[Leo Mcmichael]

Paolo,

I have been looking at a few camera models recently and this one was one of them. Have you had a chance to check out the JVC GY-HM105u? That was the camera that caught my eye on price and features Currently as of this writing, I can get the camera you reviewed for $1600. I can get the HM105u for $2000. To me the audio features of XLR and the tiny size of the 105u seems to be attractive to me. Also it records at 35mbps in EXDCAM format. (Or something like that – it’s late here. lol)

Your demo was very nice though! Gives me something to consider. But I believe most of the same features are found on the slightly more expensive 105u which makes me lean that way. Now, the 105u lists for $2499 but it’s selling at $1999 ($2000). The HM70 lists at $1999 but sells for $1599 ($1600). If it had XLR and a few other options I’d consider it. But I lean toward the HM105u.

The editing system you use (freeware) does it run on a Mac or PC or other?

Thanks!
Leo

Mac G5 Dual 2.3 ghz, 2 gigs ram, Mac OSX, FCP Suite 1, Commotion 3.0, many plug-ins and filters all for FCP. Anything else you’ll have to ask I guess? LOL

[Leo Mcmichael]

Thanks! I totally get the “post” comment. I have to buy both, so it really doesn’t matter which order I buy them, but if I buy the camcorder first, I can start shooting in widescreen SD & HD simultaneously. That, like I eluded to, would be the stop gap until I get the new Mac with Intel chips and the latest OS & FCPX.

I liked this JVC in particular because it will shoot a nice quality HD (not that ACHD compressed crap). SD would only be a temporary thing at best for me. I can’t imagine a new job I’d shoot SD because I’d rather have HD and convert the final product to something other than but keeping the HD files for future consideration. So it would only be temporary until I got my new Mac (would only be a month or two) and FCPX as my Power Mac G5 won’t run the latest software. I can’t see spending the $$$ on FCP7 although, if I hated FCPX (and I doubt I’ll hate it at this point-they have addressed most all the issues that mattered to me anyway) I would spring for FCP7 as it still would handle what this JVC camcorder is shooting.

I also believe you can shoot simultaneously in HD and SD (or QT or variable other options) on the second memory card. Sorta nice to have although from everything I have heard about these newer style cameras, the memory cards just don’t screw up! Certainly not like tapes can. And probably not unless you remove them while they are still writing.

I just was not happy with what was being offered. They were all really expensive and I am a small independent who wanted to buy a camera to last a while. At this point, I think I’d rather buy a good enough camcorder (and this is certainly good enough) and upgrade every 5 years instead of 10 or 13! lol I just spent 3 times as much for my other camera and as good as it still looks, it’s not HD and well, that’s a buzz word for some as much as it’s an actual quality standard in reality.

I like the Lumix series and Black Magic but for what I shoot, I think a camcorder still offers what I need. I may get one or both the others over time, but not for my primary shooting camera as currently what I shoot doesn’t warrant that kind of camera.

Thanks again for chiming in on my question.

[Leo Mcmichael]

Hi, I am a little behind the 8 ball but I thought you could help me answer a question. I need to update both my machine (Mac) and camcorder. But I figure I should update the camcorder first so I can start at least shooting 16×9 SD. Also, I am not sure the new FCP is very friendly with firewire based cameras and DV. So I figure it would be a better thing to record with 2 cards, one in SD and one in HD so I can keep HD files for the near future of updating my Mac AND still be able to shoot/edit projects now.

That leads me to my question. My question is this:

I am still using version 5 of FCPro (Studio 2). Will that be able to handle the SD files created by this JVC camcorder? I believe it should, but if not, then I’ll need to rethink my method. I can certainly keep shooting with my DV camcorder until I get the new Mac.

I know I am behind the 8 ball, but I really haven’t liked too many HD camcorder options so I kept waiting and waiting. If I keep waiting, I will put myself out of business! lol

Thanks for any help.

