how are you going to accesorize your HVX?

C

contentlab

Well-known member
i'm putting together a budget for my boss and wanted to add some accessories for the HVX my company has on preorder, but then i realized i have no idea what i'll need and how much i should be paying for good quality gear. for now i'm perusing EVS for general prices that i'll try to quote below.

first off i'd need a decent case. hardshell, with room for the camera, an extra battery or two, charger, some cables, maybe some filters, maybe some nifty P2 card slots, or even pimp it out with room for a Firestore. who are good case manufacturers? what should i be paying for a case that has its foam custom cut to fit the HVX? will Panasonic be offering a standard hard case for this? looking at EVS it seems as if the most a case would cost is about $500.

bah, now that i'm looking at the Zacuto site is seems as if they have 2 cases just for the camera basics.
http://www.zacuto-rentals.com/hvx200.htm

secondly i need a nice set of sticks. i've been oogling the Sachtler systems but only because i remember working with those during my short lived career as a camera assistant. i'm interested in something with nice weight so that my camera-tripod system doesn't flutter in the wind or wobble much if/when i'm changing P2 cards. i only know that i want a system with spreaders. but i don't know the advantage of 1 or 2 stage tripods. any recommendations?

next would be adapter lenses. i'd be interested in wide angle, zoom and macro adapters. i know i've seen a good site that lots of you guys talk about but i just can't think of the name right now. and yes i know it seems like no one has such adapters right now but i just want to know who makes good ones and their approximate cost so i can include them in my budget.

is there anything else i might need/want? the only thing i could think of would be a way to monitor video levels in the field, or should i just focus on using zebra stripes to tell when my video is overblown?

thanks for your suggestions.
 
Pelican makes great hard cases that can be used for cameras. We have one of our DVX's in one, forget the model number. I believe the HVX will need a slightly bigger case then the DVX since it is bigger. I will start investigating this soon if no one else figures it out. :thumbsup:
 
Hi contentlab. I would suggest this case for most uses, camera has to sit on its side:
http://www.evsonline.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1600BLACK
Make sure to wrap your camera with a silk or silicone cloth to prevent the foam particles getting into it.

As far as Sachtler pods, they have been revamped, and all come with midlevel spreaders, which are very cool. A DV4 will do just fine. DV6 is even better, because it has drag controls.

Monitor: We finally have the new 7" HD LCD Marshall VR70P, and it is brillliant. I put one in rentals. It looks so good, you can see every last detail when shooting with Z1U's and 100U's. It is pricey though, around $1599 list, so if HD is not important, you may want an SD LCD for about a third that.
http://www.lcdracks.com/monitors/vr70phda.html

All the adapters will be released once the camera is out. Century optics usually studies the camera for a while before they release lenses. That keeps the optical quality high.
Best of luck.
 
hi wabbit,

yes i see that pelican seems to be the case of choice. how expensive is it to get custom foam inserts for the camera and things like batteries?
 
hi rush

ooh silk cloth. i've never heard of such pampering. i'm sure my boss will laugh when he sees that.

what's so good about mid level spreaders? my first thought is that it's easier to hang some bags from the spreader to keep it from blowing around but was just wondering if there were other benefits.

i'm sure i'll be calling in a few weeks to get some accesories. too bad i did't get on EVS' HVX preorder list soon enough to be part of the club.

thanks for all your info.
 
contentlab said:
hi wabbit,

yes i see that pelican seems to be the case of choice. how expensive is it to get custom foam inserts for the camera and things like batteries?
Click to expand...

I've used foam filled cases before, and most of them are pluckable ... meaning, the foam is actually already semi-sliced into a BUNCH of rectangles, so all you have to do is pull out the ones you want to the shape of what ever you're going to fit in there. If they DID offer any that are molded to the camera, batteries, etc. it would be a HUGE waste of money compared with doing a fairly easy job of it yourself, IMO.
 
contentlab said:
hi rush ooh silk cloth. i've never heard of such pampering. i'm sure my boss will laugh when he sees that. what's so good about mid level spreaders? my first thought is that it's easier to hang some bags from the spreader to keep it from blowing around but was just wondering if there were other benefits. i'm sure i'll be calling in a few weeks to get some accesories. too bad i did't get on EVS' HVX preorder list soon enough to be part of the club. thanks for all your info.
Click to expand...

