Marc Singer
Member
It’s been a while since I wrote an initial report about my experiences with the HVX 200, so I thought I’d fill you all in on what I’ve been up to. I’ve now shot at least seventy hours of footage with this camera and I’m still as amazed with it now as I was the first time I picked it up. I’ll do my best to give you a few reasons why I feel this way and also address some of the concerns I had in the beginning that were quickly alleviated once I physically got my hands on the thing.
For anyone who didn’t get a chance to read that initial report, I’ve copied some of the background information from the original post.
My name is Marc Singer. I’m a documentary filmmaker. My first film was about a community of homeless people living in a tunnel beneath NYC. It was called ‘Dark Days’ and was shot entirely on 16mm film. It did pretty well on the festival circuit, winning three awards at the Sundance Film Festival. It also won the Independent Spirit Award and the Los Angeles Film Critic Award for best documentary. I had planned to shoot my next documentary on film too, but due to the harsh conditions of it’s locations and the fact that I work alone, I decided against the idea and began looking into HD.
The film I’m making is about a Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance Platoon. These guys are the very best the Marine Corps has to offer and I’ve been given the opportunity to be the first civilian ever to be allowed to follow them. It’s an eighteen-month shoot of which I’ll be living with them for the entire time. I’m writing this post from their base in North Carolina, where I’ve been for about the last seven months. In about two months time we deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq.
So what’s been going on?
Since the last time I posted on here I’ve done nothing but beat the hell out of this little camera and well, it just keeps on ticking. It’s been dropped (not my fault), shot at, gassed, struck by a flying foreign object (a minor wound), almost set on fire, subjected to a large dose of radiation, been pretty close to getting blown up (I thought that was the end of it, but miraculously it rose from the dead), and a few other things I’m even ashamed to admit to you that I put it through in order to get the shot I was looking for. I’m pretty convinced now that there isn’t any type of situation or environment on dry land that you can subject this thing to that will get the better of it ..... well maybe the radiation but in that particular case I found myself somewhere I shouldn’t have been either. As far as the camera is concerned I haven’t experienced any negative long-term effects from it but at the time I thought a ghost took over the controls. It went completely nuts!!! Speaking of which, I won’t even contemplate what happened to mine...
I don’t know why but for some reason I find myself wanting to see just how far I can push this camera before I cross the line. It’s probably because each and every time I set up a shot and leave the scene (in the case I’m actually putting the camera right in front of an explosion) I never expect it to be there when I get back and I find myself chuckling every time I return to see it sitting happily on the tripod or some other jerry-rigged mount we came up with and still working perfectly. It’s pretty amazing actually. In one particular case the guys were testing some explosives and the blasts were so powerful that the paint on the ceiling of the room the camera was sitting in completely flaked off and fell to the floor like it was snowing! (That’s the one where I thought it was all over). The shock waves generated from these explosives are very real and in slow motion (60fps) you can literally see it tearing across the floor and right towards the camera. It’s pretty cool
I’m sure it’ll all end in tears and I’ll find myself desperately calling NYC and begging my producers for another camera (right now I just beg for more and more clear glass filters) but so far its been great for the film as the shots I’m getting just keep getting cooler and cooler each time the camera survives to tell another tale.
I’m going to go back a bit now and talk about some of the concerns I had previously and what I feel now that I’ve been shooting in the real world with this thing for almost four months now. As exited as I was about the prospects of the HVX and P2 technology in general, I also had my concerns. Is P2 a stable platform to record to? How robust are the cards themselves? How much of a pain in the ass is it to have to change the cards when I’m under the pressure of shooting in a real world environment? What about in a combat environment where every second counts? Can I deal with the limited recording times the cards give me at this stage of their development? At the end of the day when I’m tired, cold and hungry, how much of a pain in the ass is it to download all of the footage I’ve shot to some type of hard drive? I know I had many other concerns but these are the ones that come to mind right now.
So how stable a platform is P2 technology? Like I said earlier, I’ve probably shot about seventy hours of footage on the P2 cards I have and haven’t experienced a single malfunction yet. It’s still a little early in the game to give you an honest opinion about this (I’ll wait until I’ve racked up a few hundred hours for that) but so far it seems very stable and a fantastic recording medium. As far as the cards themselves go, I guard these things with my life and do my best to keep them out of any type of harms way. They go from the protective casing they come with directly to the camera and back again. I try to minimize their exposure to any type of dust or dirt and make sure that no matter how stressed I am or how fast I need to load in a fresh card, I don’t ever jam it into the slot at the back of the camera, the P2 Store or my laptop computer. One small change I made was to stick the rubber protective cap that goes over the end of the card, permanently to the case itself. That way when I have to change cards in a hurry or even when I’m on the run (literally), I don’t have to worry about dropping that precious little piece of rubber. I just open the case and slide the card right in. It may not sound like much but this small modification makes a big difference when you have to change the cards very quickly but still want to concern yourself with keeping them safe in their protective cases.
