What work are you using your HVX200 for?

V

vivsavage

Member
What kind of work are you using your HVX200 for? Have you specifically used the HVX200 to "sell" your services (4:2:2, "uncompressed" HD, no long GOP, true progressive, etc)?

How are you delivering your final product?
 
vivsavage said:
What kind of work are you using your HVX200 for?
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Corporate/Industrials
Commercials
Short form online series

Have you specifically used the HVX200 to "sell" your services (4:2:2, "uncompressed" HD, no long GOP, true progressive, etc)?
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I learned a long time ago not to sell anything based on my gear.
A lot of people have better gear than I do - and if you base your sales on the camera then you're forced to always keep up tech-wise.
Besides, most clients don't care about the techy aspects - they just want things done, and want them to look good.

The only specific attribute I've mentioned of the HVX to a client is the ability to shoot slow mo (onyl because I thought it would work well with what they wanted to do)

How are you delivering your final product?
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Generally digital DVCProHD files, either via hard drive, DVD, or FTP.
 
I use mine for broadcast HD shows, so I don't think it fits for what you are asking. But I wanted to mention that the HVX doesn't shoot "uncompressed." It shoots a compressed form of HD called DVCPRO HD. Uncompressed is relegated to the Viper and Phantom cameras.
 
video journalist full time for a news paper. freelance wise: commercial, wedding, and action sports. the hvx has gotten me lots of gigs.
 
Shane Ross said:
I use mine for broadcast HD shows, so I don't think it fits for what you are asking. But I wanted to mention that the HVX doesn't shoot "uncompressed." It shoots a compressed form of HD called DVCPRO HD. Uncompressed is relegated to the Viper and Phantom cameras.
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Shooting for broadcast is certainly part of what I'm asking about. What shows/networks are using you? How do you deliver the footage?
I know DVCProHD isn't truly uncompressed; that's why I put it in quotation marks. I guess I was referring to the lack of the long GOP compression scheme that HDV uses.
 
Feature "film", industrials, events, stock footage, video blogs and web shows, documentaries.

Sometimes when I get pushed up against the competition, I just compare bitrates, since it's a nice clean comparison. I tell my clients that if they choose a HDV camera, they get roughly 20% of the data that the DVCProHD codec in 1080 will capture. Oversimplification? Definitely, but the client doesn't care about chroma subsampling, GOPs, etc.

If I'm fighting against pressure on the high end (like AVC-I), I just rent.
 
aside from national networks, ive never had a broadcaster (be they over the air or cable) ask me where the footage came from.

i simply do my complete production in HD then downconvert the HD sequence to an SD one or flow all my HD footage into an SD sequence and do all the graphics there (depending on where all the parts are coming from)

either way, as long as my 8bit uncompressed SD mov file doesnt offend the scopes or audio levels (which it never does) - ive never had a problem or anyone asking me how or on what the content was acquired...
 
Hi VivSavage:

1. I use my HVX-200 primarily for documentary films, DVD Bonus material and EPK. Little bit of corporate here and there

2. In my business, shooting with the HVX is more of a liability, many of my competitors shoot with broadcast style cameras that cost twenty times what the HVX costs. But I am better at lighting and more resourceful than many of my competitors. Like many of the other posters, most of the time, my clients could care less what I am shooting on as long as the end product looks good. Along with my $5,000.00 camera, I have about a quarter million dollars worth of lighting, grip, sound and post gear to make those shows look and sound good. In my world, small, cheap cameras that are capable of great images makes a lot more sense than going through the gyrations of owning a big camera. I used to have a BVW-D600 back in the day so I have been through that. I personally dislike shooting with big, heavy cameras unless I have a crew, lots of support gear and ACs. For what I do, the HVX-200/HPX-170 are perfect.

I did some math, in the past two years, my HVX-200 has earned me about $28,000.00 in camera revenue, pretty good investment.

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
Hi VivSavage:

1. I use my HVX-200 primarily for documentary films, DVD Bonus material and EPK. Little bit of corporate here and there

2. In my business, shooting with the HVX is more of a liability, many of my competitors shoot with broadcast style cameras that cost twenty times what the HVX costs. But I am better at lighting and more resourceful than many of my competitors. Like many of the other posters, most of the time, my clients could care less what I am shooting on as long as the end product looks good. Along with my $5,000.00 camera, I have about a quarter million dollars worth of lighting, grip, sound and post gear to make those shows look and sound good. In my world, small, cheap cameras that are capable of great images makes a lot more sense than going through the gyrations of owning a big camera. I used to have a BVW-D600 back in the day so I have been through that. I personally dislike shooting with big, heavy cameras unless I have a crew, lots of support gear and ACs. For what I do, the HVX-200/HPX-170 are perfect.

I did some math, in the past two years, my HVX-200 has earned me about $28,000.00 in camera revenue, pretty good investment.

