Varicam H Suprisingly Useful

C

C.A.Magid

Active member
Advancing technology may not always be so advancing. A lot has been done for ease of use and reduction of cost but sometimes I wonder if we are getting better images.

Lately I have been pulling our once stored Varicam H off the shelf and using it along with a pix240 for special interviews. The 720p holds up well, the CCDs produce a very pleasing look and you would be hard pressed to find better color science than FILMREC when it comes to faces. In short, the images feel organic, pleasing and gentle. As much as I like newer cameras like the EVA 1 or even the still viable F3, those results have always seem a little over-cooked or over enhanced. Too much detail and a processed feel may be great for shooting planes, trains and automobiles but close up interviews just seem too harsh.

The stuff we shot, back in the day, with a pro35 adapter and cine primes on the Varicam H still is among the best looking materail we have ever shot.

Wonder if anyone else is still using older gear like the Varicam H? What do you think about incoporating this material in 1080p or 4k shows?

Definitely not a run and gun set up with an external recorder mounted, unless you have shoulders like Schwarzenegger. But apparently some easy of use can be added as it is possible to mod these older cameras to send Lan-c trigger info to the recorder.

C.A.Magid
RTVF
 
I had it and sold it..the only drawback was 60p all the time..not good in the PAL land..
And it have very good audio preamps..
 
The 27H was the first HD camera that I bought back in '06(I still own it). It had(has) a great image and made me a ton of money. I do not miss tape, though(and hate external recorders). But I still love the Vari. My favorite camera is it's successor, the 2700. I have two and won't trade them for anything. Well, maybe six or seven figures for one of them... Lol.
 
You know I had a 2700 for a bit and found it to be a little noiser in shadows than even the H. Sent it to Macie to get it tweaked but still preferred the look of the H. However, tape is no friend of mine. Certainly not anymore. Still squeezing the life out of a F3 + Pix240. Really like the look of the EVA1 and its big brother 35mm Varicams. Was just looking at some H footage today. Looked awesome. Got a few buddies that swear by their 2700s and put them to use on a regular basis.
 
C.A.Magid said:
You know I had a 2700 for a bit and found it to be a little noiser in shadows than even the H. Sent it to Macie to get it tweaked but still preferred the look of the H. However, tape is no friend of mine. Certainly not anymore. Still squeezing the life out of a F3 + Pix240. Really like the look of the EVA1 and its big brother 35mm Varicams. Was just looking at some H footage today. Looked awesome. Got a few buddies that swear by their 2700s and put them to use on a regular basis.
Click to expand...

It's funny you mention that about the noise. When I got my first 2700, I actually sent it to Panasonic, because it was a little noisy for my taste, too. I did eventually send it to Macie, but they just couldn't keep up with the transition to HD. The "Macie Look" was awesome in the Betacam days, but I was never happy with any of their set-ups/scene files for the 27H or 2700. Odd colors and very flat image overall. When I got my 2700 back from Macie, I went through all of the scene files, then went right back to my set-up.

I had to shoot with my 27H a couple of years ago(they HAD to have tape) and I was pleasantly surprised by the picture, since I probably had not used it in a year or more at that point. Nothing wrong with the image. It's just that the 2700 is such a great camera to USE, because of things like five cards slots, built-in 2ch. wireless slot, cache record, good color VF, easy playback, etc.
 
Macie can modify your 27H to trigger an external recorder via the lens and body native record buttons. Been thinking about having this done. It puts a Lan-C tap on the rear of the camera. The 2700 workflow romanced me. That is why we upgraded from the 27H.

Well thank you for verifying that I am not crazy...on this matter at least.
 
C.A.Magid said:
Advancing technology may not always be so advancing. A lot has been done for ease of use and reduction of cost but sometimes I wonder if we are getting better images.

Lately I have been pulling our once stored Varicam H off the shelf and using it along with a pix240 for special interviews. The 720p holds up well, the CCDs produce a very pleasing look and you would be hard pressed to find better color science than FILMREC when it comes to faces. In short, the images feel organic, pleasing and gentle. As much as I like newer cameras like the EVA 1 or even the still viable F3, those results have always seem a little over-cooked or over enhanced. Too much detail and a processed feel may be great for shooting planes, trains and automobiles but close up interviews just seem too harsh.

The stuff we shot, back in the day, with a pro35 adapter and cine primes on the Varicam H still is among the best looking materail we have ever shot.

Wonder if anyone else is still using older gear like the Varicam H? What do you think about incoporating this material in 1080p or 4k shows?

Definitely not a run and gun set up with an external recorder mounted, unless you have shoulders like Schwarzenegger. But apparently some easy of use can be added as it is possible to mod these older cameras to send Lan-c trigger info to the recorder.

C.A.Magid
RTVF
Click to expand...

I am one of the people out there who still swear by cameras like the Varicam H or the Sony F900. I sold my beloved Varicam H to a guy in LA earlier this year and am now using a panavision modified Sony F900. ENG 24p cameras are the cats PJs for me. i included some playlists of work ive done with them here.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNsoVV8HVHBvuHamC5NnUPYmmgehZlCf0
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNsoVV8HVHBv2b9RCITBHmTXrMv8EEbJW
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNsoVV8HVHBtuC9vlFtgnLcBOmZk-wGGn
 
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