Assorted posts from 2002Q2

[Mark_Wylie]

Hi all!

I did not know what other forum area to put this so I hope it is ok here.

Something for you guys to lust over... (don't think pics work on this forum, check the links)

Not sure on the price of this 4 track. But at 4 channels @ 24 bit 48 kHz or 2 channels @ 24bit 96 kHz, lets just say its very expensive. This is basically one of the BEST digital 4 track on-location recorders you can get. Nagra is very respected in both the music, film, and radio industry.

You can read about the specs here:

http://www.nagrausa.com/NAGRA-D%20II.htm (US site)

http://www.nagra.com/nagraaudio/pages/nagrad2.htm (international site)

Cheers!

[John Locke]

We recently had a thread where people were comparing the Tiffen Pro Mist, Warm Pro Mist and Black Pro Mist filters. I think the general consensus was that the Black model is one of the better options unless you like a warmer tone in which case the Warm Pro Mist is best.

No one mentioned the Soft F/X filter by Tiffen. That's the one I have and I've liked it so far...problem is, I don't have the other filters to compare it with. Has anyone else ever actually used and compared the Soft F/X with any of the Pro Mist filters? If so, I'd like to know what differences you found.

[Srinivasa Yerneni]

Hi All,
I just read about the Panasonic AG-DVC200 model camera in the
Producer magazine. Its costs $4995 MSRP from Panasonic. It has interchangeable lens feature as in XL1-S. Other specs are
1/2" 3-CCDs
IEEE 1394 i/f
Manula & Auto mode
800 Lines of Res
XLR aud I/O
0.5 Lux
Quick focus.

Is this new in the market? How is this comparable to XL1-s?
1/2" 3-CCD and 800 LoR is very catchy.

Also, if you buy the above model by 4/30/02, you get panasonic
DMR-T2020 ($1050 value) for free. This is a DVD-R deck system.

Other than Canon Xl1 and Sony VX2000/PD-150, I don't hear much about other brands. How good and durable are panasonic decks and camera's compared to Sony and Canon?
Any input is much appreciated.

I am following the board for a long time. Posting the first msg.
Its a great board and excellent source of information for new
guys like me. Thanks to all.

[Adrian Douglas]

Panasonic cameras are good gear. All of their DV line, from basic to Pro is well built and all have good features. Panasonic supplied all of the video gear for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, now if that aint a good resume, I don't know what is.

About the DV200. Yeah, 800 lines and 1/2" chips is great and at $5000 it's a good price, however, this does NOT include a lens, viewfinder, mic or battries. You'll need to purchase a Canon or Fujinon Lens, a viewfinder, battery and charger and a mic set up. So in the end you end up payiing quite a bit more.

One of the reasons for the XL1's popularity is the fact that for under $5000 you get a complete kit, ready to shoot straight out of the box. Granted, the 16x Auto lens isn't perfect, and if you want to use pro mics you have to add an XLR adapter, but again that's the beauty of the system. You can add what you need, and don't pay for what you don't.

Sorry if this has been posted prior but a search found nothing. I have a VX2K and XL-1, I cannot get either of them to send firewire to the other. I also have a JVC BRDV600 (desktop minidv vcr) both send and receive firewire to the JVC unit. I need to copy a minidv tape in another city and would like to do it camera to camera and not bring the desktop unit. I am using a Belkin firewire cable from CompUSA to transfer. Any else have this problem or have suggestions? Thanks in advance

Well I have returned from my great spring break adventure in Mexico. All in all, it was an awsome expereince. My group built 12 houses for needy families in the Rosarito, Baja area. I think after a while everyone was kinda getting tired of having a camera in their face. LOL! However, I got some great shots of the activities (including one of a kid chugging an entire bottle of Tabsco. The facial expression is priceless) and I think that I will have a great time in the editing room just in reliving these experiences.

My only delma is that I got togather too much footage of the houses going up. I have about 5 hours of tape to condence into a 15 min video for presentation. LOL, such are the rigors of post production, eh?

FYI:
I was on a missions trip with Yuba\Sutter Young Life
The trip was organized by Amor Ministries.

I'm off to the logging bin,
Dennis

[Adrian Douglas]

Wow Dennis, you've got a pretty big job ahead of you.

I hope you put a clip of the kid doing the tabasco up somewhere I'd love to see that.

[K. Forman]

I bought a Korg D-12 for about $1000. It has 12 tracks, with I think 12 virtual tracks for each. It can record 48khz, and has a 4.5 gig HD. It will hold like 18 hrs of 48khz audio on one track. It also has a pretty easy to manage mixing board.

I love it, and record all of my audio through it. Of course, I call it my 'thousand dollar tape recorder'.
Keith

[Alex Kamm]

Kenko, Raynox, Canon, Digital Optics, Crytal Optics

I've found that these are the most consumer reasonable for there price range.... wide angle/ fisheye /telephoto lenes on the market?

I would like to see the opinons of others regarding, which brand tends give better traits, and offer there reviews of the negatives and postives.
Thanx

[Justin Chin]

I've used a Kenko on my VX1000 years ago. I can't remember what multiplier it was nor the model. But it was great, and had a full zoom through. VERY flexible - especially if you're a run and gun type. You don't want to have to unscrew the lens every time you want to change a shot.

But it really depends on what you want in a lens and what camera you have.

I've never seen any tests with video charts. I'd love to see that.that.

[Don Donatello]

anybody using a glidecam V8? or the hollywood lite?
i tried it out the V8 and NAB and was impressed. good value for the $$ .

is the V8 L4 pro LCD monitor useful outdoors ? or does it wash out ?
would upgrading to the nebtek 50 work better outdoors?

[Casey Visco]

I was running a V-8 well before I went to work for Glidecam and have always been very happy with its performance. They are also built quite a bit stronger than the Hollywood Lites in my opinion. And they are easy to customize to your needs.

The L4 Pro is _OK_ outdoors with the sunshade on it, but if you plan to do a lot of outdoor shooting then I would recommend upgrading to a monitor specifically designed for outdoor viewing.

Hope this helps.

[Bob Zimmerman]

My Porta-brace came today. I got the CTC-3. Traveler camera case. What a great bag. I ordered it from chris at ZGC. It came on time and the price was right.

(MX300 is the PAL version of MX3000;
XM-1 is the PAL version of GL1).

I haven't seen dynamic range talked about much, but MX300 and XM-1 seem to handle dynamic range - or gamma - quite differently. XM-1 seems quite a bit more prone to blow out highlights or cloudy skies, while MX300 seems to compress, and retain more detail in highlights.


How does TRV900 compare to MX300/MX3000 in this respect ?

From frame captures on the web, it seems that TRV900 is a bit less contrasty than XM-1/GL1, and handles highlights a bit better.

The only place on the web, where I've seen the transfer function of a camcorder quantified is:

http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/tech/transfer.html

I'm looking for a reasonably compact camcorder that records decent video. XM-1/GL1 is really about as big as I want to deal with.

John.

I wanted to know if anyone has tried http://www.cyberfilmschool.com CD Rom yet? If so, was it worth the money or just malarkey?

Gilbert