VideoDP.NZ
Member
I recently spent a year doing stills photography (professionally) majoring in portrait and event photography (event in my case meant informal portraiture outside the studio).
When I returned to shooting video, the first thing I did was get some actors together, rehearse a script, and go out on location to shoot with my oft touted Canon 7D.
I came up through the ranks as a sound recordist/camera assistant - and I knew it was hard to get location sound happening with a DSLR, but this just sucked. I've shot sit down interviews where I had a separate sound recording device, with some success, but on a real location shoot with real actors - it become a real hassle.
I was not happy with the image quality either. I find DSLR footage to be soft and a bit ugly to push in the grade (yes, I have L glass, No I was not using the 'Technicolor' setup).
I could not justify the high cost of getting a good sound rig to support a camera that has average picture quality and terrible ergonomics.
I finally decided that a cheap way back into a camera with real audio inputs and decent image control (hey, even good quality auto focus is welcomed when it's just you on the run) was either the Canon XA 10 or XF 100.
I watched Philip Blooms very informative review of both cameras. I have also seen side by side comparisons of both cameras. I feel the XF100 (side by side) has a slight edge. Not a $1K advantage - but to my eye, the 100 had a flatter, more natural image that might grade more easily. And of course, the XF 100 has buttons. The XA 10 has menus.
I shot a simple interview with a couple of folk - camera on sticks, 1 light, and a couple of hypercardiod SD mics (Studio Projects C4) on booms. Headphones on, and off we go.
I play keyboards (I even jam with a real band!) and I can touch type - so I feel my finger's dexterity is at least at average, probably the high side of average. I could not get the touch screen interface to work without the (fortunately included) little plastic 'pick' thingy that has a blunt pencil sized tip on it. Even then, I was swiping away at random spots on the screen to get menus to spin up and down and open etc.
rogar-Shock(DBG):
I actually had to stop the interview, because the light was changing and I needed to change the exposure. I had programmed the secondary custom wheel to control exposure - that way I had focus control on screen, a zoom rocker for framing, and the manual audio controls on the handle - but the custom function controls the exposure by adjusting (in 3 selection 'push in the wheel' choices) aperture, shutter speed or gain. If you have the wrong one selected (and it's easy to accidentally change) you have to monkey about to fix it - and once again, I found the control almost too small to operate - If I was hand held, I think this control would be almost useless in a panic (and if you are trying to track aliens hovering overhead, or people running in and out of lighted areas...)
And while I was controlling the camera functions with the menu (it's almost impossible to not have something on screen) you have little buttons plastered all over the screen where your image should be. I couldn't see the bottom edge of frame without trying to stare through a control graphic.
After a week of learning the controls, I was seriously considering purchasing a Zacuto screen and viewfinder kit. With the right mounting gear, that Zacuto kit would have cost the same as the camera. I needed one screen to control the camera and a second to actually shoot through.
And as for the ergonomics, while the form factor was admittedly a lot better off than a DSLR with a mammoth lens, I was still spending hours on B&H looking for a shoulder mount that didn't cost 1/2 of what I paid for the camera.
Perhaps years of shooting on Sony Broadcast cameras (and tons of industrial spinoffs) like the BVW400 BetacamSP camcorder has ruined me. The lens has real tactile mechanical control, and once the camera was set up, what other controls do you need than zoom, focus and iris?
I've shot 16 and 35mm too - and in that arena you have all the right gear to support your camera - a dolly, a jib, a tripod (with geared head please) or a neat hand held setup built by people with 40 years plus in the biz (meccano not required).
I've also owned a DVX100B (and I have the dvxuser t-shirt to prove it) and I found that camera easy to handhold all day. The XA 10 reminds me of my DSR-PDx10 (Sony) Heavy, but too small to get a good grip with 2 hands.
And of course, you need one hand free to drive the menu to actually run the XA10.rogar-Sick(DBG):
Picture quality? Exceptional :love4: - the best of any camera I have used other than film. The DVX made nicer looking images, but were 4:3 and SD, I can't really even post that on youTube now that an iPhone does better.
Sound - brilliant for anything in the price range. Clean (boringly so) and easy to work with - worth the price alone, and originally why I purchased a video camera as opposed to my DSLR.
For shooting events - my DSLR would chew through batteries, overheat, fail to record clips, and fill up expensive cards far too quickly. The XA 10 will run all day (and record all day) on 1 $99 battery and record internally! Brilliant.
But what a pig of a camera to control. It has amazing control over everything, and waveforms, and histograms and everything you could wish for - but at the end of the day, I want an operator's camera (like film) that I can control without looking away from an uncluttered high quality viewfinder. I don't think you can get that in a video camera anymore without laying out $10k or more for a shoulder mount camera with a real broadcast style lens.
I knew at the end of a hard day, I was going to smash that little pick tool through the screen in disgust. I sold my DSLR to get a real camera, and frankly, this was not it. Due to the shortage of XA 10s in the wild, I sold mine easily, and got most of my money back (just lost out on some international shipping/customs/import tax crapola). Good thing too.
Should I buy an XF100? I know if I had done that first - the manual controls might have been enough to keep me happy (and the picture quality etc is awesome for such a small camera). But, I have decided to wait a little and get a digital cinema style camera (like the Sony FS100) where I know in advance I will have to accessorize, but get even greater image quality and control. With an improved version of AVCHD and external recorders getting cheaper, I'll be able to set up a nice kit.
In the meantime, I'm using a little Panasonic 3chip and hiring for anything else.
What did I do with the money I got back?
