I have a job that has suddenly come up for next week. It is a new installment on a series of 3D videos shot for a a company that works with large earth moving equipment used to pave roads and do other kinds of outdoor construction work. Think bulldozer , excavators etc. Big Yellow machines. The footage is used at a trade show and people love it - turns you into a 3 year old boy in moments.

We need to be very mobile and fast so I have done this in the past with the Panasonic 3DA1. That camera has its limitations but was the only game in town at that time. Now I could also work with the Z1000 (which I have shot with and liked) and/or the Sony TD-300.

Results with the 3DA1 were generally satisfactory for large shots of the machines, but they also wanted shots in the cab, sometimes interviews (exteriors), or shots even including people at computer screens and these were very hard to achieve with the 3DA1 due to large IO (65mm) and limited minimum focusing and convergence distance.
They will be intercutting with older 3DA1 footage on a Mac and I believe using Cineform Neo 3D.

I am trying to choose between:
1- Just shooting again on the 3DA1 and living with its problems.

2- Continue with the 3DA1 but also bring a Z1000 for closer shots

3 - Scrap both and shoot with the TD-300 which should provide a much better image and be easier to work with.

We could probably get away with the lower resolution of the Z1000 for some shots and it would be cheap, but I am very concerned about the postproduction path.

Question #1 - Is there a good post path for the Z1000 to Neo 3D yet and would it intercut w 3DA1 well? (I'm mainly concerned with technical problems not aesthetic as I recall Neo 3D could be temperamental.)

The TD-300 sounds like it has similar IO and close shooting ability to the Z1000 but I am concerned that the closer IO would be less striking for the bigger long shots.

Questions #2 - Would the really cool 3D of these big old machines would be compromised by the lower IO (45mm) of the TD-300?

Question #3 - How is the post path from TD-300 and would it intercut well in Neo 3D?

Thanks , any help would be appreciated,

Lenny Levy

Leonard, sorry to post this so late in the game - I've not been monitoring this forum much lately.

Anyway, now that your shoot is in the can it doesn't mean much but for future reference I can give you a few of my experiences with these cameras.

I was sent to Australia early last year to do some 3D shooting on Wolverine & Walking With Dinosaurs for 20th Fox. I went with the Sony TD300 and I have to say of all the 3D cameras and rigs I have owned and used, it was the easiest and most variable camera to use. For WWD I shot many animators at workstations and was able to easily halve the minimum distance that the 3DA1 would have required. It's lower light capabilities were also nice in these darker rooms. Editing was done in-house at the studio so I'm not sure how it was done, but I have edited TD300 material in Edius without any transcoding and it looked very good.

As far as the Z10000 (too many zeros) goes, I have one of these and I use it to shoot art pieces, landscapes, etc in 3D because it is so small and easy to use. I think that it outshoots the 3DA1 outdoors and indoors in terms of noise, and has the same inter-axial as the TD300.

BTW, if you know anyone who is still using 3DA1 cameras, I have one for sale along with the Nanoflash 3D rig for very low $$$ & free delivery to Bay Area.