[Bill Celnick]

Hi Martin

In general I believe in using each camera at it’s maximum quality setting – why get less than the camera’s best?

I have the HMC 150, not the 130 – I use the HG settings with 32 gig cards which generally gives about 190 minutes of record time.

I’ve used San Disk cards almost exclusively – I have a “Verbatim” card that I bought at a trade show when I got the camera – it works fine, but I never saw another dealer with Verbatim cards. I did buy 2 Delkin cards at B&H’s recommendation, which gave me error messages although no loss of data – I threw these away almost immediately.

Based on the advice of others when I bought the HMC 150, I back up each card in 3 places and confirm that my edit software can read the files before I purge any cards. You will find your need for drive space will go up appreciably.

I have no knowledge of the Canon.

Since I expect to add another camera in the coming months, please share your experience on the HMC 130.

Good luck.

Bill

[Bill Celnick]

Hi Sebastion

I think you need to clarify your intended arrangement with the dance studio’s owner. There are several different possibilities, each having a bearing on the price you might charge and taxes you might need to collect.

One situation might be where the studio is paying you a production fee to shoot and edit the recital, then provide copies for her to sell to the parents. Under this situation you’re working for a fixed rate, have no direct relationship to the families, and would not be involved in collecting tax from the families.

Another, more likely situation might be where you are in effect shooting for no production fee, but strictly for whatever revenue the orders bring in. In this case, you probably would get order forms along with checks from the families, they would be your direct customer, and then you would be required to collect tax (at least you would in my state, NY).

As far as what to charge – you need to do both some cost calculation on your own end, plus you need to do some market research – find out what other studios in that area have charged for similar work – talk to the dance studio owner – has she done this before, what was charged etc. If past videos sold for $15, you might have a hard time selling for $30.

[Bill Celnick]

I faced the same situation when my VX 2000’s started to show their wear about 5 years ago.

I think that the cameras I mentioned are all much better cameras, and give you the capability to do so much more then the VX-2000s, and they’re not awful in low light – but you’re going to have to use more light at a wedding.

In my case, while using the VX-2000 my on camera light was a Frezzi Micro-fill, 35 watts. With the Z7U and HMC 150 I went back to a 50 watt Lowell I Light that I used in my SVHS days.

For stage plays, assuming there is some stage lighting provided by the facility, you should be fine.

[Bill Celnick]

I think that you’re going to have difficulty both staying within your budget and achieving a camera with low light that meets or exceeds what you got with the PD-150 / VX 2000 cameras. From 2001 to 2006 the VX 2000 was my main camera, so I know well what you hope to achieve.

Right now my 2 main cameras are the Sony Z7U (purchased in 2008), and a Panasonic HMC 150, purchased in 2009. Both are better in low light than the HD cameras that came before them, but not as good as the PD-150.

The Z7U – still available at B&H for about $5100, is the better of the 2 in low light, and can shoot to mini DV or to a CF card, or both simultaneously, which is ideal for stage plays so that you don’t have to worry about needing to change tapes during the performance. It almost reaches the level of the VX 2000 for low light.

I’ve read good things about the low light capability of the new Panasonic AG HMC-160 – even played with it at B&H last month. I think it can be had for about $4200. Its on my own wish list right now.

Still, its out of your budget, but possibly there is an inexpensive consumer cam that can be your second camera.

[Bill Celnick]

Two years ago I purchased an external (USB) Blu-ray burner from Buffalo Technology. Although it wasn’t represented as Mac compatible, its worked just fine with my iMac, Mac Book Pro, and Mac Pro for burning Blu-Ray and DVDs.

Primarily I’ve used it with Adobe Encore for Blu-Ray, although I have used it with Toast for Blu-Ray data discs.

In all probability the same model has been replaced several times over, but take a look.

You can also make your own external drive by buying an internal burner and an enclosure.

[Bill Celnick]

Thank you both – I went back and re-examined what I did – when I brought my mov file into Adobe Media Encoder, I started with the default(match source attributes) using h.264 Blu-ray, but then went into the settings and changed it from one pass to two pass vbr – figuring that I’d get a better quality file. Maybe it caused Media Encoder to create file Encore couldn’t accept.

I went back to the same source file, and again encoded, but with no modification to the settings and it worked.

[Bill Celnick]

Hi Lynn

I hope someone else looks at this thread as I’m out of my comfort zone regarding the audio question.

When using the Z7U, primarily I’m recording to mini DV, but use the CF card to simultaneously record selected clips I may want to edit immediately – for things such as highlight trailers. Since the mini dv footage will be HDV, I usually use the re-wrap option and don’t convert to Pro-Res.

When using ClipWrap with Panasonic footage, I generally convert to Pro-Res LT, with the 24 bit audio, then edit in FCP. After the video portion of my edit is complete, I send my audio to Soundtrack Pro for refinement, then send that file to Compressor. I believe you can convert from 24 to 16 within Soundtrack Pro.

I’m still using FCP for older projects, but am migrating to Premiere for newer work.

[Bill Celnick]

Hi Lynn

I’ve also had troubles when using Log and Transfer with CF card files recorded by the Sony Z7U.

I’ve been using “Clipwrap” a $50 program instead, not just for this, but for my Panasonic AVCHD files as well. It’s been much less troublesome this way.

[Bill Celnick]

Everything you’ve said is very true – for me it’s not the first time I’ve switched due to very bad corporate decisions (maybe they’re good bottom line corporate decisions that simply affect us adversely, after all, we’re not a stock holder, just a customer).

Although its not quite the same situation, in 2006 I needed to upgrade my editing system to accommodate HDV – was a PC guy editing on Premiere 6.5 with Windows XP. Along comes Microsoft with Windows Vista that just plain wasn’t working with my then hardware – and at the time I felt that I couldn’t invest in something new that didn’t work, and didn’t want a new system with XP since it was obviously being discontinued.

So, in 2006 I bought a Mac Book Pro and began my transition. This was all due to both corporate decisions and my need to get my work done in a proven, stable environment – I loved it once I got up to speed – spent less time fighting with my computer and more time editing.

So Apple has become Microsoft in its cavalier decision to release a product that wasn’t ready. People will argue that FCP X is ready, but not for those who need the features it lacks. I use both card and tape so no, its not ready.

[Bill Celnick]

I agree with you to a point but…

I went with what will work for me now. I’m no longer looking at any software, platform or hardware with anymore than 3 year life – needs change, technology changes, corporate decisions and directions change as Apple has so bluntly informed us.

In 3 years I may use Premiere, FCPX or something that doesn’t exist yet.
It’ll be based on what allows me to do what I need to do.
If Apple felt they didn’t want to keep building on a 10 year old design, and wanted to start something for the next 10 years, great – but I don’t have a 10 year investment in mind for any software, nor am I waiting for it to mature.