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Test of the HPX 2700 now online
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I have seen nothing to suggest the imager will be any different/enhanced, etc, if not the very same.
I was able to bite my thumb last year when they stuck the under-overcrank capability in the 500 but not the 2000. From a marketing aspect, putting it in the 2000 (obviously a superior imager to the 500) would/could have been a direct competition to the tape based varicam sales. Fine – whatever… At least I got to spend the year with two beautiful native 720 P2 cameras, and they performed wonderfully… Great flexibility, popping colors, and impressive sensitivity.
To see the (potential and probable) price hike a year later on what is appearing to be math/software is bewildering. Fine then – $10k for math – but why then is it possible to put it in the 500?
I’m not trying to underestimate the components, production, engineering/programming for an unveiled product line/cycle, etc. Should it cost more? Most probably – especially $3K more MSRP for the intra card alone. Again, it’s the other speculated/expected amount that I’m not completely ‘getting’.
Maybe the logo is made of gold? The name is certainly worth something…
All unitentional bickering aside – I want 1 or 2 – solely for the name, and the occasional flexibility of anticipated/creative overcranking. Of course, I’ll feel better if I know what I’m paying for, especially after the first $100K worth or devotion to the line.
Right now it feels like last year’s car with a better logo, a racing stripe, and the affordable transmission mod that was available last fall. I think sometimes these things just happen in production, especially if someone doesn’t say something. Doesn’t mean it necessarily has to(?).
Throw your stones…
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Thank you Jeremy for taking the time to lay out so articulate.
How you get the files off the cards? Do you use your camera or is there a stand-alone card reader?
And, any talk about an outboard card system that we can use with Firewire or better yet, HD-SDI on our existing cameras like the HDX900?
Ernie Santella
Santella Film/Video Productions
http://www.santellaproductions.com -
[Ernie Santella] “How you get the files off the cards? Do you use your camera or is there a stand-alone card reader? “
Me personally? I use a reader as I am not usually shooting and can take the time to do it. But if I were on my own and on location in a remote area, I’d use the camera.
[Ernie Santella] “And, any talk about an outboard card system that we can use with Firewire or better yet, HD-SDI on our existing cameras like the HDX900? “
On board? No. But there’s this expensive beast that could be condsidered an upgrade to your camera as it will take your HDSDI straight out of the camera and record to AVC-I via the cards, remove pulldown, down convert, transfer to hard drives. Lots of stuff. I have not battle tested one in the field, but had a chance to play around with one for a look-see.
I also use an ioHD and do live captures straight to ProRes. That works like a dream too. Makes keying a breeze, but it can’t be used in every situation at all. It’s more of a studio or outside with a generator type rig. We shoot 95% of the stuff we edit, so this fits our workflow very nicely as we work in FCP and usually have control over the entire pipeline.
I have great appreciation for DVCPro HD. It really launched my career in a lot of ways. It’s like an old mentor of mine. Now, after working with AVC-Intra and also capturing straight to ProRes, I realize it’s time to move on. This article highlights the D800RAID I have in edit suite, but you can see pictures of my mobile setup and my cheesy arse mug 😉
Jeremy
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Noah, I just caught this thread. I can tell you if you were out there shooting two weeks for Discovery and you had to back up four to five hours of P2 footage every night back at your hotel, you’d see what some of these guys mean. Many docos and corportaes have just a producer, DOP and soundo. They don’t have a data-monkey coming along for the ride. I use P2 for commercials but for many people it is and will always be a real problem.
Peter
Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
http://www.php.com.au -
[Peter Corbett] “I use P2 for commercials but for many people it is and will always be a real problem.”
I thought I may have sounded a bit brusque there. There’s no doubt we are moving to tapeless, but the path is a confusing, costly and emotional transition. …of course when solid state becomes cheap enough these in-field work problems will vanish.
Thinking about it, even a portable media format like XDCAM HD has a similar problem. No you don’t have to back up each day after shooting, but most clients don’t have XD decks and probably have to get their files copied on hard drive, presumably by the Camera Op from his camera at some stage after the shoot.
Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
http://www.php.com.au -
[Peter Corbett] “Thinking about it, even a portable media format like XDCAM HD has a similar problem. No you don’t have to back up each day after shooting, but most clients don’t have XD decks and probably have to get their files copied on hard drive, presumably by the Camera Op from his camera at some stage after the shoot.”
Exactly.
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Just finished two years of shooting with the HVX 200 that won the Sundance Audience
Award. Never lost a file. Did not download files all night. Downloaded as I was shooting using two drives, one for P2 files, one for FCP converted quick times. The producer was young, and wanted to save money with the HVX. Did all the transfers myself. As long as you are doing interviews and b roll, no problem. If you are shooting cinema verite, prepare yourself for night transfers.Shooting with a Varicam this month, cinema verite, glad I am not transferring at night. Think it depends on the nature of the project. producers patience and mind set.
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Sorry, I was off shooting “tape” for a few days.
Thanks for checking my math Jeremy, and I appreciate all the other insights from P2 users. I’ll be one, eventually. You’ll see my posts in the P2 forum with the header HELP!Noah, I hereby publicly apologize to you for saying you sounded shillish. I actually think you’re pretty smart, most of the time.
I’m not drinking the P2 koolaid yet, but I’m thirsty for a new Varicam to upgrade to from an HDX. I guess that’s how I got embroiled in this thread.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
OK, all the cost issues aside, help me with this: We shot 50 hours of DVCPRO HD on the road over 3 weeks with the HDX-900. Each tape has it’s individual (tape # =hour) timecode. How do you make DVD reference disks for the client to view and make edit selects from P2 cards!!!?They are not going to buy P2 players, and they won’t load proprietary software to view posted files. The actual injested material (mostly interviews) was a mere 20% of the running tape length, and the stuff on the “editing room floor” is actually safely kept on the camera original tapes-no back-up required. So the HD file off-load (the digitization)was really only a fraction of the storage needed compared to safely storing the whole shoot.
Richard Boghosian
Bogh AV ProductionsFCP 6.03 Intel 2.8 8 Core Apple X-Raid and Atto SCSI UL5D Kona LHe
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On Firewire drive 1 in a folder marked 81308BushP2 Data transfer P2 cards as followed:
Reel 1 81308 President Bush Interview.
Reel 2 81308 President Bush Interview
Reel 3 81308 White House B rollOn a separate hard drive using FCP set your scratch disk to
81308Bush Capture
Save your FCP project to 81308Bush
Set Bins for the following
Reel 1 81308 Bush Interview
Reel 2 81308 Bush Interview
Reel 3 81308 White House B roll.You will never loose track of your data, no matter what the clip is named. Every clip is linked to the date it was created.
I have used this system over a two year period without failure.
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