Recommend the HVX for weddings?

C

coryokeefe

Active member
Most people wouldnt im sure. Ive seen the Canon XH and Brevis combo for the dude in canada. So legit! I think using P2 would be an expensive media for weddings. What do you think? HDV isnt true HD, yet for weddings it seems as if it serves a good purpose. On the web it looks awesome, its compressed into SD for the DVD, yet the dvx cant produce that crisp of an image for web purposes. Your website is where you book majority of your work from....

Thoughts?
 
dont use a brevis for weddings, you'll kill yourself trying to focus moving subjects. HDV IS true HD, I don't know why people keep saying it isn't. It's just compressed differently than others. P2 seems expensive at first, but if you're really serious about doing it than the workflow and eventual money you save in tape is worth it. if you want hdv, which again IS HD, I'd get the canon xh-a1. If you want P2, which I would recommend, wait for the hpx-170. I use the hvx and it's fine.
 
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I said once and I'll say it again, " The Best Camera for Weddings is the Sony V1U!" The Canon HDV cameras are fine cameras as well. P2 is nice but It's just not practical for weddings.
 
check out stillmotion on vimeo. he uses brevis.... ya might wait for the hpx. But can get a sick deal on brevis on hvx..hmmm
 
Jrmiller P2 isn't very practical for long recording times. Back when I did a lot of weddings I would shoot over three hours of footage sometimes. With the HVX I would need 3 32Gb P2 cards to make that work or I would need a dumping solution at the wedding. That just ends up being a lot of work and money especially if you have multiple cameras. I love P2, I use it for films commercials and even home movies but for weddings HDV is still king.
 
i shoot about 10 weddings a year with my hvx, fs100 and 2 p2 cards(16 & 8). and i've done a wedding without my fs100 before, but you need someone dedicated to offloading cards. its not that hard, but can be a headache. i use a canon a1 as well, its a much easier production workflow than p2 but not tapeless...
 
totally. Make sense. Looks like the canon a1 is a solid wedding camera. Even the new hpx will be p2 and wont even have a tape option... so for weddings its gonna be a bit difficult.. agreed?

Having to offload, or having someone to offload takes unnecessary time i guess. I mean its doable, but seems time consuming and uncessary. Seems like the canon does a solid job. John from cinevate said the g35 is gonna be super light and mobile. Good for run and gun shooting. Might be a sweet adapter choice to get some cool shots.
 
When the 64GB cards come out, the HPX170 would probably be great for weddings, but my question to the OP is this: how are you delivering your final product? If it's on DVD, then you aren't giving them an HD product, and could then record 480p on MiniDV tapes. If you had a P2 card for some background shots or some nice shots of the bride getting ready or something, and used MiniDV for the ceremony, that should be good enough quality for a DVD. Just something to consider.
 
PatrickR said:
When the 64GB cards come out, the HPX170 would probably be great for weddings, but my question to the OP is this: how are you delivering your final product? If it's on DVD, then you aren't giving them an HD product, and could then record 480p on MiniDV tapes. If you had a P2 card for some background shots or some nice shots of the bride getting ready or something, and used MiniDV for the ceremony, that should be good enough quality for a DVD. Just something to consider.
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I thought it only records 480i
 
It records 480/30p over 60i, so it's two images taken at the same time spread over two frames. It really is 30p, but the way it's recorded is 60i. When it is output it turns into a 30p image. I believe I'm explaining it correctly, but if I'm not, someone else feel free to jump in.
 
jrmiller_entertainment said:
dont use a brevis for weddings, you'll kill yourself trying to focus moving subjects.
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someone has already posted this, but check out www.still-motion.ca. the still motion guys were one of the early brevis adopters, and use them for weddings. they have some really amazing work. you can also see some of their work on the brevis site, cinevate.com.

i shoot weddings with the hvx200a, and would never go back to dv tape. p2 is the way to go, and price has dropped big time from when the cards first came out, price/memory ratio speaking. i usually rent a second 16gig card for $50 (which may or may not be an option for you), bring my laptop and offload card 1 when i move to card 2.

i don't think i would use the original hvx for weddings based on the light it needs, but the 200a has been perfect for me. i love the look you can pull out of it. i might have gone a different route if i was only doing weddings, but the main reason i bought it was for shooting films. weddings just paid it off.
 
Most of the stillmotion work is done on the XH-A1, with some HVX200 (one of their shooters, Tony, uses one) and recently the EX1 was added to the collection. Patrick and company somehow manage same day edits for clients who've chosen that option and I suspect the tapeless workflow is a huge asset for this.
 
ya i have been drooling over that guys work the past two weeks. He does use the xh-a1 which has been an option for me.. But i agree i think its heading towards tapeless media and would be such a rad thing. I have a macbook pro i could bring and make it work. There is an HVX for sale along with a brevis adapter i just might go for.

Everyone disagrees with an adapter for weddings. But with two people especially its key in my opinion. Im in no market to do an average wedding video...

Whats most important i think its the clips on your website and the clips you give them online. The DVD will always be low quality for another year or two... So just gotta do whatever you can for that. I think id rather have awesome footage and clips online and an ok DVD product. Then ok SD footage that matches my DVD footage....
 
i say as long as you have one camera set up as a wide angle master to cut to from your camera with the adapter, you're good to go.

i don't have my brevis yet, but that's the way i'm headed. one camera to grab the more filmic adapter shots, and another sans adapter, set up in a wide static shot. that's actually what i do now, except there is no adapter on either camera. just something else i'm adding to the mix.

again, i'd be really careful if you're thinking about the original hvx for weddings. people don't have a clue how dark their receptions (and sometimes ceremonies) really are. i've had a few lately that were so dark pretty much no camera could have pulled off a great image, let alone the original hvx.
 
"If you had a P2 card for some background shots or some nice shots of the bride getting ready or something, and used MiniDV for the ceremony, that should be good enough quality for a DVD. Just something to consider."

I agree with Patrick and Slim. I, too, use a 200a for weddings as a way to fund my true passions:) It's an awesome rig and produces incredible images in HD. That's a BIG offering over my competitors! P2 cards are getting cheaper, albeit slowly. With a 32 and 16, I get 1.5 hours @ 720pn (little more, about 100 minutes), DV for B roll, and a beautiful bride for off load in necessary situations to the MBP. I am going to pick up a FW100, but the sleekness of P2 internal, especially outdoors with no lighting is another plus.

Can't go wrong with the 200a for weddings, and I like the tape option backup...the reason I didn't wait for the 170 even with it's "better" imagery:)

J
 
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