Your opinion on this deal please

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Bluehawk wrote on 7/28/2002, 8:34 AM
Some other tripods to check out:
Vinten
Miller
O'Connor
Sachtler
Cartoni

These are some of the best tripod manufacturers out there and most of them have units for DV cameras of any weight. You can probably find them at B&H Photo/Video under the "professional video" category.

Good luck.

Bluehawk
haydenj wrote on 7/28/2002, 11:47 AM
Gee, it makes the Bogen Tripod looks like a bargain.
kkolbo wrote on 7/28/2002, 6:15 PM
Here is my take. The camera is good (OK, I have one and love it, just shot four days in the wilderness with it) The tripod is junk. The additional optics are poor. You will wind up hating the hard case unless you have to ship the camera a lot.

Sony has a package that includes a good soft camera case and a rain coat. The PD-150PAC. I have found that only the Sony wide angle works properly. The Century Wide angle is good but can not focus throughout the whole zoom range. The Sony one is about the only one that works. I reccommend good Tiften filters for the UV and Polorizor (sp). I use Cokin 'P' series grads. I would like to upgrade to a good matte box with 4x4 filters but that is another $500 later. Cheap filters and optics make a good camera junk. A poor tripod makes the shooter stink.

Make a list of what you need. Camera, Tripod, wide angle, polorizor, UV (protector), grads, pro-mist, rain coat, case, extra battery etc. For long distance sports you might want a telephoto adapter but I have avoided it so far. The shop the parts and get to know what you want in the package.

In the end I found the best way for me is I bought the PAC and then the additional gear from B&H. I am happier with the gear knowing that I have the parts I need and they do the job well. Don't forget audio and lighting gear too. Having a portable light kit has been a life saver.

K
riredale wrote on 7/29/2002, 12:47 AM
Have any of you ever heard of a "Velbon Stratos 480" tripod? I bought one at a "Fedco" store in SoCal 15 years ago for maybe $100 and it is just terrific compared to the consumer-level junk I see everywhere. The head is either fluid or fluid-like and it has a nice long arm for beautiful control even when zoomed in.

Also, I know I am operating in an entirely different league with my little Sony TRV8, but I recently bought the inexpensive Sony 0.6X adapter lens (#VCL-0637H) and it works beautifully as a zoom-through wide-angle lens. It has 37mm threads, so I had to find a 37/32 ring to mate with my camera. For most of my work, I leave it on the camera full-time. If the image is very slightly soft it is only because I am comparing it to the Zeiss optics installed in this camera.

Randy Brown wrote on 7/29/2002, 9:06 AM
Thanks everyone,
Hey K, I can't seem to find the "pd150pac" on Google. I've tried "sony pd150pac" "sony pd 150 pac", "pd150 pac" etc. Do you know of a site that sells them?
Thanks again,
Randy
kkolbo wrote on 7/29/2002, 9:11 AM
www.bhphoto.com

K :)
wcoxe1 wrote on 7/29/2002, 12:06 PM
Don't forget to look at www.vanns.com
Randy Brown wrote on 8/1/2002, 5:27 PM
Sorry I didn't get back sooner, I've been out of town. The only package deals I can find at bhphoto.com are with a 12 x optical 24/48 zoom lense and a soft case (for $4640) and it doesn't appear that www.vanns.com even sells the camera. Oh well, maybe I should just put my own package together and e-mail it around to get the best deal. I've gotten some great advice and have a pretty good idea of what to look for except lighting. With a 2 lux camera, anyone have suggestions?
Thanks again everyone,
Randy
craftech wrote on 8/1/2002, 6:32 PM
Skip the packages so you don't throw in too many variables. It's like buying a new car by figuring out the dealer cost including options first and then throwing in a trade in to allow the salesman to give you a deal on the new car, but not enough for the trade in so you think you made out when he actually made out.

John
kkolbo wrote on 8/2/2002, 2:56 AM
B&H has to email you or you have to call them to get the day's best price which is much lower than that. By dealer agreement they can not post the bottom price. The price should be around $3600.

There is no question that you will need lighting with a 2 lux camera. Lighting isn't about how bright. It is about balence. Outdoors fill is the problem, indoors a good backlight usually is. For interviews I use a small Lowel kit with an extra Omni-light. Outdoors I use a Lowel Pro-light on-camera with a CT on it for fill. Larger set ups outdoors I use a 6x6 butterfly overhead and then white foam core as bounce reflectors. When I can find shade and a darker background I omit the butterfly. Avoid outdoor midday weddings. They will never like the results. Early morning and late afternoon are not too bad.

K
seeker wrote on 8/7/2002, 11:52 PM
Randy,

> The main reason I'm thinking the PD150 is the XLR inputs; I realize I can adapt but I also need balanced inputs for (potentially)long runs to/from an audio mixing board, and in some situations I would need phantom power which the PD150 has. I forgot to mention I'll also be shooting musical events. (Burton, the new GL-2 looked very attractive to me until I noticed it didn't have the audio features I need) <

What audio features were those? I just got the September 2002 Camcorder & Computer Video magazine and it has a review of the Canon GL2 and it seemed to like the GL2's audio features, saying, among other things:

"But, for serious videographers, maybe the biggest improvement with the GL2 is the addition of MANUAL audio recording. No longer can we complain that it's audio-challenged as we did before." [referring to the review of the GL1 two years ago]

"At the backside of the GL2 are the new Audio Recording Level controls. A handy switch selects between Automatic and Manual, and two rotating controls adjust each audio channel individually. The audio VU Meter is displayed in three locations: on a side-mounted LCD panel, on the flip-out LCD monitor, or on the color viewfinder."

"I also wanted to test the Manual Audio recording feature of the GL2, so I recorded my friend Jim playing his Native American flute while in a local outdoor park. I set the audio for the highest 16-bit quality, as well. Adjusting the rotating level controls until the VU meter didn't peak over "0" was very easy. I also monitored the audio with a stereo headphone plugged into the earphone jack. By comparison, I set the audio to Auto just to see how the levels would compare."

"When I listened to them in playback, the Manual setting gave the better result, as expected. But, the Auto setting is surprisingly good, too. The only problem I encountered while recording the music outdoors was random wind noise, which can ruin any outdoor recording. Thankfully, there is a Wind Filter (low-frequency cutoff) setting in the VCR menu that effective reduces the problem."

"Canon also offers the optional MA-300 microphone adapter that connects to the top grip's Advanced Accessory Shoe. The MA-300 allows professional XLR-balanced microphones to be connected directly to the GL2."

The review went on for several pages. These were just some excerpts relating to audio features of the GL2.

-- Burton --