HVX for event videography?

dillont

dillont

Well-known member
Howdy,

I will be getting a chunk of money, and have decided its time to upgrade my very old VX1000 to a new camera.

I have a primary point of employment, but I also run freelance to do gigs as I land them - any and all kinds, including weddings, and their dark receptions.....

I'm concerned about the various reports of noise. I'm wondering if this will cause any issues for picky wedding clients? Will they notice the noise too? Has anyone who owns a HVX shot a wedding in SD yet? (I'll be doing weddings in SD).

Do you recommend HVX for event videography?

I want to use the camera for my filmmaking as well as for making money.

Thanks for your opinion.

Dillon
 
If you have no real need to shoot in HD (and I doubt most clients for events like weddings would be willing to pay EVEN more for HD of a video they will never watch) Then, I would just upgrade to a DVX100a or b.

It's cheaper for you in the long run, and quicker to recoup your investment.

Then again, if you have a distinct need for HD, then I would say the HVX would work just fine. I can't comment on the noise thing though, I've onlly shot HD with them.
 
While I don't shoot wedding videos as a pro, I do shoot wedding videos for friends and family. I also come in and help out a friend of mine at times as a second camera when he shoots weddings.

LIGHTING: During the daytime, most churches have enough light, but at night, many churches turn down the lights for that romantic look. It is rare to find a church that will let you set up video lights to shoot the wedding.

At the reception, many places turn down the lights for the same romantic reason. If you do not have a video light, you are screwed. OK, if you have a good 2/3" CCD camera, you can deal with the poor lighting, but with a 1/3" CCD, you will have problems.

Most of the time people will not object to your light, but there were times where someone wanted the light turned off. It's best to make sure before the wedding that BOTH the Bride and Groom understand that without the light, the video will look really bad. (In the cases where that "someone" wanted the light off, it was NOT the Bride or Groom, but a control freak who had no business telling us what to do.)

For now, weddings would be shot on SD. If you did shoot them on HD, what format will you use to give them a HD copy? That will change over time and a year from now it will be a lot easier to give them a HD copy.

One more thing, make sure the contract has a limit of liability clause in it. I remember one case where the DJ messed up and the couple tried to sue the DJ for the cost of the whole wedding. They didn't win, but what a pain to deal with... For that matter, you may want to add a statement about the limits of video equipment, in the event they want you to shoot under poor lighting and then demand noise free footage.


Bob Diaz
 
I am shooting a wedding tomorrow. After I get all the footage I need with my XL-1, I'm going to take out my HVX and shoot a half hour of Dancing with DVCPRO50 on to tape. Generally, receptions are way to dark, but with an on board light I never have a problem. Tomorrow I find out if I'll be shooting future weddings with my HVX. I'll post my findings here.
 
Sarlaac, I'm reading up a bit and I think you are right. For some reason I thought 50 was to tape. It IS SD, so...

I don't really see a compelling reason to shoot 50 if it isn't to tape. Might as well shoot HD, no?

If anyone can shed some light on the matter, it would be appreciated.

Kenn
 
I think the only things you can record to tape are MiniDV and DVCPro(25)

I can think of reasons to shoot 50...post is one (if you editor doesnt have the newest versions of whatever software...and many don't.) Or if you are shooting something that has no ryhme or reason to be on HD...then why waste the space.
 
I love my HVX, but my current workflow requires too much downtime to be able to do live events. (which is fine with me).
After filling up my P2 card, I dump to a USB OTG hard disk, which takes 8 min for a full P2 card.
If you're up for editing in HD, why not try an HDV cam? Since it records to tape, it's much better suited for live events than the HVX. You can downsample the finished footage to SD and it'll look better than shooting in straight SD.
 
I'm kind of in the same boat, but I'm not doing events. I need long record times without having to stop to offload cards. So personally, I would still go with the HVX but I would buy Focus Enhancement's FS-100. 100GB of storage that you can record directly to via firewire. That will allow you to record almost 1 and 1/2 hours in HD and considerably longer in SD. It can mount to the camera itself or can be worn on a belt. You aren't going to be sprinting while shooting so the belt option is practical. It weighs less than a pound and is relatively small. It also saves you from having to stop and offload footage like you would using the P2 cards. If you can wait a few more weeks to make your purchase, I would say FS-100 with the HVX is the way to go. I'm getting one myself, God willing there will be one for purchase at NAB.

And I know some people feel differently on this, but I hate the HDV workflow. At my full time gig our guys shoot on DigiBeta and HDV (Sony's Z1U). I hate editing with the HDV natively because you have to transcode to create a stream and it takes forever, and I'm on a dual 3.6GHz Xeon HP editing with Avid Adrenaline. Since we aren't delivering in HD yet I have started using the downcovert w/letterbox option the M1U deck has. But I know, different strokes for different folks. I am sure there is someone who could tell you they love the HDV workflow, and thats fine. Its just not my personal favorite.
 
