I LOVE THIS SITE!!! Please help...

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WAYOUTWESTMULTIMEDIA

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I've been a DVX100 shooter for years now and I've put off making the switch to HD for the simple lack of projects to warrant the upgrade. I finally have a project that is urging me to move up so here i am again, the the throes of this awesome site.

I've wanted to get the HVX200 since day one but I've been out of it for a while so I'm not 100% up to speed with whats hot and whats not. I've seen HVX100, HVX100a, HVX100ae, I don't know the differences.

My goal is to get a decent camera that I can get adapters and maybe better lenses to shoot some hi quality short films, and news segments.

I am considering just getting a business loan to pick up the camera and a kit with several prime lenses and some other gear.

I'm also developing a news program for a worldwide organization and I want to create effects similar to what you would see on ESPN or FOX sports. I work with C4D, and motion, that's about it.

I really really really appreciate any advice, tips and guidance as I begin my re-entry into the video production world.

Thanks!
 
There are two HVX200 models: the original HVX200, and the improved HVX200A. That's it. Any other letter/number combinations you read about, are referring to international versions (i.e., HVX202AEN is the Asian version of the HVX200A, etc).

HVX200A is identical to the original, but with better imaging chips that make it a half stop more sensitive, with substantially reduced noise, better smear control, and better color reproduction.

The HPX170 is an alternative model that is, IMO, better in many ways than the HVX200A, unless you really need the DV tape drive that the HVX200/200A offers.

Used HVX200s are going for pretty cheap, and a new HVX200A is pretty darn cheap too. $3699 at some authorized resellers. HPX170 is a little more expensive, but the HPX170 also includes a free 16GB P2 card which would explain the cost difference.
 
See! Not even posted 10 minutes and already a very informative response. That's a huge help!! I'll have to look into the HPX170... stupid questions, but how challenging would it be switching from standard def to high def using final cut? Is there a huge learning curve switching to HD editing or is just longer for processing?
 
I don't use that NLE, but many many people do. Editing HD from an HPX170/HVX200 is about as effortless as it can get. The DVCPRO-HD format has been natively supported in Apple's NLE since... well, version 4.5, which was, what, five years ago? I've seen full-screen full-frame-rate HD played back on an ancient 1.3GHz Apple G4 laptop. Any of the Intel computers should be able to handle multiple streams of HD in realtime.
 
im an FCP user and it was the hvx200 and its DVCPROHD codec that made be choose to go HD.

here's why

about 3 years ago, i was all SD using my beloved canon XL2 and decks and all that stuff.
i had heard of the new HDV format and was very excited about it. so one day i rented an HDV camera, shot some footage and brought it in to my FCP suite and it was a PAIN IN THE BUTT!

didnt like the way the camera behaved. didnt like the look of the footage. had to log and capture in real time (like tape) and it didnt jump easily into after effects and my post/graphics workflow. so i kind of wrote off the format as a whole

about a month later a demo disc from panasonic arrived in my mail. with sample DVCPROHD (what the hvx/hpx line shoots) footage on it. reluctantly, i copied that to my machine and WOW! it integrated seamlessly and without hiccup into my workflow! FCP no problem! after effects NO PROBLEM. just drop and go (more or less). and i didnt have to upgrade my machine at all! in fact for about the first year or so, i used my old G4 powerbook (and still do for P2 offload in the field) for basic cuts and dissolve editing.

i sold all my SD gear that next week and got my first hvx200.

there is a bit of culture adjustment to the tapeless, P2 workflow. the seemingly haphazard naming convention is odd at first, but you quickly find your way around that... but really it takes about a day to make you forget you ever used tape.

i enjoyed my hvx200 for 2 years and im enjoying my hpx170 even more. but im rambling... anything else you want to know. just ask!
or search the forum. im sure its been discussed already
 
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WayOut,

I made the same switch about 6 mos ago. +1 on the HPX since it has better focusing aids and a wave form monitor for exposure. Both are very important in HD shooting.

Upgrading to HD has had its challenges. In summary, it makes you work a little harder at your craft, lighting and focusing in particular. Any deficiency in either will be painfully obvious, so overall it is less forgiving.

You will love the P2 workflow, though it is more expensive in initial investment. You will save time, so that has a value also.

Grant
 
as an FCP user you will see more performance upgrade from faster drives than you will from newer faster computers.

as a quick example. i upgraded from my old desktop G5 to an octo-intel macpro about 15 months ago. i thought id see a huge perfomance jump. i saw some, but it wasnt dramatic. so i added a boatload of ram. again some performance gain - but didnt rock the world.

when i went from firewire800 to eSATA - BAM! shaved daramatic amounts of time off my renders.

we are kind of at a point where machine speed increases dont effect your performance nearly as much as drive speed does.
 
You guys ROCK! :laugh: Hey WGZN, is there a place online that I can download some test DVCPROHD footage to try myself? I'm trying to scrounge around 10k to get the camera, and invest in some serious lenses. I really want to get as close to a cinematic look as possible. I have a decent Lowell kit, eventually I want to grab another steady cam (I had a Glide-cam that was a little rough). Probably get a jib and some car mounts.

