Production Company Seeks Camera Advice

Production Company Seeks Camera Advice

  • Total voters
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F

Fxguy

Member
Hello Everyone!

I have been watching this forum for a while now and sitting here slowly (read Painfully) writiing scripts until the day I could afford to begin my film career. Well I am happy to say that day is here. I am finally in a position where I can afford a nice camera. Now the question becomes which one?

I am looking to start a production company (for the tax implications right?) to shoot my independent films and to look for distribution in a theater (after the film transfer of course) but I would also like to (or may need to) do some wedding or event videography on the side to generate some income.

So I am wondering what camera would be a good choice to shoot weddings and indie films for film transfer? I have been looking HARD at the AG-HVX200 but have stumbled across the JVC GY-HD100 which has interchangeable lenses. Anyone own either of these cameras (or ideally both) that can give some advice?


Also what is the best / most cost effective way for a jib? I have built my own crane (both out of steel and aluminum) but the tripod I have (a bogen but cant rememer the model) can hold the weight of the steel (the legs buckle) and the aluminum bends with the weight of a camera. Also built a home made dolly and steadicam system complete with vest. (Which works AWESOME)

So any help would be greatly appreciated. All told I would like to keep costs down as much as possible (figure 5-6k for the camera and another 1k for the tripod and jib)

Please feel free to email me at Fxguy@comcast.net with any advice!

Thanks
Tim
 
Hi Tim- A sturdy and affordable (when you can find them) set of sticks for your jib arm might be the Davis & Sanford ETVGPF Mark III Tripod Legs. B&H sell 'em new for around $500 but you can occasionally find them on eBay for less than $200 used--often with some kind of head on 'em. You can park a truck on top of them and not have any worries.

And either of those camera will serve you well.

Good luck!
 
A couple variables that come to mind that might be a selling point for you:
The HVX can shoot variable frame rates, in 720P mode you've got selections between 12fps and 60fps (and more, do a search). The HD100 can shoot 60 minutes of HDV to a tape (better for weddings and events- to do that with the HVX you'd have to be tethered to a laptop or a Firestore or constantly swapping out cards with an assistant nearby).
Overall I think the footage between the two can be very similar, but the HVX is more versatile in the looks it can provide. The downside is, the workflow can be tricky. You may end up having to invest in more equipment (P2 cards, laptop, external harddrive, Firestore, CinePorter, etc) to get the job done.
You also have to consider your editing options. Keep searching for everything specifically that you want to know, it's all here!
Congratulations on finally getting the money!
 
Based on my limited knowladge (often gathered from other reports) here is a brief summary:

The JVC uses HDV which, while cheap, has twice the color compression of the HVX and uses interframe encoding which means frames are generated giveing you ugly motion artifacts and making it harder to edit.

Resolution wise, Barry's tests indicate that, with a standard lense, the JVC and HVX200 have the same amount of detail but the JVC looks sharper because of more artifical edge enhancment.

The HVX200 is also capible of 1080p and variable framerates while the JVC can have other lenses attatched.

Personally, I VASTLY prefer the look of the HVX200. It has great colors, an excelllent film-like gamma curve, and subtle, filmish, look. The JVC's colors look odd to me, the gamma curve isn't as nice, and all the images I see have a kind of wierd look to them like the contrast has been upped a lot.

That's my two cents.
 
This is a DVXUser (HVXUser) forum. With a poll framed the way you have, what do you expect to get for answers?
 
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^
True dat. Ask Pappas Arts. He used all three cameras (HVX, JVC, Canon) a lot and liked all of them. He can fill you in on the pros and cons.
 
Expectations

Expectations

Well I can honestly say that I expected the HVX landslide, like I said, I was leaning (a lot) towards the HVX. I just wanted to see if there may be a lone user out there who could at least get behind the JVC.

As for editing, lighting, etc..... I have two halogen lightstands (standard worklights) with 2 1000 watt lamps on each. I have 2 C-Stands with 2 standard can lights (not sure the max wattage bulb I can put in) and I have a 5-in-1 48" Round reflector/diffuser.

I have the steadicam, camera crane, and dolly (the dolly may need a bit of work or perhaps a different track). Basically I took a 2' X 4' 1/2" plywood and screwed 2 sheets together, did the angle steel bracket with skateboard wheels and then uses 1 + 1/2" electrical conduit for track. It is smooth except for the joints (barely noticable) but the cost of track is expensive and I only have 15 ft of it (so 11 feet of roll when accounting for the dolly itself)

As for editing, I have a Dual 800Mhz G4 and a 500Mhz G4 mercury powerbook. I have plans on updating the system but not sure the best way. The powerbook I have has a single green line through the display, and cannot catch a wirless signal to save its life. So then I have to decide either a Mac Pro Quad (great for adding 3-D composites etc) or the Macbook Pro which would be great on location for dumping P2 cards and doing editing.

What would everyone suggest? Looks like with the cost of a decent tripod to hold my steel tube crane and the camera and a 4GB P2 card I might be tight on money.