The majority of my shooting is done out in the field where the guys are either training to fight or will be fighting for real. When we do have some type of a firm base to work out of, it’s normally just a field expedient tent or the cramped confines of an aircraft carriers’ birthing area. In both of these cases the space allocated to me is virtually non-existent. Think of a small room in your house and then try to imagine twenty-eight guys in there... then add their personal gear, heavy weapons and everything else a Special Forces platoon would travel with. Sounds like fun, hey? On a personal level it is, but it’s also probably the worst environment I can think of to use a camera where at the end of the day you have to download what you’ve shot to some type of hard drive. A permanent workstation is now something I spend many nights dreaming about! Ahhhh ..... I’m imagining a clean room with my computer, my monitors and drives all sitting neatly on a large desk where everything has its place.... Ha!! Right now I can’t think of a time that I’ve been able to leave anything connected for longer than the time I’ve actually needed to use it. There are normally at least six guys stepping all over me while I’m downloading my footage, five others leaning over my shoulder watching themselves on the monitor when I transfer the cards to tape, a very loud poker game being played next to me and in some cases, on top of all my camera cases and the remainder of the guys moving about, cleaning weapons, eating food, washing, sleeping, shouting, laughing and joking. I’m also treated to frequent power outages because the generators go down and frequently finding myself under the ‘leak’ the majority of the time it rains.... So, how much of a pain in the ass is it to take out the laptop and all the storage drives and transfer the cards at the end of the day? Well, I figure if I can do it, anyone can :thumbsup: .
Since the last time I posted I also managed get my hands on a few P2 Stores. Now that I have these things, I don’t know how I did it before without them, especially when were out in the field for a few days and I don’t have the ‘luxury’ of a firm base. They do take a little time to extract and verify the data from the cards but then again, the kettle takes a long time to boil when you’re watching it too. I think that for anyone seriously considering this camera, this is definitely the way to go and worth every penny. I would even go so far as to say that if you had the money to get a couple of extra cards or one of these, I would get one of these.
I’m not sure what else to tell you except that I’m really enjoying shooting this film with this camera. It took me a little while to get a good system down that worked for me but now it’s there, changing cards, downloading footage and archiving for long term storage has all become very easy and no longer a pain in the ass. I now actually enjoy the time I spend transferring the footage to the drives. It gives me some quiet time to think (especially if it’s late and all the guys are asleep), wind down from the day, watch some of the footage, make lots of notes, pat myself on the back for a job well done or kick myself in the ass because I know I could have shot something better and won’t get another chance to do it :crybaby: . In the end, for me, it’s all positive
I have a few days before we go back out so I'll try to answer some questions that anyone has for me. Take care.
For anyone who didn’t get a chance to read that initial report, I’ve copied some of the background information from the original post.
My name is Marc Singer. I’m a documentary filmmaker. My first film was about a community of homeless people living in a tunnel beneath NYC. It was called ‘Dark Days’ and was shot entirely on 16mm film. It did pretty well on the festival circuit, winning three awards at the Sundance Film Festival. It also won the Independent Spirit Award and the Los Angeles Film Critic Award for best documentary. I had planned to shoot my next documentary on film too, but due to the harsh conditions of it’s locations and the fact that I work alone, I decided against the idea and began looking into HD.
The film I’m making is about a Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance Platoon. These guys are the very best the Marine Corps has to offer and I’ve been given the opportunity to be the first civilian ever to be allowed to follow them. It’s an eighteen-month shoot of which I’ll be living with them for the entire time. I’m writing this post from their base in North Carolina, where I’ve been for about the last seven months. In about two months time we deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq.
So what’s been going on?
Since the last time I posted on here I’ve done nothing but beat the hell out of this little camera and well, it just keeps on ticking. It’s been dropped (not my fault), shot at, gassed, struck by a flying foreign object (a minor wound), almost set on fire, subjected to a large dose of radiation, been pretty close to getting blown up (I thought that was the end of it, but miraculously it rose from the dead), and a few other things I’m even ashamed to admit to you that I put it through in order to get the shot I was looking for. I’m pretty convinced now that there isn’t any type of situation or environment on dry land that you can subject this thing to that will get the better of it ..... well maybe the radiation but in that particular case I found myself somewhere I shouldn’t have been either. As far as the camera is concerned I haven’t experienced any negative long-term effects from it but at the time I thought a ghost took over the controls. It went completely nuts!!! Speaking of which, I won’t even contemplate what happened to mine...
