HVR/PMW Cameras.

The HVR Z7E and Z5E are very nice VJ/Wedding cameras.

We have hired the cameras out to:
Drama series (Muliticam 4 camera shooting to CF card & tape as back-up)
Commercials (Only 3 to date)
Loads of documentaries.

The HVR Z7E has been used with the LETUS lens adaptor with Nikon Primes and Zooms. The Image results are very tasty, to the viewer it looks soft and friendly as the background or foreground is usually out of focus in terms of the subject, naturally this focuses the viewer’s attention on the subject. ( soft+subject=tasty)
The footage imports into Canopus EDIUS PRO 4.5 (PC) without a hitch edit and export or create DVD rushes on location. SONY VEGAS PRO8 (PC) also imports easily.
FCP on an Intel based MAC with the latest updates on MAC and FCP and the new drivers and transfer software also works well too.

We did find the HVR Z7E is very fast (aprox 800asa) this is 160 asa more sensitive than the majority asa video cameras aprox 640 asa. In fact the difference is the actual asa of the HVR V1E at 160 asa, very slow but clean and little grain. Not nice at night or on doc’s where light is limited. A good hint is to shoot at -6dB for daylight and -3 for tungsten. This will help reduce the noise.

The PMW EX1-3 series
I can only say FANTASIC and an amazing achievement. This is the camera to revolutionise the “DV” world. I would say we jumped from the little whizzing VX1000E to the PMW series.

All those in between have been moderate at best. I prefer the EX-1 as like most small cameras it’s just that…small. The EX-3 although the same spec and with interchangeable lenses is not sure if it’s a shoulder/chest/hand held camera.

The viewfinder looks very dodgy in a single swivel, almost makes me think of Panasonic build quality on the DVX 100E.. (Don’t throw stones)

The new 32gig cards…well unless your shooting a non stop programme and need the 32gig (110 mins in 1080/HQ) If you don’t need the record time, I would suggest staying with the 16gig cards.

Reasons:

1. Should the card go corrupt/damaged you lose less footage on 16 gig. (although this has mainly occurred on P2 in the past)
2. The time code runs over 1 hour making the EDL suffer, the editor won’t be happy.

2x 16 gig and an overrun card of 8 gig will get you 1080/HQ 137mins of record time. But the ROLL No will still be 01:00:00:00 and 02… the 01: wont run into a 02: At 35mb/ps on a ½ “ CMOS it’s resolution is very good. We have blown footage to 35mm film and 2k DLP for viewing.. it was shockingly good. Makes me wonder About the F900R in a cost to quality ratio. Also being able to shoot time lapse or 1 to 60fps at 720x1280 is a winner, no extra costly boards needed.