For those of you that shoot mostly weddings and use some sort of High Definition camera(s), I’m doing a very non-scientific survey for my own purposes only.
Would you take a few minutes and answer the following questions.

1) When did you switch to HD

2) Why did you switch to HD

3) Do you shoot in HD

4) Do you edit in HD

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?


Like I said, it’s non-scientific and just for my own edification.

Thanks for playing.

Okay Don, I'll bite...
1) When did you switch to HD
Feb of 2008
2) Why did you switch to HD
Found a deal on a couple of A1s and just made the switch...
3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes
4) Do you edit in HD
Yes
5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
DVD as my main product but I deliver the Highlights online in HD
6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
Not in my area.
7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
I feel like HD has made me so much better at my job because of the things I had to learn about bit rates, frame rates, Kelvin Temp, image adjustments (like knee, etc.) I have to keep the camera much steadier and be smoother with my movements, and having to get much better at producing a picture in lower light. I also believe that I am getting much more corporate work now because of my ability to produce a higher quality product than alot of my competition.
8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
No
9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
No

For those of you that shoot mostly weddings and use some sort of High Definition camera(s), I’m doing a very non-scientific survey for my own purposes only.
Would you take a few minutes and answer the following questions.

1) When did you switch to HD

Jan 2008


2) Why did you switch to HD

Wanted to.



3) Do you shoot in HD
YES

4) Do you edit in HD
YES

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
YES - Every bride gets a Blu-Ray and even author pop-up menus exclusive to BR.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
NO

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
YES

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
YES

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
NO

1) When did you switch to HD
February 2007
2) Why did you switch to HD
Higher Quallity
3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes
4) Do you edit in HD
Yes
5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
Yes if purchased
6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
No
7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
Yes
8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
No
9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
Yes

1) When did you switch to HD
February 2007 (started out in HD, but went from consumer to pro cams at this time)

2) Why did you switch to HD
Wanted to offer the "best" product we could to our clients, and figured I'd have to upgrade someday soon if we didn't start out in HD

3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes

4) Do you edit in HD
Yes

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
No - but plan to soon (with in a year or 2)

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
Possibly - but not sure. They love our video quality, so if that is what sells, then had we not been in HD, we could have lost several clients.

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
I think so... but the final step to burn BluRay probably won't make much of a difference for a while.

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
Yes - without rubbing it in.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
We will raise prices for HD finished products when we make that step...

Hi Don,

Here ya go:

1) When did you switch to HD

I bought a "toe in the HD waters" Canon HF20 back in Sept. 2008. Went full HD production in August 2009.

2) Why did you switch to HD

Having just started a wedding business, it made sense to offer full HD from the start.

3) Do you shoot in HD

Yes, with the following: Canon A1s, Canon HF20, and a 7D.

4) Do you edit in HD

Yes, with FCP Studio.

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)

I have only created one Blu-ray disc, for a trade show demo. None for clients yet.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD

I believe so. The last bridal show I did, brides were looking for quality and it was surprising.

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD

It remains to be seen, but I think overall, it will have helped some.

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point

Yes, definitely.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?

Not solely. It was a factor tho, as retooling for HD is a serious investment.

For those of you that shoot mostly weddings and use some sort of High Definition camera(s), I’m doing a very non-scientific survey for my own purposes only.
Would you take a few minutes and answer the following questions.

1) When did you switch to HD
A.) February of 2009

2) Why did you switch to HD
A.) PD-150 heads went out, Z5 just came out and I was happy with the low light so I upgraded

3) Do you shoot in HD
A.) Yes

4) Do you edit in HD
A.) Yes

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
A.) Yes, but only for my archival purposes.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
A.) No

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
A.) Yes

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
A.) I mention it, but no one is really interested (Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex)

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
A.) No

On a side note, my favorite thing about the switch? 16X9

1) When did you switch to HD
2007

2) Why did you switch to HD
Looks better raw and downconverted

3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes

4) Do you edit in HD
Sometimes. If the edit is for SD then I'll edit in a SD timeline

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
Yes

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
No

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
No

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
No

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
No

Hey to all that have answered. A big THANK YOU! I'm gonna let this run for another day or 2 to try to grab as many answers as possible and then like political pollsters, I'll post the numbers. Why am I doing this? Ah, just because ;-).
Seriously just something that's been running thru my mind for awhile and what better place to get answers than here. Thanks again.

