Anyone ever have there client question your equipment because of size. The A1U is the smallest camera I have ever owned. I'm use to using a DVX100a or Betacam switched to HDV and bought the A1U. My clients needed reassuring about there product and quality I was going to give them. I had to break down a simple comparison between SD and HDV. Feeling alittle on edge now about the size of the camera. After a while they seemed more reassured after I started shooting and showing them some shots. Has any others come across this... what was your response?

I was told before its not what equipment you have that matters so much as what you do with it.

Background: Since I mostly edit now and shot once in a great while I sold off alot of my older pro Beta/DV gear and shoot with the A1U now because of the cost and quality it affords.

Thanks!

As you already know, it's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean. But client perceptions can definitely play a factor here. "You're shooting our project with... that?"

One way to answer that client is to cite other technological advances that they can relate to. Say for example, their cell phones. Just as they can make quality phone calls with something much smaller than 10 years ago, so too can you make quality video with a camera much smaller than what you would have used 10 years ago.

Like you said, once they see the quality, it usually calms them down.


-gb-

Show them some stuff first and then what made it. The camera's small size will become astounding instead of laughable.

After that kind of experience ("You're shooting with...that!?") i've just felt that kind of people would be very happy seeing my old 3tube JVC KY310 camera hooked on 20kilos U-Matic recorder....:-)

I videogragh weddings. I was recently contacted by a company to shot an event as a second cameraman. When I pulled out the A1U and my Dv Crane......... (Oh is that a 3ccd camera? We are going to be shooting the reception in Low light. The other cameraman used a PD-150. I edited the footage to DVD with Sony Vegas the client was very impressed. My opinion the A1U video was sharper than the PD-150. The low light shots also were great. I used a 50w and 100w Bescor on camera light. No color correction was needed. I will post some the low light clips next week.
Also heres a comparison HDV to DV and links on the light and Crane that I used.

http://www.filmguideseattle.com/hdr-fx1.htm

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=4499&is=REG&addedTroughType=search


http://cgi.ebay.com/HVR-A1-HVR-A1U-HDR-HC1-STEADY-HAND-CRANE_W0QQitemZ7581648263QQcategoryZ20333QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hey Brian or you other videographers.
When you shoot a wedding, what's you final product? dvd in sd?, hdv?, or do you hand then a minidv and say good luck ...(just kidding)
I'm wondering what you actually hand the customer.

No doubt, a dumb question, but i'm trying to make sure I'm not missing anything here.

Usually I render the HDV footage to 720p and burn SD DVD for my clients. On some shoots I do just hand over the Dv tapes. (What ever is required)

For my personnel use I leave the footage in HD and play it back on my HD DVD player. wma or mt2 format.

tell them that if size matter, they will feel more comfortable with the bill.

i was consulting on a commercial.
they were bidding 35mm .. they wanted to come in at little under 200k bid...we did some non film test so the bid had a +XX,XXXK option to shoot film & do the effects a different way ( every other frame would have been photo printed to paper .. the actors/objects would have been cut out and later animated ) ..
we shot the test on a tiny camera in 30P mode .. every frame was then hand painted/fx/textured 10-25 layers depending on shot in AE/photoshop/combustion... the client was fedex the results = they gave the OK .. over the next 3 weeks they were planning to shoot with the tiny camera. well comes down ad agency was afraid the client would be upset if they saw the tiny camera sooooooooooo a BIG HD camera was selected . in the end the client didn't come to the shoot .. the ad agency decided the camera used could not be disclosed by a NDA ..

Thanks everyone. I don't feel so out in the dark now and little more confident about what to say in the future. I'm editing the footage now and it looks great. The client should be very pleased. This forum has been a great resource to me and my growing business.

Thanks for some humor Giroud. Donatello that project you speak of sounds very invloved...

Sometime in the coming weeks some friends and I are going to compare the Z1U the A1U and I believe a Sony F900. I'll post the results and hopefully a picture or two.

Thanks again - Jeff

I don't think there is any question that all other things being equal, a larger camera is likely to produce better results. Still, the HC1 / A1 products help create very impressive results, especially when compared to older gear, and allows more affordable, yet high quality work.

There is also another angle, the larger camera can be intimidating to interviewees. I knew the FX1 / Z1 models were larger compared to the smaller sibling, I was surprised when I saw a Z1 in person. It certainly gives the air of professional, and is a more flexibly controllable and otherwise camera, but it also costs twice as much.

Get an underwater housing for it. :)

tell them that if size matter, they will feel more comfortable with the bill.

One of the best quotes I've read here.

If current clients like your work, they should trust your judgement for the gear that you work with. I have had comments made about my camera's size but I just act as though it is the norm. In other words, how you carry yourself or the confidence that you show makes a difference as well. That story about the ad agency is part of the problem. Not all, but most ad agencies are a problem period. They have got to be the most overrated, over paid links in the chain. I think companies that pay these folks and let them go unchecked, deserve to get gouged! There are plenty of folks out there with great ideas but these ad agencies think that THEY are IT! If you have never worked with or for one, you just can't understand.

This "bigger is more professional" idea isn't limited to video. I know too many still shooters who specialize in weddings who, back when film was the norm, insisted they had to shoot med format. The idea was that if the pro shot with a 35mm camera no bigger than the bride's Uncle Ed owned, how good could his images be?

My take -- it's the carpenter and not the hammer, and I also say -- when's the last time you ate in a restaurant and insisted on knowing what brand/size/type stove the chef cooked with?

Just finished up the project for the client that originally mentioned and brought forth the camera size. After viewing his project he mentioned that he thought the video looked much nicer than he expected. Actually he then commented on how rich the video looked. Very nice. I must admit I used Nattress Plugin to help tweak alittle. I used some rather gorilla jib moves with my tripod to add movement and the feeling of a jib.

Once again I appreciate everyones feedback and great list of quotes.

I'll be waiting for the opportunity to use Giroud Francois quote;

"tell them that if size matter, they will feel more comfortable with the bill."

Classic!

Great that your client was happy in the end with the material.

It doesn't surprise me one bit that clients make these rather naive pre-judgments about how good/serious/professional people are based on the size/appearance of their camera ! I think it's because almost everyone has a little camcorder in their family that they use, and also that they have always seen TV broadcast camera-men with huge cameras and they just expect anyone who shoots professionally to have a huge camera and a massive blimp with fuzzy windshield etc.etc.

- So they equate small cameras with their own cheap consumer equipment.

One way to answer that client is to cite other technological advances that they can relate to. Say for example, their cell phones. Just as they can make quality phone calls with something much smaller than 10 years ago, so too can you make quality video with a camera much smaller than what you would have used 10 years ago.


That's a great idea. May google for pix of cell phones and find on of the old ones. Then print it actual size on cardboard and cut it out.

Be sure you have one of the new tiny cell phones. :)

That's a concern of mine. I'm thinking my work will speak for itself and overcome any concerns about the size of my camera.

That's a great idea. May google for pix of cell phones and find on of the old ones.

Remember the phone Michael Douglas' character, Gordon Gecko, used when he called Bud Fox from the beach? It was as big as Agent 99's shoe.

Crap.

I knew size mattered.

Bryon <><

Remember the phone Michael Douglas' character, Gordon Gecko, used when he called Bud Fox from the beach? It was as big as Agent 99's shoe.

Lol.. yup... I saw an episode of X-Files on the other day that did a flash back to when Mulder met his geeky buddy's at a tech trade show and he broke out a phone just as big!