Saw great footage of the HD10

[Heath McKnight]

Okay, so I've shot stuff, but wasn't too happy with it.

Today, a pair of nice guys took the time to show me two D-VHS tapes with HD10 stuff:

1. A rap music video, that looked INCREDIBLE, even in low-light situations and outside.

2. A concert, not for the shoot (they just recorded the show), of the rock band Puddle of Mudd. For something that was out of focus occasionally (hey, I freelance at the local music ampitheatre, so I know how tough it is to do video of that stuff on a shoe-string), unforgivable concert lighting and more, it looked GREAT!

Okay, so aside from some issues, I'm now once again (for the millionth time) even MORE excited.

Of course, I would advise against shooting like it's an XL-1 (the guys who showed me the tape said, "Think like you're shooting a movie: lit well, etc."), but it still looked great!

Thanks,

heath

[Louis Grimaldo]

Hey Heath,

"Okay, so I've shot stuff, but wasn't too happy with it."

Why have you been unhappy with your footage?

[Heath McKnight]

Because I shot it hand held, with no lighting, just inside work (flourescent lights), etc. We can't shoot really like that with this camera.

And right now, I don't have the camera, as I sent it to a friend for tests (I wrote that in another thread).

heath

[Stephen L. Minor]

Heath we need more dedicated pioneers like you.

[Heath McKnight]

Pioneer? No...Broke indie filmmaker? Yes.

heath

[Steven Galvano]

I think all the talk of "careful shooting" and "shoot like it's film" is a bit much.

I've shot 35mm and 16mm film and know the care that needs to go into it (if you want to make it look it's best). You dont need to put nearly the effort into this camera. I just shot 70+ hours of footage for a documentary I did in Africa -- totally run and gun style. The footage looks very good.

Obviously, if I had "setup" every shot, it would have looked better, but that can be said of ANY camera including the cheapest DV or even VHS.

The run and gun stuff looked proportionally as good as my previous docmentarys using DV.

There are some blow-out issues, but throw an ND (i used 4x - 32x) on when outdoors and you're OK. Sometimes I didnt even use them! Latitude is a bit more narrow then stuff I've used, but no big deal. I wish this camera was a bit more manual, but in the situation I was just in, I'm not sure I would have used it much. Manual focus is easy with the LCD -- even racked (often) very sucessfully.

Fear not potential users!!

[Frederic Lumiere]

Steven,

Any possibilities we could see some nice frame grabs from your African production?

[Heath McKnight]

But would we use a Varicam like a BetaCam?

heath

[Stephen L. Minor]

Hey Steven G,

I'll be doing a doc in africa spring of next year. A follow up of one I did last year. This time I'll have the JVC. My concerns with this cam that I've seen so far are mainly color noise, I can handle everything else. Do you see any issues w/ color noise in your footage? From my experience Africa is VERY rich in colors and sights, your footage should be beautiful.

[Eric Bilodeau]

Steven, I am pleased that you could be satisfied by the HD10 in run and gun mode, I really thought you would. I too think this camera is pretty neat but a lot of people have been bitching the camera without some tests of their own. I think there will be more and more "satisfied customers" as people use the camera, S.L. Minor seem to have enjoyed is short making with it too.

Revolution has just barely begun...

[Frederic Lumiere]

Went to the Production Expo in NYC yesterday and spoke to a sales lady on the Panasonic booth about the HD10U. I can honestly say that this was the most frustrating 1/2 hour of this year. So many people are misinformed about this camera, it's unbeleivable. "It's not HD resolution!" "Can't keep track of fast motion like the varicam"...on and on and on. I think that there is nothing more I despise in this business than "Blanket Critics". People who have totally closed their options based on very little knowledge. The positive is that everyone is talking about it.

Anyway, I'm directing a short in Austin, TX in a couple of weeks and I'm going to shoot it with the HD10U. I made sure to hire an awesome Gaffer! We'll see the results. I'll post scenes for everyone to look at.

[Heath McKnight]

I bitch about it because of the frustrating controls, but then I got used to it. And the fact that Apple didn't really support it (and still technically don't). But now that I think about how to shoot it, ie, not dogme 95, it's cool.

About Panasonic--I think that rep was just, I don't know, angry? Panasonic's name wasn't on the list, even though JVC are owned by the same peeps. It's still potential competition.

The DVX100 is the most advanced mini-dv camera out there (the HD10 may record on mini-dv tapes, but it's not DV), and I'm betting they are losing sales to the HD10. And so is the XL-1s and the VX2000, and that might be part of the reason why Canon and Sony jumped onboard so quick.

Just my theories, as whacked out as they may be.

Now that I have all these tips and Panther installed in the G5, I wish I had the HD10, but it's on the way to NYC for tests.

heath

[Steven Galvano]

Color noise and desaturation are both apparent in a low-light situations, but are not issue enough to cause me to even consider another camera at this point.

Actually, I like this camera in low light. Usually ovesaturated colors like those I captured during a sunset are rich and realistic. The measure of color noise actually looks a bit filmic (maybe I'm stretching:). The blacks are BLACK, making these compositions look especially nice with the clean blacks of foreground trees, etc.

Strong critics, and those that say this camera needs extra special attention, either never used the camera or are looking for an excuse for their production.

This camera performs like a champ in a "rip out of it's bag, totally renegade run, and gun style", and I have almost 80 hours of footage to prove it.

It should be pointed out that I believe that the more time you spend setting up a shot, the better it will look. This is not because the HD10 is HD, it's because it is a camera.

BTW - The first thing I heard about this camera (from a respected critic at a respected site) is that "it is a joke", and "it has highly visable compression artifacting". That review and many like-others caused me to not even look at it until 1 month before I left for Kenya. These people obviously never held this camera. Can I sue?

This camera is not perfect, but it is $3000.

-Steven Galvano

[Alex Raskin]

<<<-- Originally posted by Steven Galvano : The run and gun stuff looked proportionally as good as my previous docmentarys using DV. ... Manual focus is easy with the LCD -- even racked (often) very sucessfully.-->>>

What is the largest HD monitor/screen you screened your footage on?

[Heath McKnight]

It's the same thing I heard when I just turned 20 years old and was hearing that the VX1000 was a cool camera. Of course, I couldn't afford it, but I was a brash stupid 20 year old 7 years ago, ready to conquer the world. Even if the analog video snobs hated it without knowing.

In 1999, when George Lucas kept insisting he'll shoot STAR WARS 2 digitally the following year, my old film professor called me an "idiot." No kidding. And he was in his early 30s at the time, not some old-school professor. Well, looks like we were right!

heath