1) When did you switch to HD
July 2009

2) Why did you switch to HD
Wife said I can buy a new camera...

3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes

4) Do you edit in HD
Yes

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
No... Only for web videos.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
Hard to say... I'll go with "No"

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
Yes.. It's a common question if I shoot in HD.

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
No

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
No


That was fun...
Steve

1) When did you switch to HD
2008

2) Why did you switch to HD
Wanted 16:9 display. The cameras I had (Canon XL1s) did a horrible job of displaying 16:9.

3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes.

4) Do you edit in HD
Yes.

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
Not yet.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
Probably.

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
No. The issue remains documenting a wedding celebration.

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
Yes, but not in any big way.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
NO

For those of you that shoot mostly weddings and use some sort of High Definition camera(s), I’m doing a very non-scientific survey for my own purposes only.
Would you take a few minutes and answer the following questions.

1) When did you switch to HD

2006.

2) Why did you switch to HD

because it was available and I didn't want to buy a new camera that would have been out of date sooner rather than later. ( PD170)

3) Do you shoot in HD

Yes.

4) Do you edit in HD

Yes.

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
yes. Every customer gets a blu-ray version included in the package.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD

Absolutely.

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
Absolutely. Its a main selling point to clients.

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point

Absolutely.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
Yes. and it hasn't affected sales.


Like I said, it’s non-scientific and just for my own edification.

Thanks for playing.#

Its a no brainer for me. Sell my services as a HD videographer, with every customer receiving their content in SD and Blu-ray. With my rivals only now waking up to the idea of Blu-ray, I have stolen a huge march over the last year and a half. Some of the main videographers in my area are desperate for bookings, yet I am having a record year by a long way. There's more to it than offering HD though. Marketing is paramount.

Read that book called Refocus, about marketting your wedding video business. Some very good pointers in there.

1) When did you switch to HD
2006

2) Why did you switch to HD
I knew that we all going to shoot HD oneday, so why not jump on it first.

3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes.

4) Do you edit in HD
Yes.

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
yes.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
Yes.

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
NO

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
Yes, But not the main reason.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
NO

1) When did you switch to HD
August 2009

2) Why did you switch to HD
I needed a 16:9 camera and SD ones were no longer available!!

3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes.

4) Do you edit in HD
No - All MTS files are transcoded to SD AVI but I keep the HD files on the drive too!

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
No

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
No

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
I doubt it..... In 2008/9 only one client ever asked about camera specs

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
Yes, but only the fact that we shoot in HD

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
No ... I have BD as an extra option..my prices actually increased the normal amount.


Chris

What I am curious about; other than a phat machine, cameras and BR disks being ridiculous on price, is that the end of the hardware investment?

I plan to start working in HD this year, not sure about all my projects. I'm not sure how to work it into the market in my area, but HD can only help our product which is already competitive on price and quality.

1) When did you switch to HD
2006

2) Why did you switch to HD
Because my first Z1 gave me the option. Why would anyone not want to get the best out of their gear?

3) Do you shoot in HD
All the time

4) Do you edit in HD
All the time

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
Whenever a client wants to buy one. I'd rather have a temporarily redundant option for my clients than be embarrassed by a request I couldn't fulfill

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
Who can tell what business I've lost? It's like advertising; we all agree 50% is wasted but which 50%?

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
Same answer as 6, I think so but having made the investment it's natural to hope it was wortwhile.

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
Absolutely

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
Absolutely not. HD additional operating costs are marginal.

1) When did you switch to HD
2006 ish

2) Why did you switch to HD
One look at the difference in image quality...

3) Do you shoot in HD
ABSOLUTELY!!

4) Do you edit in HD
ABSOLUTELY!!

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
Not BR, but have done a few HD on regular DVDs that play in a BR player - look good enough!

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
maybe

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
clients are impressed with the video quality, so it helps

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
yes

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
No

Like I said, it’s non-scientific and just for my own edification.

Thanks for playing.

Even shooting high end consumer models, the image quality is simply too hard to ignore between SD and HD...

Steven - if you go tapeless (AVCHD), you need a "phat machine", HDV can be edited pretty well on any decent dual core machine. New cameras are getting better and at similar or better price points, used cameras are becoming "bargains" if you know what to look for. Last I saw the actual BR discs were getting fairly cheap, recorders are approaching the "magic" $100 price point - I don't watch that carefully, as they still are "coming down", along with players... when that $100 price point finally breaks, I expect we'll see a big surge on the demand side - and BR movies are being advertised much closer to standard DVD prices of late.