I'm really excited to go this route. I've wanted to for years and I was originally a Vegas guy. I still would prefer to use that instead of FCP, but alas, I am a MAC guy now.

I'm not too familiar with using eSATA drives though. I'll have to do some reading on that. I have about 5 tb in my machine of standard SATA drives. I'm just worried about the size of the HD footage.

Again, you guys ROCK! :dankk2:
 
i wish i still had my original dvd to send you. dunno where youd find footage. id start with the panasonic website.
there is a panasonic rep who frequents the forum. her name is jan crittenden (hope i spelled her last name right) you might search her and send her a pm to see if she can send you that dvd of footage...

or i guess you could talk people here into ftping or mailing you a clip or two... but in order to really get the vibe, youd need them to send you the full contents of a P2 card intact. so you could get the full log and transfer experience...

around 10k to get the camera, and invest in some serious lenses
Click to expand...
you do know that you cant just stick a lens on front of an hvx200/hpx170 right? you need to get a 35mm adapter (brevis, letus, redrock, sgblade, cinemek, etc...) you will also need a baseplate, rails, follow focus and maybe a mattebox.

here is a link to my esata card and the drives i typically use with it:
http://www.caldigit.com/FASTA-4e.asp

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/PerformanceRAID
you'll want the "quad interface" to take advantage of esata
 
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Sweet, I may have to grab the 4 TB rack. Thanks for the homework on that! And yeah I know I have to get an adapter. I saw a complete set with a couple lenses for like $4800 but for the life of me cannot find it again. I've had to clear my cache for some web rendering so I don't have history either.

The demo footage I saw using hvx200 and red rock look incredible! My question is how do these guys get web renders to look so clean?!? It's amazing how sharp the images are.

If you know of any "complete kits" or recomendations I'd love to get the thoughts from you guys. I find opinions from actual working shooters more valuable then some website that claims "this is all you need!"
 
i dont know if id suggest a big-ass rack storage system for just a one-guy operation. that gets a bit hard to manage. and if it goes, EVERYTHING GOES...

ive done really well for well over a decade with smaller 500gb-1tb individual drive units. easy to back up. easy to transport.

dvcproHD isnt a real space consuming format. unless youre shooting features. or longer industrials, you dont really need that much storage in one place, at one time.

the way i do it is i buy a new 500GB-1TB stand alone eSATA drive for every MAJOR client. i shoot mainly tv spots and industrials and ive only had 2-3 clients in 10 years go beyond 1TB of storage. and when that happens... i just buy another drive unit.

thats the beauty of the 4-port eSATA card i mentioned earlier. you can have 4 individual drives running at once.
at any given time i probably have 1TB raid on one port. another 500GB single drive on another. and a voyager dock on the third. and the 4th is typically free for whatever else... and ive yet to run into any problems...

and we havent even talked about the internal drives or the fw800 ports...
 
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Well I'm about to start production on a monthly webshow for our churches worldwide and it will entail footage from all over the world. I just want to have everything accesable if possible and honestly, right now I have 2 external lacie 1tb drives and one of them already went out on me. Go figure.... so I figure some sort of Raid array is what I need.

First things first, I need to get my camera and some lenses.
 
Lacies have the highest failure rate of any drive on the market. I owned two and they both corrupted my data on contact through some kind of FireWire termination error
 
yeah... tough way to learn that... i lost about 180 gig of my movies that I encoded for my network. booo....

So as far as recommended lens kits, do you know of any decent ones out there? Again, for the camera and lenses and adapter I'm looking at trying to spend about 10k for now.
 
There really aren't a whole lot of lens "kits" out there. And the ones there are are pretty spendy. You could spend $7-$10k on the lenses alone...

My kit consists of old manual nikons. 35, 55, 85 and 105. They were roughly $200-$400 each used from a local still photo resale joint.

As far as the adapter itself, it's really wide open. All of the leading brands I mentioned earlier can produce fine results. Just a matter of finding the one that works the way you work and looks the way you want it to. And best bet for info on that (shy of hands-on testing) is do various forum searches... Here and on the manfacturers websites.
 
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Agreed. I currently have a Canon 30D SLR so I'd like to get lenses that I can use for both units if thats even possible. I took a look at the RedRock website and they have a kit that has everything (except lenses) for around $4700.

I also looked at all the demo footage that they have on their site and it seems that most shooters use Nikon lenses or Karl Zeiss. I think before I shell out that kind of money for lenses I'll try and rent one. I am in Hollywood so I'm sure that won't be very difficult.

I was surprised to see some footage with the DVX100 that looked really good with the adapter and lenses. I was going to sell my XL2, XL1 and DVX100 to get the HVX.
 
wgzn said:
Lacies have the highest failure rate of any drive on the market. I owned two and they both corrupted my data on contact through some kind of FireWire termination error
Click to expand...

LaCies would make the perfect gift for someone whose production you're trying to sabotage...
 
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