[Leo Mcmichael]

I recently finished a project for a costume
manufacturer which required all the costumes being
shot against green or blue screen. They had some 150
or more costumes, wigs and hats all shot against
either blue or green based on the color of each. I
used a Videonics mixer with blue/green capabilities on
set to “test” the key and to give the client and the
talent an idea of what we were trying to accomplish
during the editing of the video. I did my research
into blue and green and I knew my budget which wasn’t
much and went with the approach that if possible, we’d
shoot against green, if not then blue. I set up the
backdrops which were paper rolls of blue and green at
an “L” configuration so I would only have to basically
pan the camera and shoot against a new color. Easy
set up! Of course that required dual lighting kits so
we didn’t waste a lot of time lighting and
re-lighting.

Now for lights on budget, and to keep colors pure, I
actually went with Craftsman halogen work lights on
stands to light the backgrounds. 250/500 watts
switchable right on the light itself. These worked
great! I used 250 watts on the blue and 500 watts on
the green. I do now find though I should have gone
with 250 watts on the green as well. The lighting
would have been more even to the camera. I was in
between what I saw with my eyes and what I saw with
the camera. I wanted a brighter green and opted not
to trust the camera. Next time I will shoot at 250
watts on either.

Now, to light the models I used incandescent lights
with reflector umbrellas which gave the skins tones
and costumes a slightly warmer look and helped them
stand out from the blue or green a bit more later.
Even with the green being lighter, if I had hit the
floor with some more halogen lights to remove shadows
and fall off darker areas, they’d have been lighter
and I’d have had no problems later keying the greens.

As it turned out, I checked into more keying software
because the FCP keyer was more trouble than it was
worth trying to get them clean. So I turned to
DVMatte Pro and it worked like a charm! It was easy
to learn, and easy to tweak even my toughest keys when
I would pan from the floor to a face and the dark
areas to light areas would be at their worst trouble
for me.

The blue screens worked very nicely! I was surprised.
It had to do with the evenness of the lighting. It
was actually hard for me to use the dropper to find
the lighter portion and the darker portion for the
keyer. That’s a good problem to have evidently. You
want the color to be that even!!!

One costume I was worried about had tie-dyed shirts
with purple as one of the colors and it was no problem
whatsoever. Another costume was of a purple dinosaur
(yes, it’s licensed) and it too dropped out easily!
DVMatte Pro made it simple to work with and tweak, but
the limitations I had were totally with my bad choice
of overlighting the green screen a bit. I should say,
unevenly lighting it. When I had head shots against
green, they dropped out perfectly. Even with blonde
hair.

I did find one tool in FCP worth having that I believe
comes with FCP, that was Matte Magic. That was
invaluable in smoothing out edges and losing those
rough spots that give away the trick.

Now, the end of the story is simple. I finished a 16
minute video which required in most cases 3 sometimes
only 2 layers of close ups, long shots (360) and
medium shots for each costume using DVDMatte Pro in
FCP using garbage mattes to extend backgrounds, Matte
Magic to smooth edges and an occasional color
correction to the green screen before keying it to
smooth out the tones.

Considering we shot the footage of over 150 costumes
with kids, adults and teens in one day from 9am to 6pm
start to finish with lunch and I work by myself, I’d
say that worked out nicely.

So it can be done! And next time, I’ll light much
more evenly against the greens.

NOTE: there was one screen which didn’t work and would
have taken forever with garbage mattes, so I opted to
use Commotion 3.0 Pro and old program which still is
one of the best ever made. It was a baby hat and her
mother was holding her from behind in a green suit
which was too loose fitting and caused too many
issues. Also there was green in the hat that was dark
but matching the dark areas of the green suit. It was
easier to export the clip and correct it using
Commotion.

Sometimes you take what you get on the set and worry
about the fix later. At least that’s what I did
knowing I had Commotion to fall back onto.

Mac G5 Dual 2.3 ghz, 2 gigs ram, Mac OSX, FCP Suite 1, Commotion 3.0, many plug-ins and filters all for FCP. Anything else you’ll have to ask I guess? LOL