Will the DVX100B do what I need it to do?

J

John buh buh Blaze

New member
Hey guys and girls,

I am looking into purchasing a DVX 100B for the school district I work for. We are curently shooting on a ...(GULP)....Canon GL2 and quite honestly...I don't think it can hold up to the "run & gun" usage its getting. It's less than two years old and I've already had to send it in for service. I would like to get a nicer looking picture than the GL2 and I think....from what I have read that the Lecia lens is a very honest piece of glass.

The majority of the work that this camera would do is Board Meetings in school auditoriums/lunch rooms and special projects as they come along. I find that when shooting free hand, the GL2 is kind of nose heavy and likes to dip when I don't want it to. It would seem that the DVX 100B has a shorter body. I hope it will be nicer to shoot free hand with than the GL2.

I shot a 20 minute referendum video and the GL2 was horrible for free hand. It seems fine for tripod work but for free hand...YUCK. I much rather prefer shooting on the Sony PD100A that we use as a back up camera. Bad thing about that camera is that camera is that it only shoots in DVCAM mode...it can't not be switched to Mini-DV...that means all the recordings on that camera are limited to 40 min. It is on the other hand much more well balanced because the body is soooo much shorter. If the large Wide Angle that it comes with is used I can balance it nicely with a large battery pack and it shoots awesome free hand. Quite honestly...it is my favorite "off the hip" camera and it is practcally indestructable. It is now almost 6 years old and it was sent in for service only once. I really enjoy that camera quite a bit.

Any comments on this or that???
 
Hi, I have had a 100A for two years shooting Sermons for several churches and although not what you will be doing for the school, similar. The B is a step up from the A, and gives many features that really set it apart and above the A and the GL2.

The 100B would be a great camera for what you have discribed you will be doing. It can shoot 60 minutes too, and that should help also.

Handheld is hard for me as I am "an older person" but for someone else the camera is well balance and a pleasure to hold. On a tripod, it can't be beet. The stablizer works well for the handheld shots. I did shoot the Gay Pride Parade in San Diego two years ago, and walked around and had some great video. I did it for a ministry group I worked for and a church right next to the parade route.

Good Luck.
 
Excellent...thank you both.

I am really looking forward to this camera a lot. Working for a school district is hard but worth while. Our budgets tend to be a little tight and they don't let me buy everything my little heart desires...but in the case where my camera had to be sent in for service...I was without and the need for a 2nd camera arose. I guess good things do come out of difficult circumstances.

One more question.

I left this out...although not incredibly pertinant...I do shoot a lot of event video. I hook up a switcher and run S-Video lines to 3 cameras. Will it work well in this fashion? As of right now...LOL...its funny...but I will have 3 different 3CCD cameras now. The Canon GL2, the Sony PD100A and the soon to be purchased Panasonic DVX 100B. I realize that they all will be differnet looking picture wise but...what the heck...at least they are all three chip'r cameras!!! Now if I could get a Focus Enhancements Firewire mixing board...I would be really hooked up!!!

:)

Thanks again!!!

JB
 
Hey John,
I'm sure the DVX will do a fine job, but I wonder if your main "problem" (if you want to call it that) isn't the cam itself but the handling when using it "hand held".
Maybe a simpler solution (read = cheaper) is to simply purchase a shoulder brace, stabiliser, or something similar, and continue to use the GL2.
I still have an XM1 (PAL version of GL1), and still consider it a good cam. (no, not AS good as the DVX of course).
I think sometimes we might be slightly 'blinded' by specs of the cameras, and forget the other aspects of this work.

Oh, and by the way, sending in a video camera within two years isn't really THAT much. Some even recommend to send it in for a tune up once every year or even 6 months.

Just some friendly comments....
 
Thanks for the advice vidled.

I know they need to be tuned up sometimes. For the record...and I know this isn't a good comparison...I have a Sony DCR 820 Digital 8 camera that I got for film school back in 1999...this thing has been through h_ll. It was a camera that has been through many many hands...I was famous at school for being the only guy that would shoot anything for free and even loan it out to good friends. It has NEVER been serviced and it works great still. Kudos to Sony's D8 format...although not glossy or refined it was a darn workhorse and I NEVER got dropped frames...never. The canon drops frames often (at least before service) and became quite bothersome until I started recording everything to the NNovia Quik Capture HD. That was the only way around it. Even after head cleaning...it just couldn't get past the issue.

I have been looking at a few handheld stabilizers. I hate to admit it but my hand isn't as steady as it used to be but the nose heavy cameras just bug me out. When I "run and gun" I often don't have a lot time to set up things. I just pull the camera out pop in a tape and hit record...that's 9 times out of 10 how my work gets done. :)

Thanks for your kind suggestions.

All advice and info is welcome.

Thank you all.
 
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