Hi Content, you're welcome! :) Yeah but when you tell your boss why it's in the silk cloth he will look at you and say, "Kid you sure are thinking of the company pocketbook" :laugh:

Well midlevels are cool because they are usually sturdier than floor spreaders, especially with Sachtler. The SP75 ground spreader was somewhat fragile, but the new spreaders rule. Also they allow you to be on uneven ground, like stairways and auditorium aisles.

It's never too late to join the club! All you have to do is get on the list, and if you end up buying the camera from me, you will get all the benefits for 6 months after. As an HVX cllub member you will get 50% off any P2 card rental. It will also be the only rental I am willing to ship anywhere in the country, as long as it is rented for 1 week or longer. If you can pickup rentals in LA, you can take full advantage of our rental dept. We have recently added lots of new items to our rental inventory, including MKH416 mics, FP33 mixers, Vinten tripods, 7" HD LCD's, and coming up soon, several HVX200 cameras. Standard DVXuser discount on all those is 15% off. :thumbsup:
 
Rush said:
Hi Content, you're welcome! :) Yeah but when you tell your boss why it's in the silk cloth he will look at you and say, "Kid you sure are thinking of the company pocketbook" :laugh:

Well midlevels are cool because they are usually sturdier than floor spreaders, especially with Sachtler. The SP75 ground spreader was somewhat fragile, but the new spreaders rule. Also they allow you to be on uneven ground, like stairways and auditorium aisles.

It's never too late to join the club! All you have to do is get on the list, and if you end up buying the camera from me, you will get all the benefits for 6 months after. As an HVX cllub member you will get 50% off any P2 card rental. It will also be the only rental I am willing to ship anywhere in the country, as long as it is rented for 1 week or longer. If you can pickup rentals in LA, you can take full advantage of our rental dept. We have recently added lots of new items to our rental inventory, including MKH416 mics, FP33 mixers, Vinten tripods, 7" HD LCD's, and coming up soon, several HVX200 cameras. Standard DVXuser discount on all those is 15% off. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

That makes me wish I lived in LA...or even America for that matter :(
 
I personally like the Cartoni and Vinten tripods better than Schatler but they are all good in that range. The Bogen 519 is also nice. A mattebox and filters will probably come in handy too.
 
contentlab said:
what's so good about mid level spreaders? my first thought is that it's easier to hang some bags from the spreader to keep it from blowing around but was just wondering if there were other benefits.
Click to expand...


Rush made some good points on mid-level spreaders - steadiness and utility on uneven ground. For mobile, ENG-style shooting in outside locations me and my crews always use mid-level spreaders. We shoot a lot of nationally-televised action sports, adventure travel, documentaries, and also outdoor stock footage. Floor spreaders are a nightmare in those type of locations! Sand and dirt continuously clogs the floor spreader runner tracks. With mid-level spreaders, the horizontal stabilizers of the sticks are up high, away from dirt, sand, mud, and debris. In high wind situations mid-level spreaders keep the tripod more stable, plus as you mentioned, you can hang bags on the mid-level spreader to further stabilize the tripod. Those bags are then up out of the dirt and off your back. For mobile ENG-style work we use lightweight tripods with mid-level spreaders that we can hike long distances with.

Gibby
www.cut4.tv
 
thanks for the helpful tips. i'm going to want to be doing some hiking with this camera to get some nice nature shots or shots from oddly shaped terrain.
 
Hi Rush!

Rush said:
Monitor: We finally have the new 7" HD LCD Marshall VR70P, and it is brillliant. I put one in rentals. It looks so good, you can see every last detail when shooting with Z1U's and 100U's. It is pricey though, around $1599 list, so if HD is not important, you may want an SD LCD for about a third that.
http://www.lcdracks.com/monitors/vr70phda.html
Click to expand...

Uh... the specs say it has a resolution of 800x480.. how's that HD in any way?!
I really don't understand how I can get a 800x600 7-8" TFT for 150EUR here - of course not of the same built quality and as feature rich but with a decent picture and bright enough to not only work inside - and a "pro" TFT with a better case and some features thrown in costs nearly 10x as much... :-/
Or looking at the ridiculous expensive Transvideo TFTs with their low res...
I mean.. that's about 1/4th of the price of the camera itself! (and yeah of course I agree that it's a low price model between all the other "pro" monitors ;)