Hi Dave

The only issue I have to look at is can the client REALLY see any difference between HD transcoded and edited then rendered to an SD DVD and HD edited native and rendered to an SD DVD??? Even on a brand new 42" LCD TV (the norm around here) it's pretty hard to tell IMHO!!!
I have NEVER had a request for BD from a couple which is a shame really!!! I'd love them to see their wedding in full HD!!
I simply went to HD for weddings because I couldn't find SD cameras in 16:9 to replace my old ones. At this point in time we just don't have an HD market as brides just don't seem to own a player!

Chris

1) When did you switch to HD 2005

2) Why did you switch to HD Wanted to upgrade our look

3) Do you shoot in HD Yes

4) Do you edit in HD Yes

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product) Yes. We do Blu ray and SD simultaneously, and archive both.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD Not really

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD Yes

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point Yes. Our selling point is that even if the customer doesn't have HD equipment now, they can always upgrade later because everything we shoot and edit is archived in HD.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product? No, we kept everything the same even when we upgraded to HD.

1) When did you switch to HD
June 2008

2) Why did you switch to HD
Wanted to increase quality.

3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes.

4) Do you edit in HD
Yes.

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
Only one request so far.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
Not really.

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
Somewhat yes.

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
Not really.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
Definitely.

1) When did you switch to HD? | fall 08 (reminds me of the good old days using the A1 + hv20/30 combo)

2) Why did you switch to HD? | future proofing

3) Do you shoot in HD? | all the time

4) Do you edit in HD? | all the time

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)? | sometimes (authored mpeg dvd for wedding ; finished 720P video files burnt to dvd for corporate stuff)

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD? | nope

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD? | i hope so, but i dont think so

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point? | nope, dont market technical stuff (ie the equipment we use), just finished videos/products

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product? | nope, raised price when i added extra 'cinema' accessories (ie adding dof adapter during the shallow dof revolution (now dying..))

1) When did you switch to HD? 2007 (SD > HDV > HD)

2) Why did you switch to HD? Better Quality images, investing in the future

3) Do you shoot in HD? All the time

4) Do you edit in HD? All the time

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)? sometimes. Mostly to SD but I provide 720p versions upon request

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD? nope. It is not very big in Singapore yet but it would be in 2 years time

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD? | i hope so, but i dont think so

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point? | Yes, it is part of the marketing hype of i do not emphase on it

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product? | I started out providing services in HDV den HD. So I only increase prices when we put in a lot more effort (eg the no of DSLRs we shoot per job now)

1) When did you switch to HD?

2006

2) Why did you switch to HD?

never shot with SD.. started out with hdv already..

3) Do you shoot in HD?

All the time

4) Do you edit in HD?

All the time

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)?

not yet

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD?

maybe some. There were a few people who asked the question whether we shoot in HD, but not many at all..

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD?

in a way.. yes.. we look more prestigious with HD I suppose..

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point?

not really... maybe we should have... :P

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?

no.. we always been shooting with HD..

Hope it helps :)

Here goes...

1) When did you switch to HD
When we bought our first camcorders, back to 2006, we selected HDV models

2) Why did you switch to HD
It seemed like the future at that moment (and it was a right decision)

3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes, when our clients want their wedding in HD

4) Do you edit in HD
Yes, when our clients want their wedding in HD

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
Yes, most of our weddings are now HD and we deliver BD. We delivered our first BD back in 2007.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
I don't think so.

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
Definitely yes!

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
Yes, and I think we were the first ones in Greece to deliver HD (or one of the first, I can't say for sure), and that brought us some very important weddings.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
When the client wants the HD, the price goes up. Editing and rendering times increase, and as people say, time is money.

1) When did you switch to HD - 2006

2) Why did you switch to HD - I knew it's future, I am an early adopter

3) Do you shoot in HD - HD only, all the time

4) Do you edit in HD - always

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product) - always

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD - a few times

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD - absolutely

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point - you bet!

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product? - I did not.
I shoot weddings, and I started, and still do give away one "free" bluray disk with three SD DVDs, in times when people were charging up to $400 only for BD, I started to give it away for "free", I can tell that worked.

1) When did you switch to HD
Started in HD - 2008


3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes.

4) Do you edit in HD
Yes.

