thefilmaddict
Veteran
HVX-200 Hands-on Training
I just came back from a HVX-200 Hands-on training session at ProSource in Fairfield, CT. Michael Caporale (the first DP to embrace the Varicam in feature film production) conducted the training. Michael was great and very knowledgeable. A Panasonic Rep was there, too (a nice much older guy -- sorry I don't recall his name).
They had a slide show presentation, a camera equipped with a matte box and a follow focus rig and a Panasonic LCD monitor. I'm not sure who makes the follow focus, but it worked very well (it sits on rods and uses a teeth ring on the lens). I will have to buy one when I get the cash. The Panasonic monitor was pretty cool, too. It has a built in waveform monitor, which could be very useful in the field. I think the monitor costs over $3000. That's a little steep for me right now, but it did have SDI inputs. Perhaps it will come down in price soon.
At the event, we were told that 16GB P2 cards may be available as soon as NAB. That's good news. They also told us that Panasonic is the only one making P2 cards right now, but in about a year or so, they will let other companies build the cards. This will definitely make the cards cheaper and more available in the future. We were also told that anton bauer has built and extension that will hold a much larger battery for the camera and wireless microphone receivers. The purpose of this extender is to make the camera capable of resting on a shooters shoulder (which sounds like a great product as the camera in it's current form is not easy to use handheld).
Near the end of the event they played a film that was shot with the HVX200. It was part of the 24 hour film contest. This one was about a super hero (not the one about the screenwriter). This short looked very nice (better than the screenwriter short). It always amazes me how film-like the HVX200 image is! We were also shown the chroma key car footage, but it's hard to be impressed by that footage as didn't we learn that part of that footage was shot with a varicam?
Overall, the session was more of a sales event than hands-on training. I'm not sure if it was structured that way or if the potential HVX-200 buyers in the audience just hijacked the event with their continual basic questions. I hope Panasonic will host events in the future that are more for owners of the camera and not just for people who are seeing the camera for the first time. I'm sure an event like the one I am interested in wouldn't be free! Maybe an event hosted by Barry or Jarred would be the way to go. Are you guys coming to the East Coast anytime soon? Michael (the DP) did mention Barry's name several times. It just goes to show you that Barry is highly respected in the industry.
I didn't learn anything new at the event as far as camera tricks or functions, but it was cool to hear Michael speak. You can tell that he knows what he's talking about and he talks in a way that camera operators can understand (less like a salesman or engineer). I will have to check out his films. Have any of you seen TATTERED ANGEL? Where can you buy it?
It was funny to listen to all of the questions from the audience. I could of answered all of their questions (not because I own the camera and they don't, but because I learned the answers to all of their questions months ago from this site). I realize now that DVXUSER is a very powerful resource.
As many of you know, I do have some issues with the HVX-200 regarding banding in gradients and macro-blocking (sorry to bring that up again), so I brought my camera to the event. I hooked up my camera to the Panasonic monitor. I showed the rep what I was talking about and he acted like I was crazy (maybe I am). I'm not sure if he couldn't see it or he's just avoiding acknowledging it (I think he was avoiding the issue). Michael was unavailable to comment on what I pointed out.
Either way, I still love this camera and will work around the problem. It only bugs me when it shows up in certain types of scenes (especially when the walls in the background are white). I was really hoping that I could compare my camera to the one at the event (to see if my camera is defective), but I couldn't do it as the 2nd camera was in another room being handled by other people. I didn't want to make a big fuss in front of Panasonic and all of their potential customers (I'm such a wimp)! It didn't feel like the right place or time to do so. The camera there did look pretty clean, but I didn't get a chance to point it at a situation that would show the noise/banding.
I just thought I would share my experience with you. I've spent most of the week in an edit suite with very little sleep. I hope some of this makes sense!
PS
Michael (the DP) did mention that he was at an event that projected the cinealta 1080 image VS the Panasonic Varicam 720p image and most people preferred the Varicam image. Even though he was there representing Panasonic, I believe that he was being honest about people preferring the Varicam image. I sure wish I had a spare $65,000! Can you guys send me donations? Anyway, I am impressed that Panasonic gave us a camera that gets us closer to that look.