What I probably will do is gear towards wedding Videos to start and about a year from now get the heavy duty tripod and P2 card (i have 7 months of school left before I can really start shooting something other than weddings or short films)

So should I get the Mac Pro Quad desktop and keep the 500Mhz powerbook G4 or get the Mac Book Pro and keep the dual 800mhz Desktop?

Thanks,

Tim
 
Like David said - the HDV codec is messed up. Especially for editing! With HDV you'll be waiting forever for simple renders and playbacks. DVCPRO HD is a much better scheme (Panasonic) - after all it's what the "professionals" use.
 
Fxguy said:
. . .

What would everyone suggest? Looks like with the cost of a decent tripod to hold my steel tube crane and the camera and a 4GB P2 card I might be tight on money.

What I probably will do is gear towards wedding Videos to start and about a year from now get the heavy duty tripod and P2 card (i have 7 months of school left before I can really start shooting something other than weddings or short films)
Click to expand...

or you could go to eBay and look up item number 280021886260, which is like what I referenced above (for under $200).
 
And remember, you can still shoot SD with the HVX - even on MiniDV tape.
 
I'm not the mac expert, but I would think the Mac Pro Quad would be a better investment. You'd have a much faster edit computer, and still be able to offload footage to your powerbook.
 
To be honest, if you just want to do weddings, I'd go for the Sony Z1/FX1 since it has the cleanest low light performance.

If you want to do narrative stuff, go for the HVX200 or the Canon XLH1. The HVX200 wining in color, motion, and cinelike gamma while the XLH1 being higher rez, the ability to SDI out, and interchangible lenses. I tend to think of the JVC mostly as what one would use if you can't afford an HVX200 with P2 workflow or an XLH1. It' not a bad camera by any stretch of the imagination but, from what I've seen, it just doesn't produce images as impressive as the HVX or XLH1.
 
HDV Codec

HDV Codec

dregenthal,

Thanks for the ebay link! I might be looking into purchasing a stand or tripod for the crane sooner than I thought! (Especially if I can get something in the 200-300 range as opposed to 500)


I am pretty much sold on the Panasonic AG-HVX200. 100% sure thats the camera I am going to purchase. Now what is this I here about HDV codecs? Can't I edit in FCP 5.1? And would I be better to edit on the intel based Mac book Pro and keep my dual 800mhz desktop or replace my desktop and keep my 500mhz Powerbook?

What would I need to look at for a decent workflow?

Right now I have about 200GB of storage on my Dual 800Mhz desktop and only like 5GB on my laptop.

Thanks for the advice everyone!!

Feel free to IM me at Lecoles526 on AIM and say hi anytime. Just mention the forum!

Tim

BTW the wedding video is a side gig idea for the meantime and as needed for cash until I can get some feature scripts finished and some projects off the ground.
 
Now what is this I here about HDV codecs? Can't I edit in FCP 5.1? And would I be better to edit on the intel based Mac book Pro and keep my dual 800mhz desktop or replace my desktop and keep my 500mhz Powerbook?
Click to expand...

The HDV codec is used on the Sony, Canon, and JVC cameras but not the HVX200. Aside from giving you more compressed colors and motion, it also is harder to edit since only one out of 13 frames (six in Canon's case) is real. The computer has to generate all the other frames to let you cut on them. The result is that you'll need a faster processor and more RAM. The HVX200 uses DVCPro HD. This means no fake frames and more color. It also means that in FCP you'll be able to edit it much smoother.
 
have you mentioned sound yet? you are going to need some mics, whether you are doing weddings or shooting your features. if you went with the hvx you can always shoot sd on tape, as was mentioned, and later purchase the cineporter (when it is out) when you are ready to think about shooting your features. or maybe by then larger and cheaper options will be available in the p2 card world. So maybe you can think about shooting to tape with the freelance stuff you will be doing earlier, and cross the bridge of storage for the dvcpro hd format for your films when you get to that point, as it seems you won't be doing that outright anyways. but look at a minimum of 2000 bucks for storage in the future. whether it is a cineporter with 400 minutes of 720pn 24p record time, or a single 4 gig p2 card and some kind of p2 store, or a 100 minutes of record time in 720p on the firestore or something similar.
hope this helps some
Jason
 
I would suggest you to take into consideration also the Canon A1 and the upcoming JVC HD-250. If you buy a decklink or an Aja Kona card for your mac, you can import trough the analog outs of the camera to the editing system and use the dvcpro hd codec for editing. That way you don't have the trouble of hdv editing.

I own an HVX and love it. Just recently shot a Comercial for my employer and went to do Post Production in one of the best post Houses in Hong-Kong. Worked on an Avid Nitris system and on a Telecine. The editors (who work with f900 footage daily) tought the Comercial was shot with the F900. Quite reassuring, isn't it? But storage is indeed an issue...
 
SPZ said:
I own an HVX and love it. Just recently shot a Comercial for my employer
Click to expand...
When do you post it Sérgio? I am sure that will be a download hit.

1 Abraço,
Emanuel
 
Emanuel said:
When do you post it Sérgio? I am sure that will be a download hit.

1 Abraço,
Emanuel
Click to expand...

Well, Still needs to air first- its going to be the 31st August here. I'll see what I can do :)
 
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