Hey there,

I was wondering if the opura is used for semi pro projects. If so could you give me some feedback on the ability of the camera on those projects


many thanks
Dimitri

The biggest drawback in my opinion is the lack of any ability to remotely control zoom and focus from the tripod pan handle. These camcorders do not have a Control-L jack, and therefore no way to attach a LANC controller.

The lowlight thing is a real problem too. The Opturas need a generous amount of light. If you were sure you could feed it enough light though, I think you could certainly use one on a paying job. We've been very impressed with the image from our Optura 60.

The lowlight thing is a real problem too. The Opturas need a generous amount of light. If you were sure you could feed it enough light though, I think you could certainly use one on a paying job. We've been very impressed with the image from our Optura 60.

I'll second that. As an example, you could easily shoot an outdoor summer wedding with a new Optura and get a fantastic video that everyone would be happy with (remember to turn that exposure down a bit to keep the dress from blowing out).

However, once that wedding party moves into the 8000sqf reception hall that has been "romatically" lit with four 60 watt bulbs, you'll have some problems. Bring on-camera lighting or hope you can convince the wedding party that your slow-shutter footage was chosen for "artistic" purposes :)
Now I'm not knocking the Optura's low light here: hey, we're talking about $600 camcorders here. Nothing in that price range is going to handle dimly lit receptions well - look at spending 2K+ to handle that.

But give it decent light, take the time to set your controls up and yeah, I think an Optura can deliver a finished product that people would pay for. And that goes double if the client wants 16x9, which some of the aging hi-end cams don't handle well.

Philip Williams
www.philipwilliams.com

The biggest drawback in my opinion is the lack of any ability to remotely control zoom and focus from the tripod pan handle. These camcorders do not have a Control-L jack, and therefore no way to attach a LANC controller.


It's a shame Canon took away this feature in later models of the Optura, as the original did have it.

i recently got an optura 50, which is is as good as the 60 for my purposes (powered hotshoes are for crap gimmicky accessories, and i don't need more than 10x zoom.)

anyhow, i was unplesantly surprised by the lack of a lanc jack. i figured that for their top o the line consumer line, they would have a lanc port, like my 10 year old hi8 canon cam does.

i don't do a lot of events where i need zoom/focus control while on sticks, and i usually have other options if i do. however, i thought that in a real pinch the zoom on the ir remote might work. it seems like a slow enough zoom that the starts and stops aren't too jarring, even though the speed is fixed. the only ir port is on the front of the camera, but a strategically placed white board could take care of that problem. has anyone tried anything like this?

i recently got an optura 50, which is is as good as the 60 for my purposes (powered hotshoes are for crap gimmicky accessories, and i don't need more than 10x zoom.)

anyhow, i was unplesantly surprised by the lack of a lanc jack. i figured that for their top o the line consumer line, they would have a lanc port, like my 10 year old hi8 canon cam does.

i don't do a lot of events where i need zoom/focus control while on sticks, and i usually have other options if i do. however, i thought that in a real pinch the zoom on the ir remote might work. it seems like a slow enough zoom that the starts and stops aren't too jarring, even though the speed is fixed. the only ir port is on the front of the camera, but a strategically placed white board could take care of that problem. has anyone tried anything like this?


I'd imagine anything to deflect the ir signal onto the ir receiver? would work fine. The other more drastic method is to hack your remote and extend the ir device with some re-soldering and a length of wire.
This way your remote can be attached to your tripod handle but the actual ir device can be repositioned by means of the extended wire length in front of the ir receiver/tally lamp?
This method is kind of a frankenstein approach but I have tried it in other situations (remote controlled devices other than my camera) where it worked beautifully.

*edit* didn't mean to quote

I use Optura 30s and 50s exclusively (wedding films, corp work, independent stuff), etc. I've gotten a little bit of slack about 'those are small, they can't be pro', but eh, it's all about the final result and all of my clients have been quite pleased. Quite honestly, with the style of wedding movie I do, I couldn't do it w/ larger 'pro' shoulder mount (or even GL sized) cams.

Ultimately, your ability is much more important than the gear. The gear just makes lack of ability less of an issue IMO (only to a point). $.02

Patrick's nailed it:

Ultimately, your ability is much more important than the gear. The gear just makes lack of ability less of an issue.

Which is why a guy with skill will make even better wedding films once he gets his hands on a PD170.

tom.