[Andrew Ray]

Hey Jerry,
Is there any way to make the scroll wheel on my mouse a zoom in and zoom out setting in FCPX?

[Andrew Ray]

Shoulder mounts are restrictive for lower angle shots, but the DSLR rig works well for those with a bit of changing the set-up as well. And I would say that shoulder mounts that are well engineered, like the one I linked to, don’t take away that much maneuverability.

But I work by the rule that a stable shot is more valuable then more maneuverability. I love getting many different angles, but I keep another camera close by that’s not on the rig for that purpose.

[Andrew Ray]

Gilles,
You can use this for the HMC150, though it is called a “DSLR Rig”. Having said that, I sold my HMC150 before I bought the DSLR Rigs so I haven’t tested them with one.

But in the pictures on eBay, the girl using the DSLR rig is using a camera similar in size to the HM150. I think the HMC150 is light enough to use with this rig, but I haven’t tried.

[Andrew Ray]

Hey Gilles,
A lot has changed in 2 years since I first asked this question! In some ways, I am laughing at the question I asked because of my circumstances now.

I have sold the HMC150 and moved to shooting with DSLR’s only for weddings and commercials. If I thought stabilization was difficult with a large, balanced, easy to hold camera with strong optical stabilization, then you can imagine how I perceive stabilization with cameras that weren’t manufactured for the (sole or primary) purpose of shooting video (DSLR’s).

Now that I’ve been in the business full-time for 3 years I have begun to see that there are simply no easy answers to stabilization. Having said that, here are a couple of ways to stabilize live-event shooting:

1) DSLR Rig for $93. I own 2 of these gems I bought on eBay. Worth every penny. They don’t provide rock-solid on-rails stability, but price-to-stabilization ratio is impossible to beat unless you build something yourself. https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390317513663

2) Monopod for $15. Always have a monopod on your camera if you don’t have any other stabilization. They take away 50% of shake and they are very portable. They don’t provide great moving shot help, but they are helpful for a lot of close-ups and non-moving shots.

Hope this helps.
Andrew

https://www.LightWorksFilms.com

[Andrew Ray]

That light looks great, but having filmed a number of weddings with my Panasonic AG HMC150 and a $34 Sima LED camcorder light, I would have to suggest trying the Sima light first.

Why? $34 vs. $340. Unless you are shooting weddings constantly where your profit margin is huge and you have money to throw around, why pay 10x the price for that other light?

Some may say that the ability to lower the intensity on the light is important, but when I need to do that I just cover the light with a one cent piece of white copy paper. Also, the battery lasts 45 minutes per charge, so I have 2 of these things (for a total cost of $70). I have never run out of light, because you can charge one while using the other. And it weighs almost nothing.

Here is a link to the light on Buy.com (they ship free and fast).

https://www.buy.com/prod/sima-sl-20lx-ultra-bright-video-light/q/loc/111/206494457.html

Just a suggestion from an experienced wedding videographer who has wasted money on expensive gadgets when I didn’t need to. Save your money for the camera and computer.

[Andrew Ray]

Todd,
I have edited long movies on Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum (probably the longest about 1 1.5 hours). And I use the Panny AG-HMC150 and the Canon XH A1 for weddings together, so I edit AVCHD with HDV. A few thoughts:

1) my computer specs:
windows 7 beta 64-bit (build 7000)
intel core 2 quad Q6600 (2.4)
8gb ddr2 RAM at 800mhz
2tb hard drive space (7200rpm)
all in a dell 518

2) i use sony vegas movie studio platinum to edit, but am looking for a different program that has native multicamera editing for faster edits. any suggestions?

3) AVCHD is a load, but not beyond my system. however, i save my work about every 20 minutes just to make sure.

4) rendering is the tricky part. i save my project and close the program and then restart the program to make sure i have it saved. then i render. 90% no problems. but AVCHD takes a while to render to the mp4 or mpeg(2) format for blu-ray burning.

5) seriously, here’s the bottom line. no transfer time from tape to computer, and avchd is great. way faster and easier than tapes. i will not go back to tapes if i can avoid it. it changes the whole experience, especially at weddings longer than 1 hour.

check out this short i made on the ag-hmc150.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQbsr5dXqFo

[Andrew Ray]

I own the AG-HMC150.

A couple thoughts.
1. 24mbps in AVCHD is similar to 35mbps MPEG2
2. I film weddings with it. Amazing in low light.
3. I’ll buy another hmc150.