John Cummings
Forum Replies Created
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Plum Moving Media in Milwaukee has a few…
J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50 -
No, you’ll still have a little plastic camera with terrible ergonomics and a small imager.
But you can dream.
J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50 -
Oh I agree completely.
Tapeless is certainly the present for some and the future for the rest of us. I was just offering my perpective on why so many large content producers seem to be in no hurry to jump on the tapeless bandwagon. When they jump, I will, too. After all, archiving isn’t my problem and I work by the hour in the field.
I do use an EX3 occasionally with a small production house. I like it well enough…especially on a tripod.
The Red is indeed a swell camera for narrative and commercial work. I dig the large imager for it’s shallow depth of field. I would think editors love it not just for the look but also for the increased hours it involves in post. Unfortunately, it’s a train wreck for the kind of work I do…run and gun reality and documentaries.
When Panasonic or Sony get off their fat duffs and offer a “Redlike” camera with real ergonomics, different lens mount options and a simpler post path, the world will beat a path to their doors and I’ll be in the front of the line yelling gimme!
Until then, I’m just another curmudgeon tilting the windmills here on the Cow.
J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50 -
“It’s ironic that on the low end, HVX200’s or EX1, tapeless recording has been embraced, yet on the higher end, clients are afraid of anything other than tape.”
They’re not afraid. The big guys just have bigger fish to fry.
Waaaay back at the dawn of the HD era…some four or five years ago…many large program producers spent millions of dollars upgrading their infrastructure to HD equipment. All that equipment was tape-based. Racks and racks of it. Studio decks, feed decks, editing decks, mastering decks, logging decks. HDCams and Varicams were bought by the dozens. Avid suites by the dozens were upgraded or replaced. Entire facilites were re-wired. Money was tossed around like confetti. Where did that money come from? Debt.
Freelancers like me, who are in integral part of the production process, followed suit…in my case, the day after I got the call. And many, like me, eventually bought more than one flavor of HD camera. How did I pay for it? Debt. At that time, we all paid top dollar to be in on the leading wave. Thousands of hours of programming were shot and produced using this gear. It looked great. Still does. In fact, it’s on the air right now.
“Workflow” is a trendy term these days. In reality, that overused and overblown term “workflow” simply means how you do your work in a way that makes economic sense for you. These large content producers have an established workflow that works for them. Whether you capture images on ss media, disc or tape, shots must still be recorded and sent, transferred or captured and logged, the stories written and produced. And in the end, programs must be delivered on something, and all that very expensive media (raw and finished) must be archived.
That’s a nasty little problem, archiving. Most “High-end” clients can produce hours and hours of broadcast quality programming every week, and need a secure, safe and cost-effective way to protect that valuable content. It’s simple. So far, nothing has come along that will do it better or or more cheaply than tape.
Any small efficiency gains in the process are always great and welcome, but in reality, and in many cases, the capital expenditures have already been made. These program producers might have taken on a tremendous amout of debt to get into the HD arena during the initial wave of transition. Many are sitting on mountains of HD tape gear that still works just fine but would be worth mere pennies on the dollar on the secondary market. Considering the cutthroat nature and razor-thin margins of this business, the tough economic climate right now and the extremely tight credit markets, who in their right mind would want to transition to what can only be called interim formats, even if they could find the capital to do it?
Not that I’m a luddite. If my main clients called me tomorrow and demanded P2 or XDCam, I’d change in a minute…the same way I got into HDCam several years ago. Yet I’m not convinced (and I don’t think I’m alone)in thinking tapeless is all that more efficient or cost-effective. To me, it just shifts the work around and introduces another set of issues that must be dealt with. Certainly for many large companies, not enough reason to pitch millions of dollars of gear that may or may not be paid for or fully depreciated yet.
I’d love a shiny new camera. But curiously, that P2 call hasn’t come yet. I’m waiting. As a businessman…and at the end of the day that’s what I am…I’m not all that surprised…and yet not all that disappointed. Has anyone here tried to get an equipment loan lately?
Sorry for the ramble. I think the new Varicams are flawed as well. A compromise. They’re a work in progress. I think many of us in my non-fiction niche in this business are keeping our hands off our wallets and waiting for the next big thing. I think this latest Panasonic promotion pretty much confirms that.
Personally, I hope that next big thing doesn’t involve expensive, outdated and propietary recording media.
J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50 -
Don’t worry, that’s just the gears engaging…they all do that.
Some are just louder than others.J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50 -
“but wonder what happens to a RED if they actually get one in trade?”
I’d like to hope the Panasonic engineers would look at that big old chip in the Red and finally devise a way to build the Varicam they should have built in the first place…
J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50 -
My educated guess is that it might have something to do with the camera’s optical image stabilization (aka super steady shot) being left on?
J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50 -
Eli-
Sorry, I don’t have any concrete advice for you, but I will say with a reel like that, you shouldn’t have much of a problem. Nice stuff.
Surely with all the DP’s and Directors you know, there must be some good networking opportunities. Every gig I’ve ever had involved networking or keeping in touch with people I’ve met or have known.
I’ve always thought sneaking in the back door is always easier than trying to knock down the front…
J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50 -
This is a funny thread. Think about how far we’ve come in just a few years…
He’s considering upgrading from a $50K SD cam to a lower-end $11K HD camera…and either one will pretty much kick the stuffing out of that “old” Betacam.
I mean…how cool is that?
J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50 -
Hey John-
Coming from a fine 2/3″ SD camera like the 600, I would definately lean toward the 500 with it’s 2/3″ imagers. That little extra available control over your depth of field really means alot for professional work, especially if you’re working with ENG-style lenses.
As for SD glass, I used a high-end SD wide zoom with my HDCam (full 2.2m 1080 imager) for a couple of years and all I ever got was repeat calls for more. The picture looked fantastic on the air (HGTV and Food Network shows) and everyone was quite happy. However, that SD lens I used was only two years old at the time…not ten.
In the case of the 500, with it’s pixel-shifted SD chips, I would bet that your SD lenses would get you by until you can afford to make the jump to proper HD glass. Be sure to get a good HD monitor and test the lenses carefully. Some will do better than others. I know…that’s heresy for some here, but the real world sometimes gets messy. Personally, I’d use a dirty coke bottle for a shot if it got me the look I wanted…it’s all about the result.
Funny, a lot of “indy filmmakers” seem to gravitate toward the HPX500…not just for the price, but because they think the picture has a slightly softer, more “filmic” look than many other 2/3″ HD cams out there. You might really want to rent one and do some tests before you run that credit card….good luck!
J Cummings
Cameralogic/Chicago
cameralogic.tv
HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50