New Products

[Kevin Bachar]

Dear Helmut,

When I read your post it sure had a lot of …”in one or two years”. I’m working now ..not in the future…unless I can get that Delorean working again with those Jilowatts. On the how I work question …I can only talk about how I work and what I do. On the power front, I’m heading to Argentina now to shoot and the generator at the place where we are staying is only on for 4 hours a day. So …you tell me do I break in the middle of the day to get my download time in? I don’t think so. As I have said …if P2 works for you …great…but in my conditions for my shooting it doesn’t. i was at Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival in 2005 when Panasonic introduced the first P2 camera. Needless to say…there was excitement…but a bit of – huh? How does this work for us in the field…it almost seemed a step backward in terms of downloading – reminded many of changing mags…and needing an AC or now a DIT. Of course the P2 has come a long way since then..but one of the essential questions raised back in 2005 was this. I asked everyone to raise their hands if they have had a computer or hard drive crash over the last year…half the room raised their hands. I then asked if anyone had had a tape failure in the field over the last year…no hands raised. Again…let me make it clear I am not against solid state for the right shoots..go to http://www.aetv.com/jacked/ to see my series that was shot on the EX1. Like I said the proper tool for the right job…it’s just what you are hearing from people like myself and Tom and Erich is that the F900, and the tape based Varicam, or Panasonic 900 is still the best way to get the shot and show in the can. I’m glad it works for you in what you do, but for others, sorry it isn’t working. The 3700, the 2700 and now the mini 1/3″ 300 (Big HUH! who is that for)….3 cameras and each does something different…how about one that does it all. I think if you have invested in one of these then of course you need to make a case for why it works and why it works best. For me I own both Sony (F900) and Panasonic (Varicam) product and EX 1 (3 of them) so I really don’t have my apples all in one cart. I’m looking at this from a strict production view and what is best for the projects I work on. Anyways…as always …my two cents…nothing more.

Kevin Bachar – http://www.pangolinpictures.com

[Thomas Kaufman]

I’m really happy the COW provides a place for us to exchange out ideas. I also wanted to state that myself, Erich, and probably Kevin are keenly interested in new technology. Maybe I’m generalizing, but I think most DP’s love the technical aspect of what they do. For me, learning HD has helped keep this business fresh and interesting.

All of which is to say I have no problem whatsoever with the IDEA of solid-state recording, and that includes in the field (which for me would be sub-Saharan Africa, not my local sound stage).

The things that make me hesitate have been mentioned by myself and others in great detail, so I won;t go into it again. I just wanted to say that we’re not troglodytes — just the opposite. We dig the new stuff and love to play with it. But from a business viewpoint, it has to make sense.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom Kaufman,
DP

[Kevin Bachar]

Amen Tom.

Kevin

[Barry Lank]

You are bang on. I bought one of the first Varicams in Canada and think it is just great. I hate P2 and will either go to Sony HDCAM or wait for Panasonic to make a camera for cameramen not computer technicians. I think Panasonic needs to talk to us not their engineers. Make the camera for us, ask
us what we would buy. I too will not buy anything from Panasonic at this time. They need to make a new Varicam that we can all feel good about.

[Robert Sullivan]

Erich, Tom, and Kevin….Your are soooo… correct in your equipment assessments….As an.. err…elder camera/sound person, I would like to see two products that I could actually lift off the the ground to my shoulder where a properly balance professional camera should be.

1. A Panasonic HD-300 A with the H264 codec that uses the sd cards that power the little Panny
150 camera.. Only God knows why an $8500 camera needs a billion dollars worth of P 2 cards to keep it running on the low budget stuff that camera will be good at.

2. A Sony EX-4 (that sits like a proper camera balanced perfectly on your shoulder) with the same boring H264 codec that takes those same cheap, dull, dependable little SD cards.

Transfer the SD cards to PR 422 for editing and put the cheap archival SD cards on the shelf…I would trust data lasting on those cards more than data lasting on any hard drive.

Ciao, Sully