Peter Steinman
Forum Replies Created
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If its Varicam footage it should be 720p not 1080i I’d think
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According to the very cool free widget Videospace for OSX located at https://digital-heaven.co.uk/videospace/
11 hours of 24fps DVPROHD 720p60 footage takes up 235.7GB
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Most of that stuff will just need to be set again I’d think. Just taking everything apart to get it into carry on luggage would probably require doing it all over. Not an expert on alignment (hence why I’m thinking about taking the workshop) but, backfocus for sure.
What toys do they usually have to try out at these things ? How many people bring their own cameras usually ?
If I was driving to LA I’d think about it but, such a pain and worry flying with all that. I need more convincing. I’d hate to find out I missed out on something because I didn’t though.
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OT a bit but, why bring the camera to Varicamp ? I was thinking of going too but, I really don’t want to bring my camera down with me. Any benifit to having your own camera with you ?
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A fee for a camera demo ?
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It really is a strange business model. I can’t really think of another like it. To take an official policy of having relationships with dealers be more important then their customers is misguided I’d think.
Nobody walks in off the street and buys a Varicam. Nobody goes into their pro dealer for tape, sees a Varicam next to the checkout, and decides to buy it. No dealer I’ve ever talked to (even those in LA) ever tried to sell me a Varicam (or anything else really). They ask you what you want, look up the price, and tell you what they can sell it to you for and how long it will take to get. I actually appreciate that in most pro dealers. They usually assume you probably know more about what you’re after then they do.
In fairness I’ve heard Sony isn’t any better to deal with. It’s probably more a problem with the whole ‘Pro’ sales system. Years ago when I called myself a recording engineer I dealt with a similar ‘pro’ audio dealer system. At least there you could reasonably expect the sales guy to know about the tape or mic he was trying to sell you. It was pretty simple stuff compared to a HD camera system.
With something like the Varicam you really can’t expect anyone outside of a couple of select dealers to be able to provide support for this level of gear. Panasonic struggles to support it itself in my experience. Some guy that sells tape all day to the local action news team probably shouldn’t be expected to.
As I can’t expect my local dealer to pay what it would cost to keep someone on staff that is a Varicam expert (or a couple of cameras in back just ‘in case’) the whole system has no value to the customer. In fact, it hurts him by making him pay for support he isn’t going to get.
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I’m always confused what exactly this support is I’m supposed to be getting from my local “authorized’ Panasonic dealer. I’ve yet to find a local dealer with ‘extras’ of anything Varicam around they could lend me if mine broke. None have in house people that can repair my camera if it broke. They send it the same place I do. Haven’t found any Varicam experts at any of them. Haven’t found them even at Panasonic except for maybe 2 people in LA.
At least the local guys are just a bunch of sales drones. You ask for something, they look up the price, send you a quote, you order it, wait for a month, and go pick it up. Not much value added in that. Certainly not going to ask any of these guys about lens choices or HD waveform monitors.
I’d love to be able to easily order from Panasonic dealers in LA where there may actually be some value added. Panasonic makes it hard. Basically hurting the customer to protect their dealers. There are no tests of knowledge or service these dealers take to see if they will be able to support Panasonic Pro customers.
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While it probably doesnt cover everyone renting a Varicam it has a lot of them and you can search by zip code.
https://b2b.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/Locator/Search.jsp?renters=1&cmpycd=3
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Not in my experience anyway. I’ve called them on various occasions and when fianlly actually I got someone I have been told to email them so they can pass the questions on to the right people. At that point it disappears into a black hole never to be seen again. I’ve yet to get a response from one of those emails. I suspect a lot of the people that are happy with the support may have direct numbers or personal contacts. Calling the 800 222-0741 number on the back of the Varicam manual will get you nowhere. The techs will immediatly admit to having no ability to help with varicam issues. At that point they ask for an email or promise to forward your info to someone that can help. That’s usually the last you’ll hear of it. Once I did get a reply back and the resolution to the issue went pretty poorly as I’ve posted here before. Now, I don’t think its just Panasonic. I hear similar horror stories from people dealing with F900 issues. Maybe even worse from Sony. Still I don’t understand why with the amount we pay for these tools we have no reasonible level of support. I have a question about my Kona 2 card and the guys at Kona bend over backwards to answer them and help. Same from Aja and Sound Devices. DSC will talk to you for an hour about a $500 chart. Do people have these problems with Arri or Thompson ?
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I doubt you’ll hear back from the techs ever unfortunatly. Panasonic US technical support is just about as bad as it gets. Your only hope my be learn Japanese and call there. I love the gear but, I’m beginning to hate the company.