Seeking DVX200 high production value footage and opinions

Design Media Consultants said:
I have also been seriously contemplating a Ursa camera and will probably be getting one in the future.
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Ursa Mini Pro reads a lot like a legit ENG camera body, doesn't it? Like something Panasonic or Sony might have done. It gives you 12-bit DNG raw at 4.6K, however, plus interchangeable mounts, all for under $6k. Add the EVF and shoulder-mount kit and you have a nice ENG/EFP body for under $8k. Red Raven doesn't have an ND wheel. Sony doesn't have raw. Panasonic's PX380 isn't even 4K. There are zero other cameras on the market that does everything Ursa Mini Pro does at Ursa Mini Pro's price. If you gave yourself a $10k budget to get a complete UMP rig plus all the batteries and cards and chargers and readers and extras you might need for a complete rig, and maybe a nice HD ENG/EFP servo zoom lens for an additional ~$5k, you still come out ahead. Sony's F55 with AXS-R7 external 4K raw recorder kit is the next best thing at ~$34k. And the Ursa Mini 4.6K sensor is no slouch. The Pro body makes Ursa Mini pretty near perfect, especially at $6k. There's going to need to be some kind of upset at NAB Show this year to get me off the Ursa Mini Pro train. As I said before, it took Ursa Mini Pro to get me off the Ursa Mini 4.6K PL train.

I would most certainly use DVX200 and UMP together on ENG/EFP multi-cam shoots. But, my go-to run and shoot reality video camera will be DVX200. The moment I need interchangeable lenses, internal 12-bit raw or 10-bit ProRes, or it's simply a bigger shoot, I would use Ursa Mini Pro. The fact that UMP is a piece in a large puzzle that comes together to form a complicated rig makes it unappealing in the way that DVX200 and its unibody camcorder design is very appealing. I would still use DVX200 on 70% of my freelance work. The other 30% I would have the budget, time and ability to use a proper cinema camera with a PL mount, a DIT station and a charging station. With DVX200, you just slap in the battery, the cards and mount it to a monopod and you can shoot reality all day.

So, again, different tools for different jobs. I am both a cinematographer and a videographer. My videographer is appeased. My cinematographer just bought PL-mount lenses and now needs a Super 35-sensor 4K camera. :D

Anyway, this is severely off-topic. To get back on topic, I know DVX200 is perfectly capable of being a B-camera to a Varicam or an Ursa Mini or an Arri or a Red, especially if using an external recorder. I still plan on shooting a short film at the end of the month with DVX200 as A-camera and hopefully that will help show what the camera is probably capable of as far as decent production value. Not a Marvel movie or anything, but a narrative drama that needs to, ya know, look like a movie. Something I'd shoot with an Ursa Mini Pro! lol But, I think DVX200 is capable of quite a bit more than the internet gives it credit for. So, we'll see. I might shoot it on a 5D. Depends. lol
 
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Barry_Green said:
puredrifting, you may want to put the UX180 on your consideration list as well, because it does most everything the DVX200 does but has two specific advantages that you might find suitable to your work:
1) it's two pounds lighter. The difference between a 6lb camera and a 4lb camera is very noticeable, especially at the end of a long day.
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That 2 pounds is also a lot when you are hand holding the camera and trying to move it smoothly. There are times when you do not have time to use a stabilizer, and you need a hand held moving shot. That is when I really notice that the DVX200 weighs 6 pounds. Wish it had the same specs and only weighed 4 pounds. That extra 2 pounds really is a lot.
 
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