Any other Varicam HDC27 users out there ?

You should set your backfocus every time you start the day's shooting and after the camera's had a chance to warm up, perhaps half an hour or so.
 
I am sure if there are any focus issues at this point its the lenses i have to worry about. I mean, this issue is not life or death. The lenses are russian SLR glass modified with PL mounts, they were cheap compared to normal PL prices and they do get the job done, but, im sure their distance is a tad off. who knows..
 
Fair enough, but the warning to check the bak focus is because as the camera warms up during the course of the day, thermal expansion can throw out the depth.
 
Brought the 'ole girl outta retirement yesterday. It's probably been a year since I've shot with her(Who want's tape in 2016?!). The VariCams have always looked good and I was still pleased, and pleasantly surprised yesterday, as well with my 10 year old 720P tape Vari.

I've never really liked shooting solid white backgrounds and used to push for doing it green screen instead, especially if it's being done by multiple crews in different places so that it will all match, but they wanted white and we were shooting it all, so we did it. We used a roll of white seamless paper, and I lit everything with tungsten(background and subjects) and went preset 3200K. I lit/exposed the screen until it was even on the scope and false color was solid corner to corner. It was over 100 IRE, but to get it dead even, even in the corners, you pretty much have to. One of my friends who has been doing this since before I was born stopped by while we were shooting(he had a break on his shoot a few blocks away and was killing time) and took one look at the monitors and said wow, that really looks good. The white was so perfect, it looked keyed and the subjects just popped right off of it. We were all a little surprised.
 
That camera is a tank. Unless the chip block goes of someone sticks a PB&J sandwich in the tape deck (don't ask), she should keep delivering.
 
Amazing man! I agree that the Varicam line is the best! I will have owned my varicam 27f for a year next month and its been well over a decade since i've held onto a camera that long. It's just a beautiful piece of equipment and with the advancements in external recording and post, i feel like you can get an image out of it better then you could in its hayday when almost everyone was stuck with the 8bit tape workflow.
 
You can actually get a better picture now than then. When you shoot DVCPro HD tape(and P2 on the 2700, too), it's actually NOT 1280x720 recorded internally, it's 960x720! The vertical rez it's whats really important, but still... For the record, HDCAM was really only 1440x1080. One of my friends has stopped shooting DVCPro HD on his 2700 and shoots AVC-Intra 100 so he gets full rez.
 
So Run&Gun, do you think that there is still a decent market to make a living with 2/3" gear as a freelancer? I think these older cameras offer more than meets the eye like i said thanks to new external recorders and advancements in post.
 
Mike Krumlauf said:
So Run&Gun, do you think that there is still a decent market to make a living with 2/3" gear as a freelancer? I think these older cameras offer more than meets the eye like i said thanks to new external recorders and advancements in post.
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Depending on your clientele, I'd say yes, but I also do a lot of network work where these cameras are still the bulk of acquisition. I know guys still shooting with their HDX-900's. And I've said it many, many times on here and other places- My 2700 VariCam is STILL my favorite camera EVER to use, and I also own a C300 and F55. But part of that is because of the glass. Sensor size coverage aside, my personal opinion is that the Fuji 13x4.5 is the most useful and versatile lens ever in the universe period. (slight hyperbole). Nothing like it exists in the cine world and it just fits my style of shooting and working.

I actually feel that most of the 24P images out of my 27 and 2700 are more "filmic" than from a lot of what I see out of F5/55's.
 
2/3" format isn't dead yet. I actually made the most profits w/ 2/3" cams than any Super 35mm large sensor this year. It'll be a matter of time when 2/3" broadcast 4K cams will be out from Panasonic. Sony beats it but Panasonic will get a sweet revenge sooner or later. When this happens, the value for 2/3" format will be increasing. Now it's pretty cheap I guess due to the lack of demand and interest.

