Just reading DV.com newsletter & they give the DVX100 a real wrap!
Gear
We had all worked on children's programming before, but we knew from the outset that Postcards would be different. The kids are not actors, and we would only have a few days with them. The writers had to send us a story outline that the kids could pull off. And our cinematographers had to be "Buster-ized"--all of the live footage for the show comes from the point of view of an 8-year-old-boy with a videocamera. So DigiBeta and dolly shots were completely out of the question. The video had to be technically sound, but not too slick.
We shot the entire series on Panasonic DVX100 cameras at 24p. Series Producer Natatcha Estebanez liked the look it produced, with a little less detail and a gamma curve that resembles film. The small DV camera is also a less threatening presence for the kids. Many would ask to hold the camera and it was another fun element for them.
Senior DP Austin deBesche gave a number of reasons for liking the camera. Because Buster is only 8, a lot of shooting was done at waist level, so the number-one advantage to using the DVX100 was the large swing-out viewfinder, and no other side-mounted screen is nearly as large or bright. The wide zoom lens made it much easier to shoot in the small spaces we often encountered, and the camera was very good in mixed lighting and in minimal lighting conditions. Our entire lighting package consisted typically of a Deva light, a 650 W open-face light, and a 200 W fresnel. We would light to raise low levels, or if a touch of beauty would help a scene without making it look overlit. We had to be careful to allow some rough edges: How much lighting is an 8-year-old going to do? Austin deBesche commented that the focus was better than many other small cameras, and that the Macro function was very nice and gave a lot of depth of field. Adjustable zebras were a plus as well. Beyond the short learning curve, the DVX100 operated well and was reliable. We had no camera failures throughout production.
From my sound mixer's perspective, the DVX100 was a pretty good camera to work with. As miniDV cameras go, it has the best audio record/reproduce circuitry by far (see Jay Rose and Dan Rose's "DV Camera Audio" story [Nov. '02 DV] comparing the audio performance of miniDV cameras). The XLR input connectors make for a clunky-looking rig, but nobody seemed to complain.
Gear
We had all worked on children's programming before, but we knew from the outset that Postcards would be different. The kids are not actors, and we would only have a few days with them. The writers had to send us a story outline that the kids could pull off. And our cinematographers had to be "Buster-ized"--all of the live footage for the show comes from the point of view of an 8-year-old-boy with a videocamera. So DigiBeta and dolly shots were completely out of the question. The video had to be technically sound, but not too slick.
We shot the entire series on Panasonic DVX100 cameras at 24p. Series Producer Natatcha Estebanez liked the look it produced, with a little less detail and a gamma curve that resembles film. The small DV camera is also a less threatening presence for the kids. Many would ask to hold the camera and it was another fun element for them.
Senior DP Austin deBesche gave a number of reasons for liking the camera. Because Buster is only 8, a lot of shooting was done at waist level, so the number-one advantage to using the DVX100 was the large swing-out viewfinder, and no other side-mounted screen is nearly as large or bright. The wide zoom lens made it much easier to shoot in the small spaces we often encountered, and the camera was very good in mixed lighting and in minimal lighting conditions. Our entire lighting package consisted typically of a Deva light, a 650 W open-face light, and a 200 W fresnel. We would light to raise low levels, or if a touch of beauty would help a scene without making it look overlit. We had to be careful to allow some rough edges: How much lighting is an 8-year-old going to do? Austin deBesche commented that the focus was better than many other small cameras, and that the Macro function was very nice and gave a lot of depth of field. Adjustable zebras were a plus as well. Beyond the short learning curve, the DVX100 operated well and was reliable. We had no camera failures throughout production.
From my sound mixer's perspective, the DVX100 was a pretty good camera to work with. As miniDV cameras go, it has the best audio record/reproduce circuitry by far (see Jay Rose and Dan Rose's "DV Camera Audio" story [Nov. '02 DV] comparing the audio performance of miniDV cameras). The XLR input connectors make for a clunky-looking rig, but nobody seemed to complain.