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
not yet
I offer HD files on USB or media player

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
I think the market here is moving in that direction so I don't want to be behind

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
don't know

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
I certainly use it as a selling point

The only issue I have to look at is can the client REALLY see any difference between HD transcoded and edited then rendered to an SD DVD and HD edited native and rendered to an SD DVD

It's a fair question Chris. Of course on a well lit static scene using side-by-side half screen images, the A:B test would display all to a knowledgeable viewer. All of us here would spot the small differences I'm sure, but then we'd enjoy the challenge and know where to look. The average client is far more interested in your business ethics, turnaround, story-telling capabilities and price. He assumes the film will be 16:9, in colour, smooth and sharp.

My answers to the list of posed questions might surprise many as I use my Z1 and FX1 mainly in their DV modes. I don't have any qualms about doing the shoot and edit in HDV but when I KNOW the finished product is only ever going to be viewed as DVD, there's no point in taking risks. And shooting DV in a Z1 is less risky than shooting HDV, it's as simple as that.

tom.

Hi Tom

To keep the project properties true I rendered 3 lot's of footage on a test DVD and to ME the one that was AVCHD transcoded to HDV (M2t files at 50mps) and then rendered to SD DVD actually looked better than the AVCHD... It would probably be obvious with side by side images but the client (more correctly the bride) is really only interested in how stunning the wedding party looked and has nothing to compare against either.

I see absolutely no problem shooting in SD if the end result is a DVD and your workflow is way faster!!! My cams only shoot in AVCHD so I have no option but to transcode!! Funny, if you take stills from the native and transcoded footage you can see the resolution difference but render both to MPEG2 ready for the DVD authoring and take grabs from that footage and it's very hard to see the difference!!
I uploaded some samples a week or so ago on the Panasonic AVVCD forum here for Abraham who was having HMC70 issues!!!

Chris

[I don't have any qualms about doing the shoot and edit in HDV but when I KNOW the finished product is only ever going to be viewed as DVD, there's no point in taking risks. And shooting DV in a Z1 is less risky than shooting HDV, it's as simple as that.

tom]

I always shoot and edit in HDV using FX1s and a Sony A1 on Prem Pro2 and Matrox RTX2. What am I doing that is more risky than shooting and editing in standard DV ?

Mike, I have avoided shooting in HD when the client wants SD, for two important reasons. First, the dropouts. When shooting on DV tape (as we do with our FX1s) many times you can have some tape dropouts, other times few, other times more. You can't really control the dropouts. You must have your camcorder heads clean and your tapes new and of high quality, but still the dropouts may appear. Now, due to HDV high compression (12 times the amount of DV) when you have a dropout that lasts for 1 frame in DV, you'll have it for 12 frames, that means half a second in HDV. Now, if you have a dropout of 1 second, well... you do the math. Truth be told, I had such a big dropout only once, and that was on DV. Imagine that happening when the groom kisses the bride! And as I said, you can minimise dropout with good camcorder care and good tapes, but still...

The second reason has again to do with HDV compression. When you have flashes hitting all the time from the photographers around (both amateurs or professionals), you can see the actual frames of the flashing to appear huge artifacts. This is a compression issue, I have seen it happening even on official Bluray music concert release, which was shot in HD, and it doesn't happen in DV.

Of course the first reason is the most important and now that we'll go tapeless, maybe we'll forget about the second and shoot only in HD. But again, it doesn't worth the rendering times if the client doesn't want the Bluray feature.

Hi Dimitris,

We have been shooting solely in HDV for 3 years and have not had the problems you outline. We prefer to film in HDV as it enables a greater degree of post work before the picture starts to degrade.

We find that dropouts tend to occur at the beginning and end of a tape and have taken to not filming anything of importance on the first 5 and last 5 mins. This seems to have reduced dropout to negligible proportions. And we use Panasonic 80 mins tape not the Sony HDV tape.

As for the still photo flash problem we haven't really encountered this at all.

Loved the samples on your site by the way - great stuff !

Yiamas,

Mike

Wow, thanks to all that have responded to my survey. In the next couple of days I'm going to do the numbers just to see what they say.
I will say that when I decided to do this I didn't think anyone would respond and it has gone beyond my expectations.
Thanks again to all.

Hi Dimitris,

We have been shooting solely in HDV for 3 years and have not had the problems you outline. We prefer to film in HDV as it enables a greater degree of post work before the picture starts to degrade.

