September 10th, 2009 Rich
I was so pleased with the performance of my HF S200 that I purchased it’s big brother, the HF S100.
I wanted to be able to shoot a three-camera setup. The third camera allows me to shoot an interview, for example. I have a camera on a two-shot of the interviewer and interviewee. Another camera is close on the interviewee. The third camera is close up on the interviewer. I have all three cameras running, introduce a sound sync mark, and then I can easily edit in a multi-camera mode. It’s a piece of cake. And if someone flubs, I have coverage to edit past that.
A couple of key camera features include zebra bars and exposure adjustment so it is much easier to get the exposures you desire. On occasion, I want a scene dark, for example. Instead of having the camera turn up the gain automatically and create noise in the dark areas, you set a lower exposure value and it doesn’t auto adjust. It you are getting zebra bars, it is also helpful to lower exposure so you don’t blow out your whites.
I also enjoy the 8 megapixel still pictures. This allows me to shoot clean plates for use in green screen and compositing. The 16:9 format may not be so great as a still format but turning the camera sideways can give some big verticals.
– Rich Pulham
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September 8th, 2009 Rich
I was shooting a client’s musical DVD where performers lip-synced to pre-recorded music. Having a second camera made a lot of sense for reducing the amount of time shooting. I could get two different angles of a performance at the same time.
I found a refurbished Canon HV20 for under $500 and purchased it. My first camera had done a great job and this fit my price range. However, part way into the shoot, the camera failed. B&H Photo was very helpful in getting an RMA. I got a credit because I planned on buying a third camera.
So I would have a second camera on the shoot, I purchased a Canon HF200. At first, I was leary of going to an AVCHD camera but decided to give it a try when I learned it did 24 mb/sec., the same as the HDV format on my HV20. It turned out to be a good move.
There were several features lacking on the HF 200 that I decided I could live without since I was using my HV20 as well. The main one was zebra bars. That feature really helps with getting good exposures. It also didn’t have an eye-level viewer. But the pluses far outweighed the negatives.
The first thing I found was that there was less blurring on fast action. This has always been an issue with HDV. It shot full 1920×1080p instead of 1440×1080p I got with tape. That gave better images with fewer artifacts.
Shooting on a 16 gig class 6 SDHC card gives about 90 minutes worth of recording. Once a shot is taken, it can be watched on the camera’s display to make sure you got what you wanted. And of course, it doesn’t take an hour to dump a tape. It’s a drag and drop operation.
The camera feels tiny in your hand. I have heard that small cameras are hard to hold steady. But this one is easily cupped in two hands for rock steady operation. I can also use the loosened strap to hold it in one hand for a fairly steady picture.
– Rich Pulham
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February 25th, 2009 Rich
JVC’s new camera, the JVC GY-HM100U ProHD, looks like a real honey. It records to SDHC cards instead of the extremely expensive P2 card. It runs at high bit rates to give great HD quality. It has 2 XLR inputs and manual audio control. And many more great features. It sells for about $3,500 at B&H Photo.
When I looked at the specs, I was bummed out. Turns out this camera is a dud for the independent producer. It uses small 1/4 inch sized chips. JVC thinks of them as super chips that will perform as well as the 1/3 inch chips. But therein lies the weakness of the camera.
Smaller chips mean less wide angle and more depth of field. The 35mm equivalent of the zoom is 39-390mm. I don’t think I would call 39mm “wide angle.” As an independent filmmaker, wide angle is much more important to me than shooting nearly 400mm.
Depth of field is another important spec to achieve the “film” look. With this camera, I’d have to spend another $1500 for a 35mm lens adapter plus lenses.
Sure, having XLR connectors and higher quality sound for this camera would be cool. But I could also shoot double-system sound and have 8 inputs instead of 2.
Maybe my money would be better spend on a Canon 5D Mark II. Then I would have money left over for pizza. Cast and crew can get hungry.
– Rich Pulham
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