Two DVX100s and one DVC80 represent my fourth generation Panasonic cameras and they are fantastic! I've been shooting video on a part-time basis for about seventeen years...mostly wedding work, some documentaries and a little corporate. Over the last three or four years, though, my business has been shifting more and more to musical productions. These productions have ranged from high school level to semi-professional.
A year and half ago, just two days after receiving the two DVX100s, we went into production on "Barnum" and it was sort of a learn as you go situation. My DVXs were joined by two others (also brand new). With barely enough time to just skim the manual, we dove in. I guess you could say we were lucky, but the results were absolutely stunning! The second "Barnum" show we taped was kind of interesting. Three minutes before curtain, I was flagged by one of the camera operators...his camera wasn't working right. Since he was paying me, we switched cameras. He was right...none of the auto functions were working, the LCD was giving me information I'd never seen before and I wasn't even completely sure I was recording. It took me the enitre first act to figure out that he had moved the scene selector to 24p. Once back in 60i everything worked fine. That experience, however, taught me something. That was the first show I'd ever done completely manual and it showed me that, first, you could do a show in manual and, second, the results are far better than using auto functions. By the way, that 24p footage turned out to be the best imagery of the entire shoot.
Since then, all the shows I've been in charge of the shooting have been totally manual control...albeit in 60i (24p still makes me nervous). Two weeks ago we finished taping seven shows of a semi-professional production of "Cinderella." Two of the shows were shot with anamorphic lenses on all three of my cameras. This was, of course, before I knew about this site and Barry's 16:9 guide. The result: Two of the cameras performed flawlessly. Focus was terrific in all ranges of zoom and exposure (iris) was right on I would say about 90% of the time (constantly changing lighting conditions make 100% virtually impossible). The third camera, though, did have focus problems...particularly in fully zoomed tight shots (even though I told the operator not to zoom in any further than z90). Because of this, I'll be able to use only about 40-50% of what that camera shot. With three cameras, though, and two shows, I should be able to put a decent show together.
Bottom line: The DVX family (including the DVC) of cameras is terrific! I keep discovering new things about them all the time...but there's still a lot to learn.
I'm new to this group and just wanted to share with you what I've been doing with these great cameras.
Spencer
Video Ventures
A year and half ago, just two days after receiving the two DVX100s, we went into production on "Barnum" and it was sort of a learn as you go situation. My DVXs were joined by two others (also brand new). With barely enough time to just skim the manual, we dove in. I guess you could say we were lucky, but the results were absolutely stunning! The second "Barnum" show we taped was kind of interesting. Three minutes before curtain, I was flagged by one of the camera operators...his camera wasn't working right. Since he was paying me, we switched cameras. He was right...none of the auto functions were working, the LCD was giving me information I'd never seen before and I wasn't even completely sure I was recording. It took me the enitre first act to figure out that he had moved the scene selector to 24p. Once back in 60i everything worked fine. That experience, however, taught me something. That was the first show I'd ever done completely manual and it showed me that, first, you could do a show in manual and, second, the results are far better than using auto functions. By the way, that 24p footage turned out to be the best imagery of the entire shoot.
Since then, all the shows I've been in charge of the shooting have been totally manual control...albeit in 60i (24p still makes me nervous). Two weeks ago we finished taping seven shows of a semi-professional production of "Cinderella." Two of the shows were shot with anamorphic lenses on all three of my cameras. This was, of course, before I knew about this site and Barry's 16:9 guide. The result: Two of the cameras performed flawlessly. Focus was terrific in all ranges of zoom and exposure (iris) was right on I would say about 90% of the time (constantly changing lighting conditions make 100% virtually impossible). The third camera, though, did have focus problems...particularly in fully zoomed tight shots (even though I told the operator not to zoom in any further than z90). Because of this, I'll be able to use only about 40-50% of what that camera shot. With three cameras, though, and two shows, I should be able to put a decent show together.
Bottom line: The DVX family (including the DVC) of cameras is terrific! I keep discovering new things about them all the time...but there's still a lot to learn.
I'm new to this group and just wanted to share with you what I've been doing with these great cameras.
Spencer
Video Ventures