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NAB: No color finder for Varicam
I just got back from NAB and I am sad to report that there was no color viewfinder for the Varicam. A rep for Panasonic said they were unable to get an outside vendor to supply them, and there would be no internal development effort. I am very disappointed. If you have ever had a chance to see the Sony color finder for the F-900 or the Accuscene, you would understand why a high-res color finder for the Varicam is a MUST HAVE! Both finders have amazing sharpness and color/contrast. Focus is much easier to discern with a color finder, as is exposure.
Virtually every Sony camera on display at NAB had a color finder. I don -
3 Replies
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Yeah, I just finshed a pilot for Sony with 900/3’s and the color finder was a nice change of pace. The zoom in button did help with focus but I found that the Digiprimes were so sharp that they resolved way beyond the finder rez.
Rob Bullard
varicam@mac.com
401-447-0291 -
Chris, Rob,
It was primarily a logistical snafu that kept Accu-scene from providing us with the color viewfinder for the VariCam at NAB. I saw a prototype a year ago and it looked fantastic, so I too am eager to get my hands on the final product. If you want to hound Accu-scene to make VariCam the top priority, I would certainly not object.
Mike Bergeron
Camera Engineer
Panasonic Broadcast -
We are the Australasian distributors for the AccuScene viewfinders and as we are a rental house as well, it was a top priority of our to get the AccuScene to ‘talk’ to our Varicams. We’d been supplying our F900/3 cameras with the Sony 2.7″ HD Colour viewfinder for some time and as the question kept coming up, “why can’t I have a colour V/F on the Varicam…”
We decided it was time to explore all of the possibilities.
We did this successfully by using the AJA HD-SDI to HD component converter velcroed to the side of the camera. This is then plugged in to the Varicam V/F box supplied by AccuScene. We then run a normal 12v input in to device and ‘presto’… A full res colour viewfinder on the Varicam, with all menus and all the normal range of the usual viewfinder information.
One of the best things about this setup is seeing the look on our customer’s faces when they look through the viewfinder for the first time, 99.9% of them are completely overwhelmed at the quality of the image and conseqently they are instantly more relaxed about shooting on this format.
Interestingly, the exact same viewfinder system works on our Sony F900/3 cameras as well… albeit without the need for the AJA interface, but with the exact same picture quality. This also makes the Accuscene a powerfull constant between the two formats. If the DP gets enough confidence with the AccuScene and all of its own idiosyncracies, the transition from one format to the other is far less painfull.
The AccuScene is a very powerful tool on set, its ‘exposure mode’ function could be argued to be a better gauge of exposures than the traditional waveform monitor. Not only can it replace the need for a wavform on set, it can also replace the need for an expensive, power hungry HD reference monitor as well.
The image it produces is that good.
Coincidently, the AccuScene also works with the Viper system and of course, it is also fitted to the new Panavision Genesis cameras as well, now hows that for a cross platform device…?
If anyone would like to see photos etc of our system, or would like to buy/rent such a system, drop us an e-mail and we’d be happy to help.
Rgd’s
Andrew Timlin
Broadcam Pty Ltd –
HD & SD Broadcast Equipment Hire, Sydney, Australia.
http://www.broadcam.com.au
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