ will not see that much diff…. sure if they are shown them side by side they will pick the better one… but if they see just the ‘babyvari’ they will not think twice. If the acting/story is good they will tlak about that, if they suck, they will laugh at it… but I’ll bet they will not say “Wow that looks liek it was shot on a cheap camera” or “Look at the depth of field issues”…. after all these people watch reality TV with lipstick cams, dumped onto a badly set-up home TV, via who know what kind of compressed cable system. Or they watch super compresssed footage over the web – again on a monitor that is not ‘set-up’ correctly. I ask ‘regular joe’ types if they ever see compression in DVD’s from Blockbuster… they often have no idea what I am talking about.

We recently dubed 2inch masters that had sat in a non-climate controled garage for 25 years, dubed them to digibeta, captured them to 8-bit uncompressed, back to digibeta, then ingest into the master server (not sure how compressed this is) then out to air (well they air in July)… and I’m sure they will do great in the ratings.

[Nick B]

michael if you can deal with the P2 issues then the Panasonic HVX 200 should prove a great camera to own and for the money i cannot see how anyone could not be pleased with it.

[Accountclosedduetopolicyviolations]

Yes I agree with all You said,but..how do you operate the camera which has got no real lens controls.
Recently myself and other cameramen tried to “operate” HDV camera.
While it is OK to shoot wide and from the tripod,you really can not control camera-lens when you want to do some really creative shots.
For cheap docos and corporates it is ok.
I understand the main reason peaple are talking about those video cameras(like sony hdv) is,they are affordable and picture looks ok.
I will buy one as a second camera for some different shots,but not as my main one.It is sad to see 80% of so called docos on National Geography so badly shot and edited,they look like family holiday movies.
Industry has got itself to blame for that.No mechanic can become a doctor unless they have a uni degree,yet ANYBODY can become “director or cameraman”.
Offcourse picture from Panasonic,JVC or Sony small cameras will look OK.
But they will never match quality of picture from big guns,especially if you have real pros standing behind them.
Take care all.
jiri vrozina,australia

[Graeme Nattress]

But talent is where you find it, and has very little to do with “education”, especially in a traditional sense. I think we’ve all seen “professionals” who’ve been in the biz for years, had all the right education, been to all the right colleges, produce utter rubbish, and people without such traditional backgrounds produce brilliance. Cheap, affordable, high quality cameras level the playing field and force everyone to compete on talent, not dollars.

Just as with the glut of so-called “designers” that we got when the DTP industry took off, we’ve got that too in the television business, but DTP is now, for the very most part back in the hands of the true designers, except they can now run their business more profitably due to the quality of the now lower priced DTP tools.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP

[Invalid User]

Graeme Nattress- “Cheap, affordable, high quality cameras level the playing field and force everyone to compete on talent, not dollars.”

Thank you ! Viva la revolution ! Right on Graeme!

Art and Talent ! Not MONEY! Not Commerce!

Michael

[Invalid User]

Nick-

Yeah the P2 thing is challenging at the moment… but by the time this camera is released there are going to be other options. Perhaps Firestore will step up to the plate with a less expensive drive that can hold a ton of footage…. Not to mention other solid state memory companies that are looking at this P2 camera as a way to showcase there fancy gadgets and make a buck. I’ll bet the answer will surface in the next six months.

Cheers-

Michael

[Graeme Nattress]

I don’t know about other people, but I’m looking forwards to the challenges, finding the solutions and making interesting programmes.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP

[User Requested post notices bouncing]

[Graeme Nattress] “I don’t know about other people, but I’m looking forwards to the challenges, finding the solutions and making interesting programmes.”

I couldn’t agree more, Graeme! Hopefully one of the first things that happens when the HVX-200 is released is that there is a comparison of it with HDV cameras and the VariCam, etc., to establish a baseline of what to expect and what can be done to optimize the acquisition from the camera. I am also interested in how the camera will contribute to better keying than DV supports. Other than that, it is up to us to tell the story. If head clogs become a thing of the past, so much the better!

Thanks for your support.

[Tony]

Michael,

Well one item the viewers are not going to see but the crew and producer will is the workflow and operational procedures between both cameras.

For example on a large scale multicamera production involving the need for jam syncing timecode, a VC to shade the cameras, maybe the use of fibre, cameras on jibs, switchable lenses, etc then using a higher end production camera is the proper tool for the job.

A production has much more to do than the final image on screen. If a tools requires ten times more workarounds to acheive a simple task then why anyone would put themeselves through the pain of it escapes me.

The end users currently using F900’s and Varicam as their principal source of cameras are not going to overnight switch to the 200 just because it is smaller, cooler and cost alot cheaper. It will be a supplemental camera. Those who cannot afford to work in the big leagues will find the 200 as a camera which will serve their needs.

The two products are not meant to replace each other rather supplement.

Tony Salgado

PS- I Just heard about some exciting disk recording technology another company is releasing soon which will blow away P2 (especially the price point) for high end work.

[Graeme Nattress]

Is that the holographic disc stuff? Sounds very promising, but is not currently available, and we don’t know the robustness of the media for on-location use. I still think recording to solid state memory is a good thing, but I think holographics will be perfect for backups and long term storage. Just like with cameras where you use the appropriate camera for the job (which your post made a very good point of), you use the right recording technology for the job, and suitability-wise, I don’t see anything better than solid state memory. However, as you say, price is an issue, and it’s falling. Also, as Panasonic manufacure more of the P2 cards, their manufacturing costs will fall, as well as the RAM costs that are falling.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP