direct to HVX200 or double system?

[Oleg 2]

sorry to disappoint you , on dramatic shotes which not involved Steadicam it is the same as it on simple documentary , there is no any problem run cables ,get return and know what are you recording , my last 2 feuters where recorded directly to the camera ( hd-900) , my last series was recorded directly to jvc 101 camera .

your bad experience with your half booman is the inexperience of your self not to hook ever when you work with steadicam .

hot as possible , what does it have with separate recording , i run hot as i know the limitation of every recording device i work with.

the cameraman never watch levels , this my job to get best monitoring from the camera , i dont have to see meters to hear what i record ( sorry what comes to the camera since dedicated after recording is almost never exist , the after record monitoring on your flash card or hard disk is actually after buffer and not what came to your hard disk or flash media .
confidence dat head is a pain if you work close to the set so good for beginning or the end only, usually maybe 2% of the time in real life)

the responsibility know the equipment have nothing if they share the same equipment .

your last paragraph is really irrelevant , since the camera department dont have worry or deal with audio section as i dont deal with gamma settings or lens back focus , and if they deal with my section i brake their arms .

 

[ozduc]

However, when it comes to doing sound for dramatic narratives, I would go external whenever possible. The first reason being that, I want my sound mixer monitoring the final levels (on the recorder), not the camera op on the camera's viewfinder.

Your camera op has nothing to do with monitoring levels on the view finder. The sound mixer monitors the levels on their mixer after sending a reference tone.

Also, when you have wires plugged in, it leaves a million things that can go wrong. On a recent shoot, I was camera op, had my hvx200 on a steadicam with my boom op jacked right into the camera. We were doing a running shot. In the middle of the take, my cheapo britek 2k watt light literally explodes and starts a small fire. In the commotion, I put the camera down on the steadicam, boom op forgets he's plugged in during the confusion, takes one step too far, and the HVX comes crashing down, breaks the LCD screen, and we have a 700$ repair on our hands. Now, this situation was created by stupidity, both on my part, and of the boom op. However, had I been using an external recorder for this shot (as I should have) this accident would likely never have happened.

Your biggest mistake here was using a cheap Britek light.:kali:

When you start talking about putting any sort of movement onto your shots, you do NOT want to be tethered to audio. If I'm working as a camera op, I want audio guys worrying about sound, not me worrying about wires.

Have you ever seen a reality shoot? They will have far more un-planned, un-rehearsed movement in a shot then you would ever have on a dramitic shoot and they are tethered.

As an audio engineer, I want sound being laid down as hot as possible, with the least amount of noise, and no peaking. I don't want to rely on a cameraman to be watching those levels for me.

Steve as I said your camera op has nothing to do with monitoring audio levels. If you have a sound guy/gal, they will be checking levels and monitoring what is coming back from camera.
As an audio engineer have you never heard of confidence monitoring?

The more concentration each department has on their own responsibility, the better the result will be in the end. For the same reason why your camera team should not be dressing your actors, they shouldn't be worrying about sound either.

That's good advice. Perhaps you should have let your lighting and grip department handle the Britek situation. That way you wouldn't have had to put the camera down to deal with it yourself. Or you should at least hand the camera to the sound op to hold.

 

[wabbit]

Been jacked into the camera on ENG shoots for years, not one issue to date (knock on wood). I use a breakaway cable and a safety loop on the cameraman's belt. I ask that anytime he un-does the safety loop that he disengages the breakway. If he forgets then I cover it. Foolproof system

More and more I am using my older Lectros for the camera hop because wireless connections are requested by the producer (cameraman is usually neutral) but I vastly prefer to be cabled. When I finally break down and get my stereo ENG Zaxcom maybe I will change my tune.

Cheers

 

[Erik Olson]

I operate tethered all the time. Except for dragging a sound operator behind me when I take to running, I've never had an incident where damage was done.

The story about the Britek fire and ensuing mayhem was a perfect storm scenario and almost never happens (mostly because pro shows never use crap fixtures like the Briteks).

JK. Not really! No, just kidding!

This is totally irrelevant because the poster indicated he had two microphones for his shoot, but if your audio operator has a couple additional wireless kits (like Lectrosonics quality), then you can always run a pair of wireless receivers to the camera if harnessing is an issue.

e