Cheers,
-Sören
 
SoerenM said:
Uh... the specs say it has a resolution of 800x480.. how's that HD in any way?!
I really don't understand how I can get a 800x600 7-8" TFT for 150EUR here - of course not of the same built quality and as feature rich but with a decent picture and bright enough to not only work inside - and a "pro" TFT with a better case and some features thrown in costs nearly 10x as much... :-/
Or looking at the ridiculous expensive Transvideo TFTs with their low res...
I mean.. that's about 1/4th of the price of the camera itself! (and yeah of course I agree that it's a low price model between all the other "pro" monitors ;)

Cheers,
-Sören
Click to expand...

i dont think rush was hinting at this being a HD display. at this point in technological history is it impossible to make a true full 1080 HD LCD panel in the sub 10 inch range. that companys next size up, the 8.4inch actually can do 720 HD natively.

i believe the large cost of this particular "HD" monitor comes in the fact that they have to pack all the electronics capable of converting various signals SD, HD and via component and SDI and scaling them for this 800x600 display to show. i'd even say the SDI/HDSDI capabitly is what drives the cost up so much. hell just adding an HD-SDI card to teh back of a Sony 20" Pro HD CRT disaply costs frigging close to $2000. i think that is what is driving the cost of this up soo much.

however the benefit of this is that you aren't trying to check focus on a tiny eyepiece or even the large 3.5inch display of a HVX200. i've seen these be really useful on Varicams that only have a b&w viewfinder. i could imagine using one on an HVX as well. not saying i can afford it but i could imagine wanting/using it. :laugh:
 
Even without HD/SDI input these "pro" TFTs are really expensive... and I don't know why it's so much...

At DV-Info someone posted about a small HD TFT that was 7" I beleive.. yet it didn't have full 720p it had at least more than 800x480... I'm going to search for the post.. ;)
 
contentlab, if you need hard case the pelican is the only way to go. if not, check out the petrol stuff, they have a semi hard model that i think is great for run and gun more than the pelican. sachtler is great but you pay a premium. i would check out the newer head from cartoni called the focus. great range, features and feel. great price too. rush can hook you up at evs. i also bought a set of sticks from shotoku that have blown me away. i really like telescoping sticks (the low stuff and great ease of use in packing are great) for my average shooting. i found the miller stuff to just be too expensive and a little loose. i stood on these shotoku sticks at NAB and they were so solid it was amazing. the 100mm ball is great too for a great selection of heads. we used it with teleprompter, firestore, follow focus ex large battery and on cam 7" monitor and teh head adn these sticks worked great with zero strain and jiggle. just some info. and the marshall unit rush mentioned is great, but you pay for it.

good luck
 
contentlab said:
i dont think rush was hinting at this being a HD display.
Click to expand...

Thank you! :) Yes it's the inputs, but also the color gamut is fantastic. We have other monitors that take SVHS inputs, but as soon as you hook up YRB cables from a Z1U or GYHD100U to this LCD, it is just shocking. Especially compared to the smallish 3" 16:9 LCD on the Z1U. This just became our most popular rental accessory with those cameras.
 
I'm still trying to figure out how to have scopes for a reasonable price...

I've read on this board about the ASTRO ones but they have no component imput...
and the best thing should be measuring the signal after compression, right?

I guess a laptop and software scopes will be the cheapest and still reliable way...

Did I miss something that could be useful?

Leandro
 
evinsky said:
I personally like the Cartoni and Vinten tripods better than Sachtler but they are all good in that range.
Click to expand...
I never really liked Cartonis, but I LOVE Vintens. I have a used Vinten Vision 5, and it's GREAT! It's perfect for a DVX/HVX-class camera. The Vision 5 is a bit under-weighted for a full-sized Betacam, however. Vinten uses a different drag system than Sachtler, and I actually like Vinten's design better, even though the Sachtlers are EXTREMELY good. We have $8,300 Sachtler carbon fiber Video 20s at work, and certainly Sachtler is probably the best tripod you can buy--but BOY are they expensive! I think Vinten is the best bang for the buck in tripods.

And the off-ground spreader deal? A lifesaver, must-have feature!
 
Also, just my opinion . . .

Save your money, and forget the mattebox and filters deal. You can always buy a cheap ND grad and tape it to your lens shade if you really need it someday. Yeah, I know they make the camera look real cool and stuff, but I think the money would be way better spent on stuff that can REALLY improve your image-making capabilities. Use the money instead to buy better lights or camera support gear. Just my two cents . . .
 
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