Suggestions for equipment

K

KSC2303

Hi, I am and I'm not a newbie... film production was my major in college before I moved to a different state and couldn't continue it locally. I've written, directed, and edited many projects and interned on a feature film shoot. So what I'm saying is that i've got a good deal of experience, I just don't have any resources for figuring out what I should buy.

I've been using a sony mini dv camcorder that is a few years old and it died on me. I shoot concerts for bands and want to get back to making shorts. I've been planning on getting a canon XL2 and want to know if I'm better off going with a different format all together like HDV? I also will be getting a computer for editing. I've been using avid xpress dv trial, and thats worked fine for what i've been doing. From what i've researched, getting a mac with final cut is the best way to go. What is the best way to configure the computer for editing? If using mini dv, what kind of secondary monitor do I need for playback? Thanks :)
 
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Depending on whether you're going to edit SD or HD, your system requirements and monitoring hardware will vary. An entry level Mac Pro is a safe bet, as you can add up to 4 hard drives and 16GB of RAM. You won't necessarily need that much right away, but it's likely you'll want to expand as you go forward. You can probably use just about any modern Mac for editing SD and most of them will do HDV, just be careful not to limit yourself if you can help it.

Only you can decide if you want to buy an SD camera or make the jump to HD/HDV. All I can tell you is that you'll want a camera with good manual controls (like the XL2 or DVX-100). You need quality glass (lens) and microphone inputs you can work with. Beyond that, it's going to come down to your budget, what sort of shooting you have planned, and your personal preference. Almost any, modern, pro-sumer camera is going to serve well for general shooting. They each have their strengths.

Doug
 
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I use an iMac right out of the box - no special configurations - and a standard
monitor for playback. I've cut over a dozen features, many music videos and
am currently working on my third doc. So far this simple setup has worked
well.
 
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I love my shiny, new iMac, but if I wanted to insert a Kona card, or a 2nd SATA hard drive, I'd be at an impasse. Don't get me wrong, the iMac is a great machine for getting lots of work done. I use mine for Aperture, audio, and video editing. The display is awesome, and monitoring on an NTSC monitor works fine. I also have my iMac maxed out at 4GB of RAM.

It really depends on where you are going. If you think you're going to be editing a lot of HD, and the future is wide open, I think a Mac Pro is going to take you further. If the budget doesn't reach that far, an iMac is an excellent choice, and you can always buy another computer when you can justify it. By then, you'll get even more power for less money. At the risk of contradicting myself, it doesn't pay to buy a computer today that you don't expect to fully utilize for 5 years. If the computer you buy gets you 3 to 5 years down the road, the machines that will be available then will be so much more powerful, that you'll be happy you held off on making a strategic decision.

In any case, it's the software that's going to break you! ;)

Doug
 
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I've been thinking that I'd wait on HD until Blu ray burners and players were more accessible. To you guys who shoot in HD, is it worth getting into now? I don't know the process involved but I imagine that I'd just be downscaling the video to upload online or to give others on dvd (I have an hd dvd player, so at least I could burn a hd video disc for myself) I figure i'll be spending around $3000 for the XL2 and I just want to make a good investment.

I haven't really used a mac before, so i've been on apple's site pricing them. I'm trying to keep it as inexpensive as possible, is getting the RAID Card/Fibre Channel card/SAS hard drives worth the extra expense for video editing?
 
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An HDV camera will also shoot standard definition. Also, you can shoot HDV and have the firewire port downscale to SD, so the HDV will be there if you ever want it, but your editing will all be done in SD.

The decision as to what camera you want to get with your hard earned money is yours. There are HDV cameras, like my Canon XH-A1 that are close to some SD cameras in price, but the XL2 has the interchangeable lens advantage, if that's something you think you'll use. You really need to spend some time researching the various cameras and their features, then look around for deals. You may be able to get a really nice SD camera for $2000 or under, since people are switching to HD. I know the DVX-100 is now selling for around $2500, which I think is a deal, if you're going for SD. I'm not making any suggestions here. I'm just throwing around models and prices, there are many more good cameras out there, and you really need to search your soul about what you want to do and which camera will best suit your needs.

Just don't get the impression that if you buy an HDV camera that you can't work in SD until you feel like switching.
 
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For a short I am working on now I checked out a litany of various cameras to purchase. We settled on a JVC HD-110. I love that camera for what we are doing. Tricked out with matte box and followfocus, and handles its a great camera and I think it cost the production around 4700 with all accessories included (except follow focus, thats being rented)

I would recomend against the XL2. I have always disliked the XL series cameras. They are decent, but thats as far as it goes. Every feature is just 'passable'. The lenses are soft, the gain feature is pain to deal with, setting appeture is tedius. Plus 3grand for something that would be used and outdated out of the box is really setting yourself back.

I would recomend the HVX, HD-110 (or 200 or 250), the new EX camera (a director friend of mine just got one in his shop, I have a test day with it scheduled, I will write a review once I have checked it out) I would hesitantly recomned the ZU1 (good image, pain to work with). The rest are pretty worthless. If you have to go SD, I would recomend the DVX-100 over the XL2 anyday. better dynamic range, better usability, better lens. List goes on with that camera.

But there you have it
 
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I've never liked the XL cameras. A source of constant ribbing, insults and
the occasional fist fight between me and my business partner who loves them.

I've been a JVC use since the DV500 came out in 1999. I'm currently shooting
with the HD200.
 
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