First big camera purchase

[Steven Davis]

I have both the Z1 and Gl2. I bought teh Z1 to back up the GL2 and visa versa. Like many have said, it depends on what you are going to do with it. I do weddings mostly at this point, so I will use the Z1 as my primary. I also do corporate stuff that is in small classrooms, so I'll use my GL2 for that. I love both cameras. My Gl2 has been a gem. I bought it first and I have been very happy with it. <Vent ahead> I basically bought the Z1 recently because CANON wouldln't get off thier arse and compete in terms of price and product.<end vent>

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

Good point, Bob.
Amanda, if you want big...here is a bulked up A1.
http://www.vasst.com/Tempfolder/Big-A1U.jpg

Where's the camera? <grin>

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Originally Posted by Steven Davis

Where's the camera? <grin>

At this minute? It's sitting in a case in my hotel room in Edmonton, Alberta. <wink>
But the pic was taken at a tradeshow event.
I LOVE my litepanels.
Next week, we're shooting an extreme segment, and the FAA won't allow us to wire lights to airplane power. The LitePanels are saving our butts.
Between DVRack, LitePanels, AT 101u's, and batts on camera, we've got a great field production studio that can be used at 14,000 feet without having to file an FAA document. Now if the damn stewardess would just shut up about "please turn off all electronic devices until....."

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

At this minute? It's sitting in a case in my hotel room in Edmonton, Alberta. <wink>
But the pic was taken at a tradeshow event.
I LOVE my litepanels.
Next week, we're shooting an extreme segment, and the FAA won't allow us to wire lights to airplane power. The LitePanels are saving our butts.
Between DVRack, LitePanels, AT 101u's, and batts on camera, we've got a great field production studio that can be used at 14,000 feet without having to file an FAA document. Now if the damn stewardess would just shut up about "please turn off all electronic devices until....."

Yeah, the lite panels are nice. Probably someting I should look into eventually. Hehe I'm trying to pay off my recent purchase. I picked up a http://www.paglight.com/paglight.htm and haven't used it as of yet. I was just joking that you have a lot of stuff on that rig. Looks nice.

[Duane Harper Grant]

Thank you DSE for the reply and the really good info. Me thinks my mind, but not my soul if you will, is made up. It naggs me - the trade off? the pana is sticking in my mind for it's true 24p - 30p - sacrifice 16:9 and HDV for that? - will have to go anamorphic to get 16:9 in just SD in the pana. I'm torn. I think practicality wise I know fx/z1 - but the lure of 24p. The dvx2000 is as far as i'll entertain going w/ pana now - will not/can not go with p2 HD now. Will have to walk into B&H and get a cam tomorrow ATL - it's come to this and if it is the FX-1 is not there will go with z1u. It's down to the wire.

Thanks again and sorry for the wrangling out loud :-)

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

The panny is a nice camera. No doubt. My BIGGEST angst with it is wrapped up in the hype that surrounds it. I've used it on two corporate shoots and it's been OK. The workflow, IMO, isn't at all what I was sold it to be. Nearly as slow as capture to tape, and at the end of the day, you have no archival ability save it be for two hard drives duplicated. Transfer of P2 to the computer isn't nearly as fast as I'd hoped/been told it would be. The bi-directional upsample bothers me as a practice, but the imagery is very good.
I don't care about 24p, never have been a big fan of 24p for acquisition. As a rule, I've shot 25p in the past, and more or less doing it today. Lack of 24p isn't stopping shows like House Arrest, Baghdad ER, Monster Garage, etc. from using the Z1 and A1 cams, the JVC is being used all over the place, so is the Canon XLH1 as well.
Bottom line is, none of the low-cost HD cams are bad. Each has advantages over the other. I happen to really like the Sony and Canon cams, and the JVC is stunning in the right hands. I like the over/undercrank of the Panny, but hate to hold it, it's not a comfortable cam for my squatty hands. I like the menus on the panny, and even tho the display is exceptionally weak, they've got a great focus assist in the cam.
Trade-offs, trade-offs.
If you take out all the "specialty" things that all the cams do though, and just look at pure feature list in a general sense and ignore anything outside of that, you'll see quickly why the Sony and Canon are the two that are selling best and being used most, IMO

[Duane Harper Grant]

I know that the pannny is more of a specialty camera and in a way, that is what the alure is and also the distraction. Feature set taken into account, the fx and z1 give a broader range of use, down conversion, and future proofing if you will (how much is a ? - IMO). The canon is outta reach for me so was not something I looked at seriously. JVC's form factor - shoulder mount is not what I want at this time which brings us back to doe.

btw - what does the z1 have to give (manual) focus assist in HDV? Tricks you have come up with?

again, many thanks - dhg

[Ken Hodson]

There seems to be some miscomunication here guys. Duane keeps referring to the DVX200, which I thought of as typo of HVX200, and it appears DSE is thinking the same thing, but then Duane mentions loosing 16:9 which makes me think he is really talking about the DVX100. Duane do you want to clarify?

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Duane Harper Grant

btw - what does the z1 have to give (manual) focus assist in HDV?

The FX1 and Z1 both have a peaking mode which outlines objects when the edges are sharpest. The Z1 has the ability to choose different colors for the outlines, which is helpful. They also have a button which magnifies the center portion of the image in the viewfinder/LCD and helps a lot with focus. But the "gotcha" is that this function doesn't work while you're recording. And you must also choose between whether you want to use peaking or zebra patterns, which are controlled by a 3 position slider switch.

The autofocus on the Z1 is pretty good - about the same as my other Sony cameras, and there's a "push auto" button you can use to pull focus while in manual mode. The Z1 has a focus over-ride feature which can be enabled in the menus. This allows you to manually focus by turning the ring even when the camera is in automatic focus mode.

