I am an experienced HD camera operator and DP. I have worked with virtually every form of high definition camera and process in use today. I pay constant attention to new and emerging technologies. I specialize in cross format and multi media productions.
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| The Panasonic AG-HVX200 |
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A P2 memory card based HD/MiniDV camcorder. The AG-HVX200 shoots in 1080, 720 and 480 vertical resolutions in both progressive and interlaced modes. The AG-HVX200 is capable of shooting in 60p, 48p, 36p, 32p, 30p, 26p, 24p, 22p, 20p, 18p, 12p modes at 720p - 60i, 30p, 24p modes at 1080p/i - 60i, 30p, 24p modes at 480p/i. The revolutionary P2 card technology offers faster than real time access to stored footage but has storage and time limitations. The AG-HVX200 is not recommended for projects involving capturing multiple hours of continuous footage. Shoots both 4:3 and 16:9 wide screen. |
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| SONY PMWEX3 Camera |  |
A SxS memory card based HD camcorder. The PMWEX3 shoots in 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 vertical resolutions in both progressive and interlaced modes. The PMWEX3 shoots in 24, 20 and 60 frames per second modes – with advanced settings for over cranking. The PMWEX3 uses an interchangeable lens system for superior optical quality. The PMWEX3 is a native 16:9 wide screen camera. |
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| PROS: Line Balanced Digital Audio XLR Native 1080p and 720p Interchangeable Lenses |
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| PANASONIC AJ-HDC27H Camera |  |
The AJ-HDC27H VeriCam is arguably the standard for HD broadcast field photography. The AJ-HDC27H VeriCam shoots native 1280 x 720p at variable frame rates from 1fps all the way to 60 fps. The AJ-HDC27H VeriCam is a DV tape based system and is excellent for green screen image acquisition. The 4:2:2 color profile allows robust color depth for both correction in post and separation for composites. The AJ-HDC27H will accept standard definition DVCam tapes with no loss in quality. |
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| CONSUMER HDV |  |
There are a number of consumer HDV tape-based HD camcorders on the market. The main difference between using smaller format cameras and larger format HD cameras is aperture. Using a smaller, fixed lens will leave the footage with a signature wide depth of field – everything tends to be more or less in focus. It is difficult to let the background artistically drop out of focus. Further, HDV is a highly compressed HD tape format. It uses 8-bit color which limits the ability to color correct in post as well as making clean green or blue screen separation in post difficult. Also, the HDV format is somewhat fragile. A single “hit” or “dropout” on the source tape can result in as much as two seconds of audio and video becoming unreadable. It is suggested for this reason that HDV tape be “shot as negative” Shoot once, capture then never reuse the tape. If possible, one should avoid recapturing footage from HDV tape as each pass increases the possibility of dropouts or signal loss. Does that mean that consumer HDV is unsuitable for broadcast projects? No. But it does mean that you should carefully consider which footage is appropriate for HDV and it is recommended that HDV be used as B-Roll or supportive footage supplemental to your main source footage. I recommend using consumer HDV sparingly or for moments of cinema verity – slice of life. |
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