B-Roll HDV

reidc wrote on 8/18/2006, 7:53 PM
Hi everyone. I'm putting together the equipment spec for a cable net show (travel show) and I need to specify HDV cameras for B-Roll work. The show will be 16:9 (of course) HD (not sure what flavor yet or what the primary camera package will be). The production will need a bunch of these so I'd like your opinions as to which cameras I should/should not consider, and what the minimum point of entry is. Thanks in advance for your input. I WILL be renting/testing most of what's out there, but I'm just looking for initial opinions.

Reid C

Comments

farss wrote on 8/18/2006, 9:32 PM
Seriously this is really one of those "how long is a piece of string" kind of questions. I mean for some a F900 might make a good "B" camera, for others a HC3 would be more than adequate.
Seeing as how you're shooting a travel show then image quality is I assume going to be pretty important so you could hardly have too much camera, well depending on size of the crew, luggage allowances, site permits etc, etc.
Also you'll already be spending a lot of money doing the travelling part so I guess you'll have some money to spend, Canon XL-H1 or if they're out in time the recently announced Canons.

Also the Sony XDCAMs are pretty rugged and you'll never need to shoot more than 40 minutes in the one take.

Bob.
reidc wrote on 8/18/2006, 10:04 PM
XDCAMs are on the short list for our main package, thought it's very possible these will be rented as we go. The B-roll cams we'll own because of the vast amount of material we'll have to gather. We'll need pictures from the HDV cams that can be intercut wth high end HD-aquired content. Thanks for the suggestions!

Reid
vicmilt wrote on 8/19/2006, 3:43 AM
Would you be kind enough to keep us abreast of your findings?

Theory is nice, but "hands-on" experience is king.

v
GlennChan wrote on 8/19/2006, 8:52 AM
The show "full ride" (ESPN) shot b-roll on sony Z1s with 35mm adapters (color correction on Discreet Smoke). In 90% of the shots, you can't tell it apart from the Varicam footage (their main camera). In a few shots, there's some interaction between the MPEG2 compression and the moving ground glass (the background sort of 'swims').

The post production workflow wasn't that great, since the Z1 did 60i and the Varicam 24p... so conversion was necessary. And I believe there are some caveats to shooting with 35mm adapters (noise, loss of light, (back) focus).

The 35mm adapters definitely add an interesting look to the image, and the image sort of appears as if the camera had higher exposure latitude.