Dan
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WOW VERYYYYYYYYYYYYYY inspiring I know this will happen for me pretty soon.
 
Next week, our HVXs are going out on a History Channel one-off documentary. We used them as the a-cam for Resolved, which was distributed by HBO Documentary Films.

The HVX also did time as our television projects development camera.

puredrifting said:
Hi VivSavage:

I used to have a BVW-D600 back in the day so I have been through that. I personally dislike shooting with big, heavy cameras...

Dan
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I just shot a 600 for four days on the shoulder for HGTV. That camera is a leaden pig of a machine. Did I mention it was heavy? I swear that the F900 fully configured weighs less than the 600 with just a sunshade. Feel the burn! Oh, and focusing... are you kidding me?! How did we ever work in those "SD" viewfinders? The resolution must be less than 100 lines. And no flip VF. Oh, I could go on and on...

e
 
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Am I the only one just doing shenanigans with my HVX? :D Ok ok, not only... but till now I am just shooting short films.

Got the first paying gigs lined up though :)
 
VivSavage,

The HVX200 is really versatile. I use it to capture stories with artists, athletes, musicians, etc. in my documentaries. I also use it to capture great HD shots for the action sports content that I shoot and produce. About 10% of the time I use miniDV tape. Sometimes I even record straight into my laptop, using Final Cut Pro 6.

As for outlets, my projects are used for everything from SD broadcast television, to HD web teasers. I rarely shoot specifically for DVD. And, yes, owning the camera has helped "sweeten the deal" in many cases.

-andrew
 
puredrifting said:
I have about a quarter million dollars worth of lighting, grip, sound and post gear to make those shows look and sound good.
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So it is true! On-set audio is just guide track and "we can always just fix it in post"!

Kudos on the mention of having actual lighting and grip gear. At least in the dramatic world of indies/shorts/features, for every good looking clip some camera-type is showing on his/her reel, there's usually a very talented gaffer and/or grip that contributed immensely. Part of it is in the camera, a lot of it is in the grip/lighting. I love my HVX, and I don't like to cheap out on grip/lighting just because I have a small camera. BTW, I shoot dramatic/documentary/sports with mine. I love it!
:)
 
I use mine (I have 2) for live music events and music videos. When shooting live music I also run a protools audio rig to allow post mixing (I find that the audio drifts about 2 frames over the course of a 43 minute card, which is easily fixable). I am not making a ton of money yet, but my work is starting to be appreciated in the music community and I owe a lot of that to the filmish look one can achieve with this camera at 24P. I deliver on DVD for now. If I could author and burn blu-ray I would be that much happier.
ks
 
StingrayPictures said:
Kudos on the mention of having actual lighting and grip gear. At least in the dramatic world of indies/shorts/features, for every good looking clip some camera-type is showing on his/her reel, there's usually a very talented gaffer and/or grip that contributed immensely. Part of it is in the camera, a lot of it is in the grip/lighting. I love my HVX, and I don't like to cheap out on grip/lighting just because I have a small camera. BTW, I shoot dramatic/documentary/sports with mine. I love it!
:)
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The other great thing about grip and lighting is that unlike cameras and computers which are outdated the minute they hit the market, G&L holds it value and rarely requires much in the way of service, upkeep and upgrades when compared to electronics. My best investments in this business have always been grip, lighting and audio gear.

The most common newbie mistake is thinking that you can just buy a camera and start shooting professional quality material. You can't without grip, lighting and audio and the skills needed to use all of them or better yet, hiring pros that really know what they are doing to support your vision.

To me, it doesn't seem weird at all to be doing a shoot with a $5,000.00 camcorder and $50,000.00 worth of G&L. That's what it takes to create good quality images.

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
The other great thing about grip and lighting is that unlike cameras and computers which are outdated the minute they hit the market, G&L holds it value and rarely requires much in the way of service, upkeep and upgrades when compared to electronics. My best investments in this business have always been grip, lighting and audio gear.

The most common newbie mistake is thinking that you can just buy a camera and start shooting professional quality material. You can't without grip, lighting and audio and the skills needed to use all of them or better yet, hiring pros that really know what they are doing to support your vision.

To me, it doesn't seem weird at all to be doing a shoot with a $5,000.00 camcorder and $50,000.00 worth of G&L. That's what it takes to create good quality images.

Dan
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You mean you haven't heard about the new 32GB C-Stand, or the new and improved touch screen Tweenie? haha kidding..

I completely agree. My Dad, a photographer, used to tell me the same line every week. "Want to know how to produce good work? Buy a $5 camera, and a $100 book on lighting". I never really knew what he meant until I started getting in this field. I've seen poorly lit, poorly shot stuff shot on HVX's that looked TERRIBLE and very amateur. Then i've seen well lit, well shot, stuff shot on a Canon GL1 that would blow you away. People often overlook the most important aspects of Film/photography/videography, and just think that if they've got the same camera a professional has, they can produce they same quality of work.
 
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