Need professional help...

R

ronny courtens

New member
Hi Guys,

I won't waste your time telling about myself... please read my profile. Fact is that five weeks ago we returned from Tanzania where we shot a tv-documentary using a Sony Digibeta and a Sony SX camera. All went well, except for the fact that I have sworn never to go on such a long trip again with these bulky cameras + all the heavy side equipment we have used. I am leaving for Indonesia on 14 June to shoot footage for another doc and I have decided to purchase a complete HVX200 set for this job. I know I won't have the 2/3" chips and prime lenses etc. so I may not have the same picture quality, but let's not go there. I just want a light and effective set for shooting in DVCPRO50 (I live in Belgium, HD is not such a hype here yet and my final output is Digibeta for Dutch televsion).

So... here's my question: I have a list of equipment I'm going to buy for this shoot and I would very much appreciate to get some feedback regarding my choices coming from people who really know the HVX200.

Camera:
HVX+Century HD75 wide angle converter+Vocas WS mattebox kit on 15" rods+sideflags+Schneider basic 4x4 filter set.

Storage:
6 8GB P2 cards + PowerBookG4 100GB w/FCP5.1.4 for viewing + LaCie 250GB for safety backup (I don't take an FS100 because I want the front weight to be as light as possible + I don't want more batteries and chargers than absolutely necessary)

Sound:
- On-camera AKG CK93 hypercardiod mic with Rycote Softie for ambient sound
- Sennheiser Evolution lavalier + bodypack transmitter + camera receiver for people being interviewed.
- Sennheiser SKM 135 G2 hand-held wireless mic + camera receiver for reporter

Light:
On-camera PAG 1001 C6 kit, 6V 7Ah with 20W bulb, daylight filter and diffuser and barndoors for backlight compensation (no night or evening shooting)

Tripod:
Sachtler System 6SB SL MCF2 fluid head + tripod speed lock

Stabilizer:
DVRig Pro + Manfrotto 521 P lanc controller

We are a two-man crew for this job and I want to take all equipment except tripod and DVRig as carry-on using two Porta Brace cases. We will stay ten days there and won't shoot more than 4 hours total. I will have only 4 days to get familiarized with this camera, but I have some experience AND I have bought Barry's book today :)

My main concerns:
- Am I missing something here ?
- Is there any way I can have one single power source on the back of the DVRig to power the camera and the PAG light so I can shoot as long as possible without charging, take a minimum of batteries and chargers on the trip AND I can better distribute the camera weight ?

Thank you for taking your time for this. I have been reading everything possible about the HVX for the last three weeks and this forum is definitely the best resource I found.

Best wishes

Ronny Courtens
 
Hmmm... I feel your pain in terms of carrying loads of heavy kit around...

...but is P2 really the best recording format for shooting a doc in a relatively camera-unfriendly environment? I guess that if your laptop and/or harddisk die then you could always switch over to shooting DV with the HVX100 on miniDV tape.

I definitely recommend taking a look at what Mike Curtis has to say about shooting a doc on P2... see question 7 on this page:

http://www.hdforindies.com/2007/04/ok-indies-listen-up-10-things-not-to-do.html

A quick word of warning about your choice of external hard disk: I've owned 6 250GB USB LaCie drives. 3 are now dead. And I didn't abuse them particularly hard at all.
 
dan_aka_jack said:
Hmmm... I feel your pain in terms of carrying loads of heavy kit around...
quote]

Yes indeed. Before switching to the HVX, I was shooting everything with an F700A, even though much of it was run and gun style.

I've never used Lacie drives, but I've never had problems with G-Raid or Wiebetech.

I you're trying to keep light and nimble, you may want to consider a clamp on matte box. I've found that with the HVX's squat design, rods add considerably to the camera's bulk, and not in a good way.

Mark
Click to expand...
 
I think 6 8g P2's should be fine for normal doc shooting, I did it with 4, but 6 would have made a big difference. I would make sure that my backup drive was a RAID 1, and I second the "no Lacie" comment, I've seen too many of them take a dive. I get my external cases from OWC, and populate them with bare drives from New Egg. I'd also put a larger drive internal to the Powerbook, and bring several cases of the Taiyo Yuden DVD-R's for backing everything up.
 
Sounds like you might need more hard drive storage. I'd recomend several 2.5" external drives- they are more expensive but are less prone to failure than the desktop drives. You should also consider that the HVX has a problem shooting 60i in standard def mode- basically it has some aliasing problems. Shooting 24p,PA or 30p will solve this.
 
If you can get the 16G P2 cards, you'll save yourself some money. Also I would take a 500G or 750G external HDD. You plan on only shooting 4 hours, but it's always nice to have extra storage to be safe. I'm not sure how much effect a 20W Paglight would have to compensate for backlight - especially with a daylight filter. It might be wiser to just bring a collapsible reflector. It probably weighs less, too.
 
I think your plan looks pretty good since you are only planning on 4 hours of shooting. I agree with others and would try to get a drive system with raid level 1, and back up to the Taiyo Yuden DVD media. If you had a raid level 1 and the DVD back-up you would have 3 levels of protection.

If you shoot 720pn then you will have 120 minutes of shooting time non-stop. That is half of your anticipated shoot length. So that is pretty good. Heck maybe you could rent another 6 cards and have your entire project on P2 as well.

I might consider switching to something like a Litepanel Mini for your lighting needs though. It is LED based so you wont have to worry about losing a bulb during shooting. They are available in 3200K or 5600K, fully dimmable and don't throw out any heat. I also know that they have a battery plate that lets you use your HVX batteries, or D-tap so you only need one type for your shoot.

Good luck

--
Rob
 
Thank you for the interesting replies so far. This really is a great forum

Aftter reading these replies the LaCie is out. It will be my first tapeless job and I'm scared to death about safe storage so I won't take any risks.

I'm confident I will be fine with the 6 8g P2 cards for my daylies. I have read Mike Curtis' article and he is right on many things. But this shoot has been carefully prepared and I know I won't have more than 1 hour of footage even on the busiest day. I certainly won't erase any card before making sure I have at least two working backups of it. The Raid 1 level HDD + extra backups on high quality DVDs are both excellent ideas.

I am going to have a look at a clamp-on mattebox. The camera front weight is a major concern for me as I have never worekd with a hand-held cam and I won't be able to use the tripod all the time. That's why I thought of taking a DVRig Pro for more stability and why I would like to have a powerful battery pack at the back of the DVRig to power both the cam and the light.

Which brings me to the on-cam light. I certainly will have a look at the Litepanel LED light. But I remember one of our DPs saying that LEDs can cause a flickering image, or am I wrong about this ? If it can provide me a solution for my central power supply I will certainly consider this.

Finally I won't shoot 60i, this is PAL country so it will be 50i. Does anyone know of any issues with this ? I certainly don't want to come back and have our Digibeta adepts having a good laugh at my DVCPRO footage :zombie_smiley:

Maybe I really should consider shooting 720pn 25. Final output is letterboxed SD so I can edit in 720pn and downconvert to letterboxed SD on output. Would give me a chance to try out the under-overcranking capabilities of the HVX as well.

Thank you for all the suggestions and if anyone has any more ideas, I really appreciate your input.

Best wishes

Ronny
 
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