Dan Brockett
Forum Replies Created
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I think you should watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whyzpwqXixU and then I would rent one for a day. I would never spend over $5,000.00 on a camera that I had not tried in my shooting situations. It is hard to say if skewing will be a factor in your shooting.
I have shot material with this camera that had a lot of skewing (couple across a busy street, cars zipping by stationary camera at 70mph) and you know what? Nobody said a word about it. Not the client team, not the editor, not the audiences and this piece was shown in a theater, projected onto the big screen no less.
I watch all kinds of cable shows that have tons of skewing, shots out of train windows, helicopter blades, airplane propellers that look bent and like they are barely rotating. Bottom line seems to be that skewing only bothers videographers. It doesn’t seem to bother anyone else. I think that there are so many consumer CMOS cameras on the market that audiences are becoming used to it in a way. Sure, we all freak out but the audience? They either don’t notice it or it just doesn’t bother tham.
If you go CCD, you will have to go with an abbreviated raster camera unless you are willing to spend upwards of $25k. To me, with what you are shooting, having that crisp clarity of AVC INTRA100 with that nice slow motion would trump any slight skewing. But you are going to ghave to try it out on the water to get a fair evaluation. The Sonys skew even more in 720 so they are not a better choice.
Dan
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No problems here doing that.
Dan
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You sound like a good candidate for the 300. Have you shot with a CMOS imager camera before? All CMOS cameras have some skew, especially when doing fast pans. There are ways to mitigate the skewing, one of which is to shoot in 720. The HPX300 has less skewing that the EX1 in 720, about 15-20% less skewing.
Panasonic has a good video on-line, I am not sure where, it has been a while since I have seen it, that Jan Crittenden had a hand in, that shows how to shoot to minimize skewing.
The HPX shoots beautiful slow motion, which would make your footage look really impressive. I have seen 720 60 frame footage that has been ran through Twixtor to slow it down even more and to do speed ramps. The AVC INTRA100 codec is outstanding, really clean and sharp. Since you are shooting with good lighting, I don’t think the noise factor from a 1/3″ sensor is going to affect you.
The 300 is a killer deal right now with the rebate, low price and two free 32GB P2 cards. Great camera.
Dan
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Okay, if you think that the EX3 is not a hi-def camera, I give up, I can’t convince you and the Sony can’t convince you.
Good luck!
Dan
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Michael:
From the Sony U.S. website press release…
“The PMW-EX3 camcorder employs three 1/2-inch “Exmor” CMOS sensors with over 2 million pixels, the camera was exhibited at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) 2008 show. It uses an 4:2:0 MPEG-2 Long-GOP codec recorded to SxS solid-state memory cards. It is branded as a member of Sony’s CineAlta family of production equipment. The EX3 offers variable framerate modes, from 1 to 60fps (1 to 30fps in 1080p)…“All of the white papers express HQ”?
What does HQ (a Sony nomenclature signifying a recording mode) have to do with HD (an internationally recognized standard called SMPTE 709)? The two abbreviations are mutually exclusive.“No where does it say HD and at 35 MBPS.”
From the Sony Product Detail page in their website…
“The PMW-EX3 compact camcorder with an interchangeable lens system incorporates three ½-inch type Exmor™ Full HD CMOS sensors, each with an effective pixel count of 1920 x 1080, delivering stunning-quality HD images in 1080P, 720P, and 1080i HD resolutions.”From the Specs Page for the EX3
“Video Recording Format
MPEG-2 , 4:2:0 Long GOP
HQ mode: VBR, maximum bit rate: 35 Mb/s, MPEG-2 MP@HL
SP mode: CBR, 25 Mb/s, MPEG-2 MP@H14”I think a bit of reading may clarify these points for you…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec._709Dan
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Hi Michael:
“However but EX3 not a true HD camera”
While the EX-3 does have 4:2:0 color space, it is most assuredly an HD camera. The 500 has 4:2:2 color space but is abbreviated raster unlike the Sony and it is also an HD camera.
Any camera that can shoot 720 or above is technically an HD camera, even a FLIP OR A Go Video camera. Doesn’t mean broadcasters will accept footage from it but definitely fits the definition of HD.
Dan
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In your situation, it would make more sense to buy another EX3. Why introduce a camera that will look so different, use a different media and a different codec?
Dan
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I agree with your take on it Michael.
I think the solution is going to be buy two 64 GB cards, shoot all day with them and use the camera to dump the cards after the shoot. I don’t like dumping cards while shooting anyway, unless I have a P2 data wrangler on set.
Dan
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I know that Panasonic supplied a lot of gear for broadcasting at the Olympics but I too have seen BTS clips that are showing a lot of Sony XDCAM HD disc decks and cameras.
I know that Europeans seem much more Sony focused than U.S. broadcasters. I was at the Global Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December and saw almost 90% Sony gear, very few Panasonic cameras. although I had one. It seems that Europe and Australia seem to be Sony strongholds in broadcasting but in the U.S. Panasonic seems to have the edge. Just anecdotally, at least.
Dan
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“Not true – you would be advised to use genlock (which does not need to be tri-level), but you can assemble record to an HDCAM deck without (assumes you don’t want to insert edit) and levels have no bearing on this – it’s an SDI signal. I recently laid off an hour of material in the field to an HDCAM deck with a single SDI cable and no genlock”
That’s true but most deliveries that would be requesting an HDCAM master (networks/studios) require frame accurate layback to a specific time code point which requires machine control, sync, correct machine setup and often insert edits for revisions or QC fixes. Can you do what you did, only use SDI to a deck? Of course, but based upon delivery to broadcast outlets, you will quickly find that the method you used wanting in those situations. Perhaps if only delivering for dubs or DVD authoring, these factors will not enter the picture but for delivery to a network or studio, they do.
Dan
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