I also own the HA13x4.5. Still use it about 11 years later. Absolutely indispensable. It has a near perfect fit on the hand (very comfortable and weighs just right as well) and hard to beat in terms of image sharpness and flexibility (1-cam crew vs 2 for Super35mm). One of the few lenses that I see does a good job of controlling distortions at 4.5mm or 93 degrees POV. It's literally rectilinear. Try that on dSLR lenses. You'll see lots of annoying vertical distortion, especially the Canon 16-35mm.
 
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I still can not get over just how beautiful the old varicam is! I recently bought the Panasonic AJ-EC3P Paintbox as mentioned in another thread and the convinence it gives to fine tune the look of the image and also frame ramping is just incredible! This is the first Panasonic camera i'm really head over heals for and i've owned quite a few but none in the Varicam's class. Yup, I'm fan girling I know, i'm sorry, what can I say, I'm a nerd. I can only wonder what the next level (HPX27/3700) could do? I know that the 3700 does have a true 4:4:4 LOG singnal right?! If only you could find a camera like the varicam H at the price i paid for it used, new! HA!
 
Mike, the 2700 is awesome and even though it's long in the tooth, now, it's still my favorite overall camera to date and I'm about to enter year 20. The 3700 was 1080, but never sold well. It was expensive right up until it was killed-off, couldn't do slow-mo(well, 30 frames) and did I mention it was ~$20K more than the 2700(list prices). I have a client who has one(maybe two). Other than that, I never saw them in the wild.

I wish my 2700 would last(read: be in-demand) for at least another 10 years.
 
I talk on and off with a DP who is from the USA but is shooting out in Russia and owns the same varicam and kipro set up as me (has nicer lenses though) and he still shoots features for russian filmmakers on the varicam! He did a B-Kid's Movie starring Julia Robert's brother called "First Dog". It's a pretty decent looking film! I think the resolution craze that is going on how is ridiculous.. i know its too each his own and what not, but i rather have a camera that offers professional build and toolset with nice skin tones, vari frame rates, and sacrifice the res.. if i had big dog money i'd probably buy an Arri Amira but i'm not rolling in the dough (yet ;b). I love my varicam and the people I have done freelance work with since i've had it love what i'm able to do with it and that's all that matters. Happy artist, Happy Client. :D
 
I'm just going to throw this out there.. the worst that can happen is nobody answers or y'all say no..

If anyone has a 2/3' HD lens of somekind just collecting dust and would be willing to help me out and part with it and let me use it on loan within the next few months it would really mean a lot! I am kind of desprate for an HD lens of somekind but I just do not have the money to fund it, even at their current prices on ebay.. within the past year i've sank well around $5,000 into my varicam kit and i have yet to get enough work to pay all that back.
 
Mike have you used your BM Video Assist with the HDC27? Couldn't find any decisive info if it can do 3:2 pulldown from the SDI 720p60 output. Getting my camera in a couple of weeks and looking for the best value external recording option.
 
youngindiefilms said:
Maybe a good chance to ask Mitch as well, what do you think is the best solution for external recording with a HDC27?

Also wondering if recording straight to DVCPro HD tapes would be a good solution (given, I wouldn't mind the extra step digitzing the footage) along with a tape deck:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-A...195834?hash=item5b2fdf6e3a:g:iaEAAOSw5cNYRZaC

??
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Holy hell... I remember when that deck was like $20,000...

I still have my 27H and it still makes beautiful images(actually had a request for it last year for tape). And I made ludicrous amounts of money off of it back in the day(shooting tape), but keep in mind that recording to tape internally, DVCPro HD is only 960x720p. If you wanna get the most out of it today, you definetly want to slap an external recorder on it.
 
Thanks for the info! And I guess tape recording is 8bit as far as what I can tell from the camera manual is that correct?

Do you have any info on which recorder is best suited? I'm mostly interested to get a 24p image. The Ki Pro Mini seems like a good option, although no built in monitor and I have read people had issues with the unit getting hot and other problems.

Would a BM Videoassist be able to extract 24p from the 720p60 feed over SDI? Can't find anything conclusive googling the topic.
 
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