I just came back from a HVX-200 Hands-on training session at ProSource in Fairfield, CT. Michael Caporale (the first DP to embrace the Varicam in feature film production) conducted the training. Michael was great and very knowledgeable. A Panasonic Rep was there, too (a nice much older guy -- sorry I don't recall his name).
They had a slide show presentation, a camera equipped with a matte box and a follow focus rig and a Panasonic LCD monitor. I'm not sure who makes the follow focus, but it worked very well (it sits on rods and uses a teeth ring on the lens). I will have to buy one when I get the cash. The Panasonic monitor was pretty cool, too. It has a built in waveform monitor, which could be very useful in the field. I think the monitor costs over $3000. That's a little steep for me right now, but it did have SDI inputs. Perhaps it will come down in price soon.
At the event, we were told that 16GB P2 cards may be available as soon as NAB. That's good news. They also told us that Panasonic is the only one making P2 cards right now, but in about a year or so, they will let other companies build the cards. This will definitely make the cards cheaper and more available in the future. We were also told that anton bauer has built and extension that will hold a much larger battery for the camera and wireless microphone receivers. The purpose of this extender is to make the camera capable of resting on a shooters shoulder (which sounds like a great product as the camera in it's current form is not easy to use handheld).
Near the end of the event they played a film that was shot with the HVX200. It was part of the 24 hour film contest. This one was about a super hero (not the one about the screenwriter). This short looked very nice (better than the screenwriter short). It always amazes me how film-like the HVX200 image is! We were also shown the chroma key car footage, but it's hard to be impressed by that footage as didn't we learn that part of that footage was shot with a varicam?
Overall, the session was more of a sales event than hands-on training. I'm not sure if it was structured that way or if the potential HVX-200 buyers in the audience just hijacked the event with their continual basic questions. I hope Panasonic will host events in the future that are more for owners of the camera and not just for people who are seeing the camera for the first time. I'm sure an event like the one I am interested in wouldn't be free! Maybe an event hosted by Barry or Jarred would be the way to go. Are you guys coming to the East Coast anytime soon? Michael (the DP) did mention Barry's name several times. It just goes to show you that Barry is highly respected in the industry.
I didn't learn anything new at the event as far as camera tricks or functions, but it was cool to hear Michael speak. You can tell that he knows what he's talking about and he talks in a way that camera operators can understand (less like a salesman or engineer). I will have to check out his films. Have any of you seen TATTERED ANGEL? Where can you buy it?
It was funny to listen to all of the questions from the audience. I could of answered all of their questions (not because I own the camera and they don't, but because I learned the answers to all of their questions months ago from this site). I realize now that DVXUSER is a very powerful resource.
As many of you know, I do have some issues with the HVX-200 regarding banding in gradients and macro-blocking (sorry to bring that up again), so I brought my camera to the event. I hooked up my camera to the Panasonic monitor. I showed the rep what I was talking about and he acted like I was crazy (maybe I am). I'm not sure if he couldn't see it or he's just avoiding acknowledging it (I think he was avoiding the issue). Michael was unavailable to comment on what I pointed out.
Either way, I still love this camera and will work around the problem. It only bugs me when it shows up in certain types of scenes (especially when the walls in the background are white). I was really hoping that I could compare my camera to the one at the event (to see if my camera is defective), but I couldn't do it as the 2nd camera was in another room being handled by other people. I didn't want to make a big fuss in front of Panasonic and all of their potential customers (I'm such a wimp)! It didn't feel like the right place or time to do so. The camera there did look pretty clean, but I didn't get a chance to point it at a situation that would show the noise/banding.
I just thought I would share my experience with you. I've spent most of the week in an edit suite with very little sleep. I hope some of this makes sense!
PS
Michael (the DP) did mention that he was at an event that projected the cinealta 1080 image VS the Panasonic Varicam 720p image and most people preferred the Varicam image. Even though he was there representing Panasonic, I believe that he was being honest about people preferring the Varicam image. I sure wish I had a spare $65,000! Can you guys send me donations? Anyway, I am impressed that Panasonic gave us a camera that gets us closer to that look.