I spent it all on sound gear.
To quote Elwood Blues: "I traded it for a microphone."
When I returned to shooting video, the first thing I did was get some actors together, rehearse a script, and go out on location to shoot with my oft touted Canon 7D.
I came up through the ranks as a sound recordist/camera assistant - and I knew it was hard to get location sound happening with a DSLR, but this just sucked. I've shot sit down interviews where I had a separate sound recording device, with some success, but on a real location shoot with real actors - it become a real hassle.
I was not happy with the image quality either. I find DSLR footage to be soft and a bit ugly to push in the grade (yes, I have L glass, No I was not using the 'Technicolor' setup).
I could not justify the high cost of getting a good sound rig to support a camera that has average picture quality and terrible ergonomics.
I finally decided that a cheap way back into a camera with real audio inputs and decent image control (hey, even good quality auto focus is welcomed when it's just you on the run) was either the Canon XA 10 or XF 100.
I watched Philip Blooms very informative review of both cameras. I have also seen side by side comparisons of both cameras. I feel the XF100 (side by side) has a slight edge. Not a $1K advantage - but to my eye, the 100 had a flatter, more natural image that might grade more easily. And of course, the XF 100 has buttons. The XA 10 has menus.
I shot a simple interview with a couple of folk - camera on sticks, 1 light, and a couple of hypercardiod SD mics (Studio Projects C4) on booms. Headphones on, and off we go.
I play keyboards (I even jam with a real band!) and I can touch type - so I feel my finger's dexterity is at least at average, probably the high side of average. I could not get the touch screen interface to work without the (fortunately included) little plastic 'pick' thingy that has a blunt pencil sized tip on it. Even then, I was swiping away at random spots on the screen to get menus to spin up and down and open etc.
rogar-Shock(DBG):I actually had to stop the interview, because the light was changing and I needed to change the exposure. I had programmed the secondary custom wheel to control exposure - that way I had focus control on screen, a zoom rocker for framing, and the manual audio controls on the handle - but the custom function controls the exposure by adjusting (in 3 selection 'push in the wheel' choices) aperture, shutter speed or gain. If you have the wrong one selected (and it's easy to accidentally change) you have to monkey about to fix it - and once again, I found the control almost too small to operate - If I was hand held, I think this control would be almost useless in a panic (and if you are trying to track aliens hovering overhead, or people running in and out of lighted areas...)
And while I was controlling the camera functions with the menu (it's almost impossible to not have something on screen) you have little buttons plastered all over the screen where your image should be. I couldn't see the bottom edge of frame without trying to stare through a control graphic.
After a week of learning the controls, I was seriously considering purchasing a Zacuto screen and viewfinder kit. With the right mounting gear, that Zacuto kit would have cost the same as the camera. I needed one screen to control the camera and a second to actually shoot through.
And as for the ergonomics, while the form factor was admittedly a lot better off than a DSLR with a mammoth lens, I was still spending hours on B&H looking for a shoulder mount that didn't cost 1/2 of what I paid for the camera.
Perhaps years of shooting on Sony Broadcast cameras (and tons of industrial spinoffs) like the BVW400 BetacamSP camcorder has ruined me. The lens has real tactile mechanical control, and once the camera was set up, what other controls do you need than zoom, focus and iris?
I've shot 16 and 35mm too - and in that arena you have all the right gear to support your camera - a dolly, a jib, a tripod (with geared head please) or a neat hand held setup built by people with 40 years plus in the biz (meccano not required).
I've also owned a DVX100B (and I have the dvxuser t-shirt to prove it) and I found that camera easy to handhold all day. The XA 10 reminds me of my DSR-PDx10 (Sony) Heavy, but too small to get a good grip with 2 hands.
And of course, you need one hand free to drive the menu to actually run the XA10.
rogar-Sick(DBG):Picture quality? Exceptional :love4: - the best of any camera I have used other than film. The DVX made nicer looking images, but were 4:3 and SD, I can't really even post that on youTube now that an iPhone does better.
Sound - brilliant for anything in the price range. Clean (boringly so) and easy to work with - worth the price alone, and originally why I purchased a video camera as opposed to my DSLR.
For shooting events - my DSLR would chew through batteries, overheat, fail to record clips, and fill up expensive cards far too quickly. The XA 10 will run all day (and record all day) on 1 $99 battery and record internally! Brilliant.
But what a pig of a camera to control. It has amazing control over everything, and waveforms, and histograms and everything you could wish for - but at the end of the day, I want an operator's camera (like film) that I can control without looking away from an uncluttered high quality viewfinder. I don't think you can get that in a video camera anymore without laying out $10k or more for a shoulder mount camera with a real broadcast style lens.
I knew at the end of a hard day, I was going to smash that little pick tool through the screen in disgust. I sold my DSLR to get a real camera, and frankly, this was not it. Due to the shortage of XA 10s in the wild, I sold mine easily, and got most of my money back (just lost out on some international shipping/customs/import tax crapola). Good thing too.
Should I buy an XF100? I know if I had done that first - the manual controls might have been enough to keep me happy (and the picture quality etc is awesome for such a small camera). But, I have decided to wait a little and get a digital cinema style camera (like the Sony FS100) where I know in advance I will have to accessorize, but get even greater image quality and control. With an improved version of AVCHD and external recorders getting cheaper, I'll be able to set up a nice kit.
In the meantime, I'm using a little Panasonic 3chip and hiring for anything else.
What did I do with the money I got back?
I spent it all on sound gear.
To quote Elwood Blues: "I traded it for a microphone."
