which camera would be the best?

V

vvalverde

Hello all. I have a question for all out there. I am working with a new indie production company right now that makes low budget films and they want to buy a camera, video camera (they do movies but not on film). seeing as how I am the only one that graduated from film school they thought I might know but I have only worked with filmSO help :?

They at first were looking at the Panasonic AG-DVX100 b/c of its 24p capabilities, but now think that may an HD camera would be best. Any suggestions and what is the difference between a 24p and an HD.

Thanx all

Vanessa
 
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Yes, "November" was shot with the DVX100. It won the cinematography award at Sundance. I saw it at a special screening a few months back and it was impressive. It was projected with an HD projector on a 40 foot screen. Did it look like film? Much of the time, but there were some things that were dead giveaways that it DV. I'd say 80% good, 15% DV-ish and 5% not good.

Scott
 
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Go for JVC PRO GY-HD 100 3CCD CAMCORDER

vvalverde said:
Hello all. I have a question for all out there. I am working with a new indie production company right now that makes low budget films and they want to buy a camera, video camera (they do movies but not on film). seeing as how I am the only one that graduated from film school they thought I might know but I have only worked with filmSO help :?

They at first were looking at the Panasonic AG-DVX100 b/c of its 24p capabilities, but now think that may an HD camera would be best. Any suggestions and what is the difference between a 24p and an HD.

Thanx all

Vanessa
Click to expand...


Go for JVC PRO GY-HD 100 3CCD 24P CAMCORDER


http://www.dvuser.co.uk/Main%20pages/what's%20new%20pages/GY-HD100.html

http://pro.jvc.com/prof/Attributes/...=&feature_id=08

http://www.expandore.com/product/JVC/HDV/JVC_ProHD.htm
 
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caligulalives said:
I am a newbie to filmmaking and wanted to ask if the Canon XL-1S is still a viable camera to use for independent productions.
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Depends on what you are planning on shooting. The image on the XL1 was very sharp, we shot some documentary syle footage and it looks good. It you are filming something with a learning experinece in mind, festival entry and such, it's a cheap way to get started at this point. I just finished my first film and while I'm happy with the outcome, I knew we had budget constraints and needed to learn a lot so a big investment in a top of the line hd camera would really have been wasted on our subject. It would be fine for local commercial work as well. It always comes down to budget and the tool should fit the job.

Make sure your get a decent external mic like a boom or something, you can't use the camera's.

That's my 2 cents worth.
 
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So, why don't they want to buy a film camera? 30k will buy a really nice super 16mm Arriflex SRII setup with lenses, extra batteries, mags, video tap ..... Better quality than any HD camera and a whole lot less expensive. Actually, for about 20k you could get a decent 16mm package and have money leftover for film stock/developing for your first movie.

Just a thought :)
 
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directorlca said:
One thing I wanted to say is that the Panasonic's 24P isn't a real 24 frames per second, it's using 29.97 frames per second but uses the 2:3:3:2 pulldown process to make it look 24 framish, .
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...while we're kind of on the subject, can someone explain what 'pulldown' is?....I'm still trying to figure it out...

--spinner :cool:
 
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Zensteve said:
I'll throw another HD question into the mix as well :)

Does HD need a special workstation, software or connection or something different, as opposed to standard Firewire?

I'm not seeing any "presets" for HD on my Premiere 6.0 project settings, so I'm assuming you need something "extra" to work with it.

Ta 8)
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Hey chaps, im a new one to indie talk so bear with me! HD on a DV cam just requires that you have an editing package that supports it. Premiere 6 is a tad outdated, premiere pro supports the 24p (or 25p in europe) function on sony and panasonic cameras, premiere pro 1.5 supports HD with a quick 15 mb+ download. The newest version of final cut pro also supports HD, but you have to remember that HD takes up nigh on double the amount of hard drive space that normal DV does.
The panasonic camera were talking about here is a lovely model, I have had the pleasure of using it for most of this year and I'm always suprised at the lighting conditions it handles (low light being a real struggle for DV). Filming in 24p (25p) seems a tad gimmiky to me, you only hold on to the 24p if you output back to DV tape or straight to DV, any other method and the render is going to have to insert 'junk' frames to bring the frame rate nack to speed. Also i don't think the differences in interlaced and progressive hold particularly true in this case as DV can't really alter the way it encodes (interlaced). One thing I wills say about the Av 100 is that the aperture and shutter are fantastic to work with, it allows you to get really creative with your lighting and still maintain picture quality in those low light sessions.
 
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Spinner: Pulldown is the odd terminology used to describe filler frames that are created so that a 24fps video stream can be displayed on a normal interlaced display. This can be done in various patterns depending on your intended output. For instance, 24pAdvanced is recorded so that you can just drop the junk filler frames and extract the original 24 without recompressing the footage. 24pNormal is just the normal means of adaping 24frames to interlaced.

Welcome to the forum Grak! It's always good to see new members :D.

25p isn't gimicky at all though you could argue that about 24p. Pal TV doesn't have to create artificial frames to play the 25fps stream back. It merely splits each frame into two fields and displays them sequentially (much like 30p here in NTSC land).

I personally don't think 24p is gimicky. The DVX does record a true 24fps stream which it then records to tape in interlaced form (in one of two pulldown cadences). You can extract the original 24fps for editing or you can edit the interlaced stream (with its filler frames). The benefit of editing the original 24 frames is 1) you edit only real footage not filler and 2) you can make a "24p DVD" (which is what hollywood does by the way) which allows you to record less material to DVD giving you better compression and/or more information capacity on disc. When played back on a TV this will look just like any other hollywood movie played on an interlaced TV so you do retain "the look" so to speak. Of course you can also print those 24frames to film as well if you have the cash :D
 
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sony FX-1 and Z1U

Two cameras worth checking out are the Sony FX-1 and sony Z1U, thy shoot in HD, but it stored on a regular mini DV tape. They both have a 24p mode, and I would highly recommend them. The Z1U is about 4-5 grand and the FX-1 is slightly cheaper. The Z1U has more professional features.
 
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sony FX-1 and Z1U
SevenKnife
Newbie

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Two cameras worth checking out are the Sony FX-1 and sony Z1U, thy shoot in HD, but it stored on a regular mini DV tape. They both have a 24p mode, and I would highly recommend them. The Z1U is about 4-5 grand and the FX-1 is slightly cheaper. The Z1U has more professional features.
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I am afraid to tell you that both Sony HD cameras do not have TRUE 24P.
Only JVC PRO GY-HD 100 3CCD 24P CAMCORDER has TRUE 24P in HD PROSUMER CAMERA below $10000.
 
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