Other than the standard trick of zooming in to focus, I'm not aware of anything else to help on the Z1. The LCD screen is really nice on this camera - and also seems quite adequate to use in standard definition mode. But there just aren't enough pixels there to accurately judge focus in HD. Having played a little with the JVC, Panasonic and Canon HD cameras at our "Texas Shootout," I think the Sony LCD is by far the best and as a bonus it's trans-reflective which means you can clearly see it in direct midday sunlight.

[Jack D. Hubbard]

Spot,
Based on your recommendation, I have had my Z1 for a year now. It runs flawlessly. For me it is camera that will work during the transition to the next capture system...disks...flash cards..drives. That is going to take a while and the Z1 is great in the interim. I am just getting to the point where I can use it well, consistently.

And the LightPanel is superb! Got the DV kit at NAB I have been using it has an interview fill both outside and inside. Great for wrinkles; put it on a steadibag pointing up to clean up the shadows on the neck. Made the lady look great.

Here's a question: I got the daylight version of the litepanel, spot, not flood, because I thought the throw of light was better. The gels and diffuser kit seems to work very well. What's your experience?


Regards,


Jack

[Amanda Warner]

Originally Posted by Duane Harper Grant

This is my first post on DV-i. I've been reading almost non-stop for several weeks. Will be starting to do a docu-project very soon. First shooting will be talking heads; interviews and conversations. Will move into outdoor scenes and the project will eventually, hopefully find some legs and be something of a long form project. But for now will be produced as an in house documentary and promotional for a sustainable community initiative conference for teams in NA and other countries coming to Halifax, NS .

After weighing all the paramaters and trying to future proof myself a little, still being very new but eager to dive in and learn (have had video experienes years ago at Rogers Cable Systems) - I was just about to pull the trigger on an FX-1. Lately and possibly from now on, they are MIA. They may be gone from the shelves for good - nobody quite knows. So another intense evaluation and then I'm just about to hop off on a sony vx2100 and someone tells me that it did not do true 16:9, which I must say is a sticking point for me for some reason. Am I being to fussy about this? 4:3 to 16:9 done acceptably is a reality? So I just decided to chomp down on the bullet even further and spin for a hvr-z1u - (a lot of camera) and then started to read all of the wonderful things (Adam Wilt's review in DV and other people making films) with/about the pana dvx200a/b - 24p/30p with possibility of pana and 3rd party anamorphic and wide angle attachments. Is this really worth going this rout to ge a more non-video but at the saame time "good" looking project?

This is my first camera; something that I need a lot of versitality and reliability with. I commiserate with you Amanda. Let us know what you decide. Meanwhile time is running out for me. I needed to decide yesterday (or the day before).
This is a great resource and it's been great reading. Thanks

Duane,

I ended up going with an FX1, the rodevideo mic, and I also bought a lav mic so I can shoot both of the docs I want to this summer. I was able to get my hands on the camera through a realitive who does docs for a living. He and his production company are VERY happy with the FX1's. My camera is being delivered on Monday - I ordered it from B&H for $3200. It shipped really quickly too and I think B&H had the best price out there for this camera.

Good luck!
Amanda

[Duane Harper Grant]

Originally Posted by Ken Hodson

There seems to be some miscomunication here guys. Duane keeps referring to the DVX200, which I thought of as typo of HVX200, and it appears DSE is thinking the same thing, but then Duane mentions loosing 16:9 which makes me think he is really talking about the DVX100. Duane do you want to clarify?

Thanks for pointing this out Ken. I did indeed mean the panny dvx100 a/b. Was reading the reviews. A lot of "video film makers" for lack of a better way to put the term, are using this camera given that it has no true (native) 16:9. This is an interesting point for me. I'm curious to know what they are doing and is 4:3 their desired format or using anamorphic lense? Interesting.

Thanks for the focus and LCD tips and info Boyd. This is good to know. Focusing manually in HD, one must have some recourse to make sure.

Great Amanda! thanks for the heads up. Let us know how the shooting goes. I will do the same. The fx1 is what I'm leaning towards but my mind's not completely made up. Amazing that B and H have this back in. I spoke to them this past Wednesday and they had a 2-4 week wait going. EVS was out as were some of the other on-line retailers. i had even placed an order for one at another place but found out subsequently that they were out. Went back to research about the dvx100. Anyway, cheers on your find and best of luck on your project.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Originally Posted by Jack D. Hubbard

Spot,
Based on your recommendation, I have had my Z1 for a year now. It runs flawlessly. For me it is camera that will work during the transition to the next capture system...disks...flash cards..drives. That is going to take a while and the Z1 is great in the interim. I am just getting to the point where I can use it well, consistently.

And the LightPanel is superb! Got the DV kit at NAB I have been using it has an interview fill both outside and inside. Great for wrinkles; put it on a steadibag pointing up to clean up the shadows on the neck. Made the lady look great.

Here's a question: I got the daylight version of the litepanel, spot, not flood, because I thought the throw of light was better. The gels and diffuser kit seems to work very well. What's your experience?


Regards,


Jack

Jack, I have both versions of the LitePanel, and use the spot more than the floods myself. Diffuser is wonderful with it. I made my own small diffuser from drapery sheers, works well, and can be easily 'halved" for when I don't want all of the light diffused.
Glad the recommendation worked out well!

[Jack D. Hubbard]

Thanks Spot,
I might get a second light. If you have to carry just a couple of lights, I think the Litepanels should make a great travel kit.

Jack

[Bob Zimmerman]

This post has me thinking more about getting the Z1. Spot you should be a salesman!
What is your take by the way on the talk that HDV will be replaced by AVDHD? Do you see that happening? Or is that going to be in handy cams at wal-mart?