HVX for concerts?

M

Manuel

Active member
Hello,
I mostly film concerts. Is the hvx good for that? What would be the best camera up to 10.000$ to film live concerts?
 
Dig For Fire TV was using 6 HVXs to cover one of the SXSW venues I was working, they got some great results. This was an outdoor concert, I haven't seen results from indoor concerts but I am sure they are stunning.
 
indoor. Very dark and a lot of flickering lights. I think a camera with cmos is bad for that.
But is the hvx in lowlight good enough? Length 40 minutes.
 
One thing to keep in mind is P2 limitations for long event recordings, make sure you have the money for plenty of cards and a place to dump the files (not too big of an issue anymore with larger cards out) or have a firestore.
 
I just filmed Langerado (outdoor 4 day jamfest) 2 weekends ago for constant LIVE webcast on iclips.net (also for later dvd release). They used 3 HPX500's and 2 HVX200's.

As you can imagine, an ASSLOAD of P2 cards. I think that was the way to go since with P2 cards at least you can have a quick constant flow of downloading (if your assistants and computers are efficient). With a Firestore, yes we would've had to download less often, but it would've taken longer every time we DID do it, tying up our computers for longer periods....

And the HVX looked great, daytime and nighttime with all the crazy lighting and everything. I liked the HPX more for when I was ON the stage, heavier means more balance.

FIlming The Wailers & Matisyahu & Phil Lesh with the rest of The Grateful Dead was quite a ride!! Jam on!!
 
SOunds like a good show. When will you have some footage. I have a friend who goes there every year. I'm thinking of going to a few festivals this year outside of Orlando
 
I just finished a week of touring and we were using 3 Varicams and 4 HVX200's. 5 shows and road footage as well. The whole P2 "shoot, dump, repeat" gets pretty damn old when your up till 4 in the morning trying to dump cards and boat anchors, er, I mean P2 Stores, from that many cameras. No money in the budget to hire *different* data managers than shooters. But only two of us were really proficient at the work flow. Also we were limited to two computers to transfer footage.

If you're doing a 40 minute show - the HVX will look great and will not present the same issues and problems as for us - but make sure you have the cards to cover all of your show without having to offload footage unless you have a body solely dedicated to that task and the right hardware for *each* HVX ( ie laptop/external drive etc).
 
DO NOT USE THE FIRESTORE FOR ANY TYPE OF MUSIC RECORDING!!!!!!! You will get longer record times, but remember, it isn't solid state. The disc inside will skip when it is too loud, or when you move too quickly. If its the only option you have, I would strongly suggest isolating it from the loudness of the concert by building some sort of sound proof box, but that is kind of unrealistic.
 
at 720p/24pn, 2 32 gig cards would net you like 2.5 hours of record time without having to offload, and plenty of time to offload one card while continuing to roll on the other card for infinite recording (dependent on battery life). Basically 2 32 gig cards in 720p/24pn and one dvxuser battery are a perfect match.

Low light.... 1/3" chip HD cameras are not great in low light. Depends on your definition of low light. I have found the HVX to produce quite pleasing results with decent, but not a ton of theatrical lighthing, so it could be a possibility. while the overall stage may appear dark, the parts where there are light, are usually isolated and adequately lit... But, I have no idea what type of concert you are talking about.

If this is low light, you might want to consider an SD cam, or step up to an HPX500 or something. Other option for a little bit of increased light sensitivity would be the EX1, but with strobe and flickering lights, it's going to be a ***** in post more than likely.

later,
Jason
 
GDV said:
I just filmed Langerado (outdoor 4 day jamfest) 2 weekends ago for constant LIVE webcast on iclips.net (also for later dvd release). They used 3 HPX500's and 2 HVX200's.

As you can imagine, an ASSLOAD of P2 cards. I think that was the way to go since with P2 cards at least you can have a quick constant flow of downloading (if your assistants and computers are efficient). With a Firestore, yes we would've had to download less often, but it would've taken longer every time we DID do it, tying up our computers for longer periods....

And the HVX looked great, daytime and nighttime with all the crazy lighting and everything. I liked the HPX more for when I was ON the stage, heavier means more balance.

FIlming The Wailers & Matisyahu & Phil Lesh with the rest of The Grateful Dead was quite a ride!! Jam on!!
Click to expand...


that was quite a bit of fun.... I only got to play with the new toys once ...amazing setup .... esp compared to the JVC's on the other stage
 
Ryan Capranica said:
DO NOT USE THE FIRESTORE FOR ANY TYPE OF MUSIC RECORDING!!!!!!! You will get longer record times, but remember, it isn't solid state. The disc inside will skip when it is too loud, or when you move too quickly. If its the only option you have, I would strongly suggest isolating it from the loudness of the concert by building some sort of sound proof box, but that is kind of unrealistic.
Click to expand...

Another thing that happened with a Firestore on one of the HVX's was that it overheated. Thankfully, the footage was intact, but we had to wait for it to cool down.

I was in a very low light situation with the HVX, and I found that it doesn't do very well in low light. Most people already knew this. You can use a little gain to get some amplification, but no more than +6dB or you will get a lot of noise.
 
Ryan Capranica said:
DO NOT USE THE FIRESTORE FOR ANY TYPE OF MUSIC RECORDING!!!!!!! You will get longer record times, but remember, it isn't solid state. The disc inside will skip when it is too loud, or when you move too quickly. If its the only option you have, I would strongly suggest isolating it from the loudness of the concert by building some sort of sound proof box, but that is kind of unrealistic.
Click to expand...
I've never had this issue and I shoot concerts all the time guess it's a 50/50 shot
 
Jason Wilson said:
that was quite a bit of fun.... I only got to play with the new toys once ...amazing setup .... esp compared to the JVC's on the other stage
Click to expand...

Oh, Jason from the Sunset stage? Well, we all switched back and forth, but, you know, from the iclips team??

If it is, then, whatup man? I know we met and talked briefly throughout the crazyness of the fest, but wasn't it a cool weekend overall?

Keep in touch, good to know u r on dvxuser...
Let me know if u guys have any pics of us Miami crew...

Peace!
 
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