Decision! Decision!

[Kalki]

I am in the last stage of decision making to buy the HVX and before I take that illumined leap, I would like to run a few tests of my own. (I will have the camera for couple of hours this weekend in my hand). What should I shoot in this couple of hours that would help me understand the potential (+/-) of this camera better?
I apologise profusely for such a generic question, but its just that it is my first camera ever and its a lot of money. I could use some expert advice. Appreciate all your inputs and thanks in advance.

 

[cinemakinoeye]

Testing the HVX

Testing the HVX

The biggest factor that differentiates the HVX200 from it's ilk (Sony, Canon, JVC) of under $10K camcorders is the requirement of using either hard drive recording or P2 card recording, videotape is not a practical option with this camera. Sony, Canon, and JVC have all embraced the HDV tape format. Panasonic marches to the tune of a different drummer. This camera requires you to take on a new way of thinking about your workflow. Some of these issues are discussed in an interview I did with Barry Braverman in my blog post "To P2 or not P2, that is the question…" and there's been lots of excellent discussion of P2 issues on this board.

Besides workflow issues, there are several schools of thought on testing and evaluating cameras. Here are some of my thoughts.

One approach is to take a quantitative technical approach and shoot resolution and color charts (the DSC CamAlign is an exceptional test chart) and all that stuff, and compare camera side by side and look and the subtle nuances that differentiate one camera from another. I've done that in the past, and it can be fun, but at the end of the day, the data is of limited value in terms of real world filmmaking.

There are so many other factors that contribute to the right image for your story. No ordinary audience member has ever left a movie theater and said, "I wished they had shot that film with a camera that had better vertical resolution." There's technical resolution and then there's emotional resolution. On the other hand, this is not to say that good production values don't enhance the movie watching experience, it's a good idea to produce the best image you can given the resources available.

I suggest the best way to test a camera is to put the camera through it's paces through qualitative testing and trusting your eyes. Go out and shoot stuff that's typical of what you plan to shoot with the camera and see how it works out when you view it on the types of display or projection your projects are destined for.

This is the approach I took to test the HVX200 when I first got my hands on one, check out my blog post "[URL="http://kino-eye.com/2006/03/02/hvx200spin2/]Taking the Panasonic HVX200 out for a spin, Part2[/URL]" which has links to QuickTime movies of my shooting tests.

Watch your results on a variety of monitors and/or projectors. If you're happy, then that's it. No need to worry about plus or minus a few lines of resolution here and there. It's true, sometimes technical factors are very important, for example, with green screen compositing, of course you're better off with a 4:2:2 camera than a 4:2:0 camera, and higher resolution and color representation will make a big difference, and so on and so forth.

Each tool is the best for a given set of requirements and resources available, that's the fun of filmmaking, there are no rules, only a series of trade-offs and decisions, each unique and driven by the creative demands of the project.