I don’t know why but for some reason I find myself wanting to see just how far I can push this camera before I cross the line. It’s probably because each and every time I set up a shot and leave the scene (in the case I’m actually putting the camera right in front of an explosion) I never expect it to be there when I get back and I find myself chuckling every time I return to see it sitting happily on the tripod or some other jerry-rigged mount we came up with and still working perfectly. It’s pretty amazing actually. In one particular case the guys were testing some explosives and the blasts were so powerful that the paint on the ceiling of the room the camera was sitting in completely flaked off and fell to the floor like it was snowing! (That’s the one where I thought it was all over). The shock waves generated from these explosives are very real and in slow motion (60fps) you can literally see it tearing across the floor and right towards the camera. It’s pretty cool
I’m sure it’ll all end in tears and I’ll find myself desperately calling NYC and begging my producers for another camera (right now I just beg for more and more clear glass filters) but so far its been great for the film as the shots I’m getting just keep getting cooler and cooler each time the camera survives to tell another tale.
I’m going to go back a bit now and talk about some of the concerns I had previously and what I feel now that I’ve been shooting in the real world with this thing for almost four months now. As exited as I was about the prospects of the HVX and P2 technology in general, I also had my concerns. Is P2 a stable platform to record to? How robust are the cards themselves? How much of a pain in the ass is it to have to change the cards when I’m under the pressure of shooting in a real world environment? What about in a combat environment where every second counts? Can I deal with the limited recording times the cards give me at this stage of their development? At the end of the day when I’m tired, cold and hungry, how much of a pain in the ass is it to download all of the footage I’ve shot to some type of hard drive? I know I had many other concerns but these are the ones that come to mind right now.
So how stable a platform is P2 technology? Like I said earlier, I’ve probably shot about seventy hours of footage on the P2 cards I have and haven’t experienced a single malfunction yet. It’s still a little early in the game to give you an honest opinion about this (I’ll wait until I’ve racked up a few hundred hours for that) but so far it seems very stable and a fantastic recording medium. As far as the cards themselves go, I guard these things with my life and do my best to keep them out of any type of harms way. They go from the protective casing they come with directly to the camera and back again. I try to minimize their exposure to any type of dust or dirt and make sure that no matter how stressed I am or how fast I need to load in a fresh card, I don’t ever jam it into the slot at the back of the camera, the P2 Store or my laptop computer. One small change I made was to stick the rubber protective cap that goes over the end of the card, permanently to the case itself. That way when I have to change cards in a hurry or even when I’m on the run (literally), I don’t have to worry about dropping that precious little piece of rubber. I just open the case and slide the card right in. It may not sound like much but this small modification makes a big difference when you have to change the cards very quickly but still want to concern yourself with keeping them safe in their protective cases.
The majority of my shooting is done out in the field where the guys are either training to fight or will be fighting for real. When we do have some type of a firm base to work out of, it’s normally just a field expedient tent or the cramped confines of an aircraft carriers’ birthing area. In both of these cases the space allocated to me is virtually non-existent. Think of a small room in your house and then try to imagine twenty-eight guys in there... then add their personal gear, heavy weapons and everything else a Special Forces platoon would travel with. Sounds like fun, hey? On a personal level it is, but it’s also probably the worst environment I can think of to use a camera where at the end of the day you have to download what you’ve shot to some type of hard drive. A permanent workstation is now something I spend many nights dreaming about! Ahhhh ..... I’m imagining a clean room with my computer, my monitors and drives all sitting neatly on a large desk where everything has its place.... Ha!! Right now I can’t think of a time that I’ve been able to leave anything connected for longer than the time I’ve actually needed to use it. There are normally at least six guys stepping all over me while I’m downloading my footage, five others leaning over my shoulder watching themselves on the monitor when I transfer the cards to tape, a very loud poker game being played next to me and in some cases, on top of all my camera cases and the remainder of the guys moving about, cleaning weapons, eating food, washing, sleeping, shouting, laughing and joking. I’m also treated to frequent power outages because the generators go down and frequently finding myself under the ‘leak’ the majority of the time it rains.... So, how much of a pain in the ass is it to take out the laptop and all the storage drives and transfer the cards at the end of the day? Well, I figure if I can do it, anyone can :thumbsup: .
Since the last time I posted I also managed get my hands on a few P2 Stores. Now that I have these things, I don’t know how I did it before without them, especially when were out in the field for a few days and I don’t have the ‘luxury’ of a firm base. They do take a little time to extract and verify the data from the cards but then again, the kettle takes a long time to boil when you’re watching it too. I think that for anyone seriously considering this camera, this is definitely the way to go and worth every penny. I would even go so far as to say that if you had the money to get a couple of extra cards or one of these, I would get one of these.
I’m not sure what else to tell you except that I’m really enjoying shooting this film with this camera. It took me a little while to get a good system down that worked for me but now it’s there, changing cards, downloading footage and archiving for long term storage has all become very easy and no longer a pain in the ass. I now actually enjoy the time I spend transferring the footage to the drives. It gives me some quiet time to think (especially if it’s late and all the guys are asleep), wind down from the day, watch some of the footage, make lots of notes, pat myself on the back for a job well done or kick myself in the ass because I know I could have shot something better and won’t get another chance to do it :crybaby: . In the end, for me, it’s all positive
I have a few days before we go back out so I'll try to answer some questions that anyone has for me. Take care.