We find that dropouts tend to occur at the beginning and end of a tape and have taken to not filming anything of importance on the first 5 and last 5 mins. This seems to have reduced dropout to negligible proportions. And we use Panasonic 80 mins tape not the Sony HDV tape.

As for the still photo flash problem we haven't really encountered this at all.

Loved the samples on your site by the way - great stuff !

Yiamas,

Mike

Hi Mike. We must be unlucky since we have at least a couple of dropouts in every wedding, which are not much considering that each wedding needs at least 5 dv tapes. Even in HDV though, the dropouts don't ruin more than half a second so it hasn't ever been a real problem, only something I keep thinking about it (once a dropout occured 15 secs before bride and groom meet each other in the church, scary). I usually have the dropouts in random places, but truth is we use the Sony tapes, so this might be the problem. Maybe we should try the Panasonic once we use all our stock Sony tapes! :)

Thanks for your comments too Mike!

"Yiamas"! I suppose you have visited Greece for vacations? :)

Spot on Dimitris - dropouts. I can repair individual DV frames in Photoshop (and have done so) but missing half second HDV dropouts are gone for good (or bad actually).

I too have had drop out problems with my FX1. Would recording on a Sony HVR-MRC1K with the FX1 thus essentially eliminating the tape resolve the drop out problem. Since the drop out problem is essentially a tape based problem I would assume that it would. What other problems might I assume by spending the extra $1000. Besides my wifes ire?

We will buy a couple of HVR-MRC1K soon. Not only the dropouts will be eliminated (although we will be record at tape too for security reasons) but we will have the material ready for editing. I think it's worth it.

When did you switch to HD
end of 2008 was my 1st hd shoot

2) Why did you switch to HD
gut feeling the time was right for me as a business.

3) Do you shoot in HD
yes

4) Do you edit in HD
yes

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
the moment i switched to hd I went all the way, so yes

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
yes a certain percentage, that is hard to judge though

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
yes

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
Absolutely

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
at first yes as an upgrade charge, now no

See answers below.

For those of you that shoot mostly weddings and use some sort of High Definition camera(s), I’m doing a very non-scientific survey for my own purposes only.
Would you take a few minutes and answer the following questions.

1) When did you switch to HD
2003

2) Why did you switch to HD
I wanted the best possible resolution and I am interested in technology.

3) Do you shoot in HD
Yes

4) Do you edit in HD
Yes

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
Yes

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
No

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
Yes

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
No, those were DVHS days for delivery, I knew that wouldnt fly.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished
product?
No


Like I said, it’s non-scientific and just for my own edification.

Thanks for playing.

Hello Don, here are some answers that are totally different from others, I'm from Croatia, Europe, here are some other values appreciated:

1) When did you switch to HD
april 2009

2) Why did you switch to HD
Had to replace HL1s, HL H1A bought next to old and trusty XL2. It was only logical solution.

3) Do you shoot in HD
No. There is absolutely no demand.

4) Do you edit in HD
No.

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product)
No. Customers with blueray players are rare, and they too avoid BR for compatibility with relatives.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD
No.

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD
No. No.

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point
Yes. It wasn't accepted.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product?
I thougt about it, I was considering 10-20% raise, but even with actual prices there was no demand for HD.

Like I said, it’s non-scientific and just for my own edification.

I believe this results are specific for Croatia, since we're not part of EU, but interesting is that I did tape some weddings in EU (Slovenia) and there was no demand for HD also. Maybe

Thanks for playing.[/QUOTE]

You're welcome.

Tomislav

I don't shoot weddings anymore, but instead corporate events. I still thought I'd throw my voice into the mix.

1) When did you switch to HD: April 2008

2) Why did you switch to HD: It was a natural evolution of my business. Businesses need to adapt and grow and it was simply time to get new cameras. HD is the current technology, so why would I not buy HD?

3) Do you shoot in HD: Yes, always unless the client asks for the original tapes in DV format.

4) Do you edit in HD: Yes.

5) Do you produce an HD (Blueray finished product): When requested, but most often it is delivered as a digital file.

6) Do you feel that you would have lost business if you had not switched to HD: No.

7) Do you feel that you have gained business or market share by switching to HD: No.

8) When you made the switch to HD did you market HD as a selling point: Not particularly - most of my clients don't much care if it's HD or SD.

9) Did you raise your prices based solely on shooting/editing/producing an HD finished product? No, I raised my prices solely on the fact that my skills and capabilities are expanding. HD just happened to be part of that.