Picking Camera for Corporate Training and Green Screen

O

Oddnoun

New member
My line management has asked me to price out a camera system that will be used within our department, by me, to create training videos. We have mostly created screencasted content so far but there are of people who want to expand to other types of training.

I have researched every single sub $10,000 camera I can find and really getting hit with data overload. I am not a professional videographer but have about 2 or 3 years of amateur photography under my belt so I get the basics of making a good picture and I know that is not the same as a good video. I have the full Adobe CS5 Master Collection at my disposal which I have made extensive use for enhancing my eLearning content.

Requirements:
Easy green screen (we will be renting very nice lighting)
Really good picture that makes people go wow
Deep DOF as this for the corporate world and not a artsy film

These have put me in the direction of the Canon XF Line

HPX250 has been ousted due to super expensive media and servo controlled lens
NX5 has been removed from the list due not having 4:2:2 color space
HPX370 is too much of a camera might make CIOs or CEOs nervous (though if I knew I could get away with the expense I probably would like to get this one even though the media is super expensive)
I generally do not trust the JVC brand and did not see something comparable in price and quality

Below is what is driving me to the XF300
L Glass (any bad images are my fault unless the camera is faulty)
4:2:2 color space and the 50mbps is a bonus
Proper manual control with mechanical stops for Focus, Iris and Zoom
No complexity of interchangeable lenses (This is actually a good thing for us)
1/3" 3MOS to get DEEP DoF
CF Card media is robust and cheap

We are not planning multicamera setups or 3D so the extra BNC connections are not really needed. I expect to use PluralEyes to do any syncing if necessary.

Did I miss anything or have I found something that will give me the manual controls, reduced complexity in post for green screen and a usable camera for someone who is willing to read the book?

Thanks for the help and support.
 
Thank you mostly I was wanting to make sure I did not miss out on a gem some where. Also, if I am incorrect and a lesser camera can provide just as good results I would be interested. I do not have significant experience so I am hoping to find a camera to help me get the best results without having to finesse software too much.
 
Yes, the xf300 sounds like exactly the tool you're looking for. It may be worth looking at the xf100 as well, but you do sacrifice some body controls and it only has 1 cmos sensor rather than 3. If you ever have any questions or videos to share once you have your xf camera, we have a very active forum of users in the vimeo canon xf group:

http://vimeo.com/groups/canonxf

Have fun!
 
Oddnoun said:
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HPX250 has been ousted due to super expensive media and servo controlled lens
...
Click to expand...

Oddnoun, your management understood the servo-controlled focus and iris correctly, although zoom is mechanical. But regarding cost:
The cost of an HPX250 plus a 64GB P2 E-series card is significantly less than the cost of an XF300 without any card. It looks like an HPX250 with two 64GB P2 E-series cards costs about the same or maybe slightly less than an XF300 with two 32GB CF cards.
(Your management does understand that the cards are reusable, right?)

Ken
 
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Oddnoun said:
Thank you mostly I was wanting to make sure I did not miss out on a gem some where. Also, if I am incorrect and a lesser camera can provide just as good results I would be interested. I do not have significant experience so I am hoping to find a camera to help me get the best results without having to finesse software too much.
Click to expand...

For your purposes, the Canon XF100 might currently be the biggest bang for your buck by a large margin. General consensus is that it delivers ~90% of the IQ of the XF300 and meets all your requirements. Almost all the "must-have-now!" manual controls are there and what's missing would only be needed in live-event/run-n-gun situations. Plus the XF100 is a lot lighter. Lots of reviews out for the XF100 and Philip Bloom has a nice long video one on his blog.

IMHO, the XF100 should stay as the best bang for your buck for a few more years. Here's why:

Panasonic's 4:2:2 codec is tied to DVCProHD or AVCHD-Intra, and thus P2 cards. Pana has yet to allow SDXC cards touch the codec, although GH1/2 hacks have shown that SDHC Class 10 and SDXC should be handily capable of handling the bandwidth. Plus having just launched the AC130/160 with more 24Mbps AVCHD, I dont expect cheap 4:2:2 from Pana anytime soon. Pana still has their P2 cards to protect after all.

Sony... I dunno. I mean, even the F3 shoots a native 35Mbps XDCAM EX at 4:2:0. Yea, you can attached externals and get some awesome stuff, but unless they're busy developing their own 4:2:2 codec in-house or finally willing to license ProRes/DNxHD, I don't see cheap 4:2:2 solution from them anytime soon. On top of that, they also need to protect their SxS card sales.

Canon, on the other hand, never had a proprietary memory card to protect. They held onto HDV for years until they were able to create their in-house 4:2:2 codec that could write to CF cards. When Canon's 50Mbps MXF 4:2:2 codec first came out, I remember them making a big hoopla about it. I sat through an entire 1/2 hour presentation of how great it was. The XF300 is a fantastic camera, but it wasn't until they crammed it into the XF100 when it codec became a really, really big deal. $3k camera with 50Mbps 4:2:2 on CF cards and a full-raster 1920x1080. Yea, it's a single CMOS, but my worries about skew/low-light were long ago eliminated by all the video tests floating around.

You might be able to get it slightly cheaper by doing something like HV40 + Atomos Ninja, but then you lose some of the nice manual controls/switches, etc.

And because it's so cheap, you could by 2xCanon XF100's and 4x32GB SanDisk Extreme cards for $6320. Since you're willing to pluraleyes sync, solves most of your multi-cam woes if you ever need 'em. Multi-cam can cut your production time by up to 50%. You/management can save money on actors/crew/etc.

The only currently foreseeable downside is that XF100's are sold out everywhere :(
 
Not to sound silly, but any modern camera will handle corporate work. Why is 4:2:2 so important? I've been doing green screen work on many cameras, and I'll tell you, lighting is the key, and not so much the camera. Don't go nuts on the the camera and put the money on good lighting. I was pulling great keys off the DVX :)
 
I also don't understand the 4:2:2 requirement for corporate training videos...

For your requirements, you should be more concerned with multiple cameras...you're going to have a speaker who will need a camera on him/her, as well as a presentation/whiteboard/projector which will also need a camera.

If I were you, I'd look no further than 2x Panasonic AC130's and be done with it. You can record as long as you want, you have an instant backup when recording to 2 cards at the same time, and have a nice zoom to play with if you ever do larger auditorium-type shoots.

The XF100 is a decent cam but it's overpriced (in my opinion -- although it's small and good for travel) and you get much more camera in the AC130.

4:2:2 shouldn't even be a factor -- not in the least bit.
 
The OP said he was renting lights, so I think getting the best camera for their money is a good idea.

Anything that makes green screen easier and more workable is a plus, so 4:2:2 is a factor. But we also don't know exactly what kind of content or workflow the OP is involved in, so we have to just go by his post. For instance, he mentioned he's looking for one camera, and it will be for green screen work, not for corporate multi-cam conference shoots, etc.

We are still using an EX-1 to shoot all of our green screen content in our office, doing the exact same thing the OP does - corporate training videos and eLearning. We have our own studio and lights, and because we know how to use the equipment, we get great keys every time. But there are still times I can start to see the 4:2:0 fall through, especially when run through the gauntlet in After Effects. That is where 4:2:2 will help out greatly.
 
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