Dan Doskey
Forum Replies Created
-
Measure your lens diameter in millimeters. Use the metric side of the ruler. Search b&h for __mm lens cap. You will find aftermarket replacements.
Dan Doskey
Production Manager
Visual Evidence, Inc.
West Palm Beach, FL -
With the 200 you have the best of both worlds, as you can give a client a tape and also get your files in the new format.
Sorry not familiar enough with PAL capabilities to give any good advice.
As far as 720 vs 1080, the higher your native resolution the better your end product should be. If you’re concerned about versatility for freelance work, you may want a 1080 capable camera. But only you can decide what that’s worth to your business.
Dan Doskey
Production Manager
Visual Evidence, Inc.
West Palm Beach, FL -
Donal,
I am sure you will get more posts than you ever wanted on this one. You’ve kind of asked ‘what’s the best car in the world’? But given what you have written here, I would direct you to JVC’s new HM series.
To make sure I don’t bury the lead, let me start by saying two words: zero digitizing. And I mean that! These new JVC’s shoot (only HD) in Sony’s XDCAM codec, but it’s wrapped in a Quicktime shell. The end result is that you can actually edit right off the SD card media, and the cards are cheap enough that you can keep them as your archive media. There is nothing on the market right now (and I just went to NAB and saw everybody’s best) that can touch that kind of compatibility with FCP. You do have to be running Final Cut Studio 2, but other than that, you’re ready to roll with an SDHC card reader ($10 if that for a cheap one). If you want to move your footage onto an external hard drive while its actively editing (which is good policy), I moved 8GB (27 minutes of HQ 1080 footage) in 3 minutes on a 2.16Ghz iMac (far from the latest and greatest in computing power). So you’re asking, How cheap is cheap media? I just bought major brand 16GB cards at $31 a pop. That’s enough for me to shoot 50 min at the highest quality 1080 setting, and 90 minutes at “SP”. Load both slots (they’re hot swappable) and you can record for three hours, solid state, for $60. That’s more than tape, but, uh, did I mention no digitizing?
As far as P2 goes, nothing wrong with it, as long as you don’t mind expensive media, transcoding your files and clogging up your hard drives with TB’s of old footage so you can re-use the card. For most of us, the advantages you (arguably, even) gain with Panasonic’s encoding are not worth the time and effort, extra software and hardware you have to acquire to make it work, at least not now that this exists. Panasonic does offer a camera called the HMC-150, which shoots on SD cards in the AVCHD format, previously a consumer format. They do have Log & Transfer software that makes it work with FCP, but there again, you are waiting for your media to ingest while I’ve already started editing. I can’t speak to Sony, just not that familiar with their tapeless systems, but the files do require transcoding, which means time, effort, etc etc. that I frankly don’t want to spend.
The JVC HM-700U comes with a new purpose-built, detachable, fully manual Canon 14x lens, and a 17x Fujinon is also available for the same $$, though the Canon is considered a superior lens in terms of the images it produces. That set-up can be had for about $7k. You can add an integrated hard drive that will record internally or to SXS media if that strikes your fancy, but again, in terms of cost, nothing tapeless in the professional / prosumer arena beats those SD cards.
If you’re looking for something smaller, or a B camera, their HM-100 ($3500) uses the same technology, with some expected compromises – 1/4″ chips (not outstanding for low light), 10x attached lens, but it does have XLR inputs, HDMI, USB, composite and component outs, so its not severely lacking. We have one, and it makes some stunning pictures for its price point, especially if you need something to fit into tight spaces or shoot unnoticed.
If the name JVC is tripping you up, know that they’re owned by Matsushita Corp., which owns… Panasonic. Go figure.
I waited a long time to get on board with tapeless because I always felt that its true promise was in this kind of instant editing application. Now it’s here and affordable enough for the littlest of guys to actually use it! Whichever way you choose to go, good luck and have fun!
Dan Doskey
Production Manager
Visual Evidence, Inc.
West Palm Beach, FL -
Chris, this is a bit off topic, but you seem to have some iDVD insight, so I’m hoping you can help!
My work is legal, so my clients can sometimes be even more obtuse (read: old school) about technology than the average bear, and crankier when there are unexpected surprises.
Typically, they are taking a DVD to an unknown DVD player & TV, dropping it in and pressing play, so I want to make it as universal as I can. I am newly shooting HD (usually 1080/30p) with the new JVC HM100, editing in FCP 6, and typically have used iDVD for its ease of use and light learning curve. There are those on my staff that don’t necessarily have the same technical knowledge I do, and the iDVD interface is very easy to master quickly and get the video out the door and into court. That said, I am not opposed to using DVDSP and training them how to use it. My main goal is to have our projects look their best on as many tv/dvd combos as possible without the end user having to make adjustments.
So, is editing and exporting Anamorphic all there is to it, or do I need to re-think my whole workflow? Many thanks to any who may be able to help.
Dan Doskey
Production Manager
Visual Evidence, Inc.
West Palm Beach, FL -
I have somewhat the same issue as Mr. Ryan here, but I don’t care about having a letterboxed look, only about my end users seeing the entire image in the best resolution possible without adjusting settings. My work is legal, so my clients can sometimes be even more obtuse about technology than the average bear, and crankier when there are unexpected surprises.
Typically, they are taking a DVD to an unknown DVD player & TV, dropping it in and pressing play, so I want to make it as universal as I can. I am newly shooting HD (usually 1080/30p) with the new JVC HM100, editing in FCP 6, and typically do use iDVD for the same reasons he describes above. Additionally, there are those on my staff that don’t necessarily have the same technical knowledge I do, and the iDVD interface is very easy to master quickly and get the video out the door and into court. That said, I am not opposed to using DVDSP and training them how to use it. My main goal is to have our projects look their best on as many tv/dvd combos as possible without the end user having to make adjustments.
So, is editing and exporting Anamorphic all there is to it, or do I need to re-think my whole workflow? Many thanks to any who may be able to help.
Dan Doskey
Production Manager
Visual Evidence, Inc.
West Palm Beach, FL -
In my scenario, the update to Final Cut was the key. My files were shot in the FCP friendly Quicktime wrapper, but would not load in and/or play correctly until I manually ran software update and got some add-ons. This was AFTER installing FC Studio 2, so be mindful of that. Before the manual update, I was running FCS2 6.0.1, now running 6.0.5, and it works perfectly without downloading the Sony codec.
Dan Doskey
Production Manager
Visual Evidence, Inc.
West Palm Beach, FL