[Thomas Kaufman]

Guys,

I know the Varicam does not have a firewire out and I know the HDX does.

Let me rephrase the question: in this time of HPG20’s and Nanoflash, is there an external peripheral device that takes an HD-SDI signal and from it creates a firwire output?

thnaks

Thomas Kaufman, DP
Washington, DC

[Thomas Kaufman]

I spoke with Abel on the West Coast, they said Panny is drawing up a very specific list of which cameras will be accepted as trade-ins.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s say you could trade ANY beat up POS 2/3″ camera. Would you do it? Would you spend 30K to have a 3700?

Thomas Kaufman, DP
Washington, DC

[Thomas Kaufman]

Which begs the question, just how eager/anxious is Panny to move these P2 cameras? It’s a great offer if you wanna get into P2, but…then you’re in P2. I was at a workshop on tapeless acquisition recently and was impressed by how transitory all the current formats seemed.

Thomas Kaufman, DP
Washington, DC

[Thomas Kaufman]

I’m really happy the COW provides a place for us to exchange out ideas. I also wanted to state that myself, Erich, and probably Kevin are keenly interested in new technology. Maybe I’m generalizing, but I think most DP’s love the technical aspect of what they do. For me, learning HD has helped keep this business fresh and interesting.

All of which is to say I have no problem whatsoever with the IDEA of solid-state recording, and that includes in the field (which for me would be sub-Saharan Africa, not my local sound stage).

The things that make me hesitate have been mentioned by myself and others in great detail, so I won;t go into it again. I just wanted to say that we’re not troglodytes — just the opposite. We dig the new stuff and love to play with it. But from a business viewpoint, it has to make sense.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom Kaufman,
DP

[Thomas Kaufman]

Helmut, you make a good case for P2. But if you’re out in the filed shooting P2 all day, who is it that downloads the cards at night, prior to the next day’s shoot. If you’re doing documentary television production, then you know what a slog it can be — often days run over 10 hours. It’s too much to ask someone who’s been out in the field all day to stay up for X hours more and transfer that material to hard drive, then go out again the next day. So, I guess I’m asking, in a multi-day shoot, wouldn’t you need either a data-wrangle on location, or someone back at the hotel to do the transfer to hard drive?

thanks,

Tom

Tom Kaufman,
DP

[Thomas Kaufman]

Helmut,

You raise some valid points here. And I don’t mean to say that P2 has no place in the grand scheme of things. With example you mentioned, I can see P2 working well for that producer. I did a P2 shoot over the summer that was much like what you’re describing.

But in your example, who is doing the data wrangling? If it’s the producer, does s/he have enough hands on deck to allow her/him the time to load P2 cards onto a hard drive? And if the answer is yes, would that producer have saved money by shooting tape and not needing as much help on set?

As to savings, I’m not sure that the amount of money you save by not having to use tape at the front end of the shoot is more than the amount you’ll have to pay in storage at the back end.

I have no doubt that, someday, we will all be shooting direct to cards/disks, it makes sense this will happen. Bu the lack of standardization means the market will have to shake out some formats while others survive. As an owner of Panasonic products, I have a vested interest in their survival. That’s why I’m disturbed by their totally tapeless line-up of cameras.

Just one camera guy’s opinion, of course!

Tom

http://www.thomaskaufman.com

Tom Kaufman,
DP

[Thomas Kaufman]

Guys, I have to chime in for a moment. As long as the cost of P2 cards remains as high as it does, and as long as the material shot on P2 needs to be archived in some less-volatile format, I do not see any cost savings. If a producer adds a crew person in charge of data wrangling, the cost is higher still.

Of course, the price of P2 will come down. But to make it feasible, we need a P2 card that can hold 30 minutes of material and cost about the same as a 30 minute tape. It’s all about the hand-off. Now, some shooters will edit their own material, and for them P2 may be a good thing. But I’m a just a shooter, and at the end of the day/shoot, the producer takes the material and walks. I have friends who shoot P2, one of them saw a problem in the field — a card wasn’t reading correctly — the producer wanted to take the shooter’s P2 card with him. My friend said fine, and didn’t get his card back for about 6 months.

I see Panny’s efforts at P2 as their wanting to stay ahead of the curve. That’s good. But I do feel we’re being forced to accept P2 when it serves Panny’s interests better than it serves our own.

The idea of a camera that does both makes a world of sense. Probably why we’ll never see it.

Yes, the day will come when we’re all shooting tapeless. Expensive decks will be a thing of the past, CF cards will be cheap, and back-up archives will blend seamlessly into the post chain. But until then, could we hold off on trumpeting the “death” of Varicam?

Cheers,

Tom Kaufman,
DP

[Thomas Kaufman]

I have to agree with John. It’s important to be flexible, but to say no overtime…well, just shoot me now, okay? I’ve worked way too many jobs for some big companies in which the only thing keeping some newbie producer from running us into the ground was the specter of overtime.

It’s a bit like shooting film vs tape. Back in the day, I would be given one roll (400′) of negative, and told to go out and shoot some an event. They wanted angles, coverage, wide shots, details…you know. So I had to very careful with each shot. The limits kept me very focussed on what I was doing.

In a similar way, having some kind of limit set for the length of the day could help a producer/director focus in on what’s really important on their shoot. And if something is happening outside the 10 hour day, well, that’s why there’s overtime.

I try not to be too much of hard-nose about this stuff. We all have lines we won’t cross.

(Two weeks ago I was working on a shoot and the producer was going through our day’s schedule, minute-by-minute. I asked her when was lunch. She just looked at me. I said, our call time is 6:30 am, we should take at least a half-hour break between 10:30 and 12:30, okay? I got a reluctant yes. Better than me getting low blood sugar and taking their heads off around 1 pm. I always pack some snacks just in case.)

As to gear rental, I start at one for one, then see what they say. Of course, a long form show, the producers should get a break. But I don’t think it helps the owner/operators to try to match a rental house on gear prices. I explain to the producer that, as an owner/operator, I have a greater familiarity with the camera than someone who just rents it when they need it. So it’s value-added. The gear company just has gear, and a producer needs more than that. Otherwise they’d shoot it themselves, right?

Tom Kaufman,
DP

[Thomas Kaufman]

I’d like to chime in with Erich — I bought a used HD zoom from KP Pro and it has been excellent. About half the cost of buying a new one and when the tech guys at Canon examined the they could find nothing that needed any repair or fine-tuning.

(Not associated with KP Pro in any way, just a satisfied customer.)

Thomas Kaufman, DP
Washington, DC

[Thomas Kaufman]

One thing you might look at is the P2 Mobile. This device can take the HD-SDI from the Varicam and record it to just about any format you want, including P2.

cheers

Thomas Kaufman, DP
Washington, DC