Working Day with the HD100: The Good & The Bad
I did a making-of documentary shoot in an Atlanta photo studio for 2 art photographers. The shoot included 12 interviews and a lot of doc-style shooting. This was a 9 hour day using the JVC HD-100 we bought this week from BH in NY.
The lighting ranged from using my 2 Lowell Softlights with Rosco diffusion for the interviews, to using just the style photo backlights and fill lights provided by the photographers. I used my 1500 and 750 watt lights when they were not shooting stills. When they shot stills, my light kit had to be switched off for fear of ruining their heavy shadow style of still photo work in mainly BW medium format. (They are art photographers out of London.)
I set up the camera for Dashwood's cine wide latitude settings and reduced the detail setting to min, the lowest possible. I wanted to get away from the video look even though we had to record to DV 60i format. No HDV recording because these tapes had to match all the other DV tapes shot in Austrlia, Mexico, Colorado and NY.
I used the 3 factory JVC batteries I had, which only run 40 mins each for the doc style b-roll. The only filter was a Tiffen 82mm UV Haze-1 filter. I used the JVC ac adapter for all the interviews with Elton John, Terrell Owens, and all the models.
The Good: The 7 pound camera is very comfortable for shooting off the hip, on shoulder or held inches off the ground by the handle.
The manual audio levels were a life-saver when my inexperienced interviewer held the mike too far from people's faces.
I set the viewfinder for maximum information including audio levels, f-stop and battery voltage. Very reassuring to have all the info on a day with so many interviews were all done in a rush.
The switch lay-out, with all controls on the camera body, allowed me to reach the right controls by feel while still keeping my eye in the viewfinder. I had assigned bars and tone to the user1 button so no more digging through countless menus to get what I need, RIGHT NOW.
The focus assist was a life saver and only seems to work well with the viewfinder. I like the way the viewfinder goes to Black and White for focus assist.
The Bad:
I don't like the +3 gain setting, which I was forced to use for 5-6 shots of the still photographers when I was forced to turn off my Lowell lights. But I hate plus-gain noise any way. Low-light is a problem.
The Zebra bars on-off switch got accidentally shut off when I balanced the camera on my hip for handheld. This should get easier to remember not to do as i gain more hours on the camera.
The JVC batteries are woefully inadequate at only 40 minutes each. I barely eaked out enough time for handheld work with 3 batteries. This only worked because I used the AC adapter for all 12 on-tripod interviews. Even so, I had to switch back to AC adapter for the last 30 minutes of b-roll shooting, because the final battery died.
I hate the LCD for focusing as it's worthless. Only good for reviewing footage.
I like this camera but I can't wait for the IDX battery. I just mailed off the coupon today. Got to get a field monitor.
Ed
__________________
I did a making-of documentary shoot in an Atlanta photo studio for 2 art photographers. The shoot included 12 interviews and a lot of doc-style shooting. This was a 9 hour day using the JVC HD-100 we bought this week from BH in NY.
The lighting ranged from using my 2 Lowell Softlights with Rosco diffusion for the interviews, to using just the style photo backlights and fill lights provided by the photographers. I used my 1500 and 750 watt lights when they were not shooting stills. When they shot stills, my light kit had to be switched off for fear of ruining their heavy shadow style of still photo work in mainly BW medium format. (They are art photographers out of London.)
I set up the camera for Dashwood's cine wide latitude settings and reduced the detail setting to min, the lowest possible. I wanted to get away from the video look even though we had to record to DV 60i format. No HDV recording because these tapes had to match all the other DV tapes shot in Austrlia, Mexico, Colorado and NY.
I used the 3 factory JVC batteries I had, which only run 40 mins each for the doc style b-roll. The only filter was a Tiffen 82mm UV Haze-1 filter. I used the JVC ac adapter for all the interviews with Elton John, Terrell Owens, and all the models.
The Good: The 7 pound camera is very comfortable for shooting off the hip, on shoulder or held inches off the ground by the handle.
The manual audio levels were a life-saver when my inexperienced interviewer held the mike too far from people's faces.
I set the viewfinder for maximum information including audio levels, f-stop and battery voltage. Very reassuring to have all the info on a day with so many interviews were all done in a rush.
The switch lay-out, with all controls on the camera body, allowed me to reach the right controls by feel while still keeping my eye in the viewfinder. I had assigned bars and tone to the user1 button so no more digging through countless menus to get what I need, RIGHT NOW.
The focus assist was a life saver and only seems to work well with the viewfinder. I like the way the viewfinder goes to Black and White for focus assist.
The Bad:
I don't like the +3 gain setting, which I was forced to use for 5-6 shots of the still photographers when I was forced to turn off my Lowell lights. But I hate plus-gain noise any way. Low-light is a problem.
The Zebra bars on-off switch got accidentally shut off when I balanced the camera on my hip for handheld. This should get easier to remember not to do as i gain more hours on the camera.
The JVC batteries are woefully inadequate at only 40 minutes each. I barely eaked out enough time for handheld work with 3 batteries. This only worked because I used the AC adapter for all 12 on-tripod interviews. Even so, I had to switch back to AC adapter for the last 30 minutes of b-roll shooting, because the final battery died.
I hate the LCD for focusing as it's worthless. Only good for reviewing footage.
I like this camera but I can't wait for the IDX battery. I just mailed off the coupon today. Got to get a field monitor.
Ed
__________________
