1980's Camcorders and suggestions.

F

fsf1o1

New member
what sort of camcorders did they use in the 80s? mainly for stuff professional stuff like Tears for fears Everybody wants to Rule the world http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST86JM1RPl0, OutField http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N1iwQxiHrs&ob=av2e I know of the Sony Betacam SP and that it was popular in the 80s and 90s for this kind of thing, but I'm just wondering if there's anything specific you'd guys recommend. I guess another issue would be finding a camcorder that worked and worked well for the stuff id like to do. Thanks guys so much for your help. anything would be helpful.


~Chris
 
Most of it was shot on film.

There's probably not a whole lot they did with the video cameras of the time that you couldn't do with, say, a DVX100. If you're going back to the old analog cameras, you need an appropriate deck, you need a way to digitize it for editing on a computer, etc.
 
I actually worked back then; on music videos and corporate stuff. Almost all music videos were shot on film. The Tears for Fears video you reference was shot on film. Most corporate work was done with Ikegami video cameras. At first the pro stuff was done with a portable 1" recorder this quickly transfered to Beta SP as the format came on line. If you have seen both recorders you would understand the rapid change over.
 
I actually have an HL-79D sitting about two feet away from me as I write this ... I keep it around as a prop and to demonstrate that I actually had upper body strength back in the old days!

Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Any that you found today would have such old tubes and probably be so out of alignment that without finding a very talented technician and investing a ton of money in rare replacement parts, you would never be able to get the same image quality that they were capable of when new (which was pretty darned good, all things considered).

I think you'd be better off to shoot with a modern camera and then play with the grading in post to get that '80s live video look -- which would be a very linear response through the midrange, with rather abrupt clipping of the highlights, and little shadow detail. Don't be tempted to mess up the colors or soften the overall image much -- those beasts actually did just fine with color accuracy and sharpness as long as they were maintained well, although a little artificial peaking might be characteristic of the era.

- Greg
 
fsf1o1 said:
what sort of camcorders did they use in the 80s? mainly for stuff professional stuff like Tears for fears Everybody wants to Rule the world http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST86JM1RPl0, OutField http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N1iwQxiHrs&ob=av2e I know of the Sony Betacam SP and that it was popular in the 80s and 90s for this kind of thing, but I'm just wondering if there's anything specific you'd guys recommend. I guess another issue would be finding a camcorder that worked and worked well for the stuff id like to do. Thanks guys so much for your help. anything would be helpful.


~Chris
Click to expand...

While I may understand why someone would pack a 4x5 or 8x10 up a 14000 foot mountain... because the large negative gives far superior benefits than something smaller...

I have no idea why someone would want to shoot with the video cameras of yore... shoot at 60i, and degrade HD down to 720x480 (or PAL equivalents...). About the only thing I would think to do with such a camera is to generate a 'noise' track, and then use that in the degrading process...
 
fsf1o1 said:
what sort of camcorders did they use in the 80s? mainly for stuff professional stuff like...
Click to expand...

Film cameras, not video camcorders. On music videos in the 80s, the Arriflex 35-3 was king. I have one available for rent if you need one ;)

In the 80s, video camcorders were only used for newsgathering and other fast turnaround media, or for shoots that couldn't afford film.
 
Why not grab a DVX, then transfer your footage to VHS, then bring it into your NLE and get a similar look and feel to the image? I had a friend do the same thing and it worked very well. He even would press down on the VHS cassette when transferring to introduce more noise and crap into the image.
 
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