Last edited:
hey Graphicplanet - how did the reception footage come out of the hvx?

Curious to know :)

Thanks y'all for your advice.

Dillon
 
Well, I have to say that I love my HVX, but for event video I'll have to stick with my XL-1. Well lit things look great but dark reception halls are terrible, really terrible. Dark and a ridiculous amount of noise. I understand the whole debate about HD cameras needing more light but this is ridiculous when a seven year old XL-1 takes better low light footage then my HVX...with little to no noise. Oh well. I'll keep my HVX for studio and lit work. For that it absolutely rocks and I couldn't be happier.
Mike, over at HD for Indies is doing a HD shoot out and while the HVX technically seems to come in at the bottom a lot of the time, he keeps mentioning how nice the footage looks compared to other cameras and that is all the matters to me.
 
For events you can still shoot on DV-tape. I plan on getting the camera for just that, mainly shooting DV. Offcourse with the firestore you get a nice length of DVCPRO50, wich is a big step up in quality. But if you can't afford one you can still fall back on DV-tapes. And for the light/noise thing... I was shocked when I first turned on my DVX. First by the noise, then by the colours, then the skintones. But only the first shock was a bad one, and the others compensated enough for me. Everybody is always saying how Sony rules low light. True they hold up nice and with little noise, but the colour gets thrown out aswell. My DVX is only very noisy in places I shouldn't be filming without a bit of light to help, but still keeps the colours alive. I expect the HVX acts the same way.
Try and rent one to play around with, then you'll know for sure...
 
I did shoot on DV Tape with an on board Light. With the XL-1 you get a nicely lit subject and a dimmer BG and no noise, which works for me. With my HVX and Onboard light I got a darker subject and the BG so dark it is almost useless and a lot of grain. Oh well.
 
Strange. Didn't mean to diss you just now, but after seeing the night footage in the taxi when the camera first arrived I thought it should handle low-light quite well. Noisier than most, but nothing overly dramatic. I should just pick one up for some testing I guess...
 
Hey there,

Thanks for your answers. I'm a little confused though - did You shoot this on miniDV tape, at regular 60i video, or progressive?




GraphicPlanet said:
Well, I have to say that I love my HVX, but for event video I'll have to stick with my XL-1. Well lit things look great but dark reception halls are terrible, really terrible. Dark and a ridiculous amount of noise. I understand the whole debate about HD cameras needing more light but this is ridiculous when a seven year old XL-1 takes better low light footage then my HVX...with little to no noise. Oh well. I'll keep my HVX for studio and lit work. For that it absolutely rocks and I couldn't be happier.
Mike, over at HD for Indies is doing a HD shoot out and while the HVX technically seems to come in at the bottom a lot of the time, he keeps mentioning how nice the footage looks compared to other cameras and that is all the matters to me.
Click to expand...
 
Might this have impacted the camera's ability to get light? I understand progressive mode on the DVX, at least, cuts out on the amount of light that the CCD's are sensitive to?

Thanks again
 
I just shot a full day wedding on Saturday. It was shot in 720pN, and I got 2hr 40min of footage, obviously using P2 cards. (footage looks beautiful, BTW).

Heres what I brought:
(3) 8 gig cards
(5) 4 gig cards
the p2 store

6 new batteries for the HVX and the p2 store.

with 2 8gig cards in the camera, and one in your pocket, that gives you the ability to tape for a full hour in 720 pn without having to go to the p2 store. If by chnace you dont have time to dump before that, I still had the 4 gig cards, which give 10 minutes each at 720 pn, as backup, until I could offload to the p2.

I own the 4 gig cards, and rented the 8 gig ones. The biggest problem was my first wedding using the p2 store, so it is a bit nerve racking wondering if it would hold up, but it worked great. It takes some new equipment, but right now, you should be able to charge a premium for full HD weddings.

I have shot weddings in HDV, although, I wouldn't go back. The day of the shoot is a bit more work, but now that I am in post, the footage looks much better, (Cinelook and 24p really looks beautiful), and it is SO much easier dealing with DVCPro HD than HDV in FCP, and I use a decklink card for HDV.
 
DVCPro50 isn't as compressed as DVCProHD so I'd use it for SD projects myself.

With regards to whether it's good to shoot events, I don't shoot weddings but I shoot events all the time and at the last event it worked brilliantly. Not even a touch of noise but the place was decent lit.

Most weddings I've been to gernerally have lots of natural light streaming through the windows, so I'd hazard a guess that you'll be fine with the HVX. The night-do might be something else as sometimes those things can resemble a nightclub. Maybe some sort of on-camera light may help when it gets too dark, that's what I'd get.

And in Avid, dealing with DVCPro50 and DVCProHD 1080i is really nice. None of the problems that HDV has (apart from us PAL landers not being able to edit 720 yet!).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top