Kaku Ito

Thank you for all the work you did and the attention to detail with which you recorded the clips. Its very important for people viewing the clips to have as much information as possible and you did not disappoint!

I wondered if you had any contacts with Sony and were able to get hold of a HVR-V1 and put it through its paces?

A series of V1 clips with copius notes would, I'm sure, be gratefully received by many people here.

As 2006 comes to a close you could really help Father Xmas decide what to put in my stocking a Canon A1 or a Sony V1. Can you help?

:)

Cheers

TT

Sony seems to put its prototype cams into the hands of professional reviewers, and the information seems to come out in dribs and drabs, slightly filtered. Hope I don't take too many arrows for saying that. It's just my honest sense of it.

Canon seems to trust putting its cam in the hands of a professional "user" (Kaku) and let the opinion stand freely on that merit.

But Kaku tells you his purpose, his settings, keeps his opinion pretty much out of it, and the clips speak for themselves, which is the way I'd rather have it. Well done Kaku!

Tony,

Canon trials were possible in the past because of Mr. Ryohei Sekiguchi from Appex always wanting me to know what Canon cams can do, and he is so supportive of what I do. I did Sony clip postings (the action is verbalized different here already) are done because I bought them. So was Panasonic.
I could get help from Mr. Masuda at Provideo Station Shinjuku to get a loaner, but that will be when it is start selling.
Knowing Sony, they would not provide me the prototype because I'm too honest even on my articles in the magazines. I kept saying they have to put their act together in many things. You can also find some posts of mine here about that, too. But one thing they are good about is that Sony never seems to put pressure to the magazine about the truth, unless I make mistake in writing something wrong in the article.

Thanks Tom for your words.

Kaku how do you find PV station generally? As a foreigner here in Tokyo I have found them generally disinterested. Way back when I bought the DVX100a, they were initially not even going to let me touch the cam in store unless I was definetely going to buy. Wierd. They do have pretty good cam prices though.

I was recommending people to go there to buy their HVXs and there was a small list of those that did, and after that you think there would be some improved service to me, but same nonchalant disdain. So basically I stopped recommending them to foreigners.

I have since moved all my purchases to Fujiya Avic in Nakano. They are always very helpful and kind. Anyway interested to know if your experience differs to mine.

Noel,

Just mention my name next time and you will be treated better.
But their problem is the command in English....

Kaku, I agree that would be difficult. But I speak mostly Japanese with them :P

Also, when do you intend on buying the A1?

If you are happy with Fujia, might as well stick with it.

I'm placing the order with Appex next week.

Ok cool, Ill wait until you get yours then just rob you as your walking around Shibuya shooting! Free cam :P

Hi Kaku, thanks for doing such a writeup..
Just a question, how is the weight of the camera distrubuted? - When you hold the camera(right hand on the side handle). Is most of the weight distrubuted on the front?

I own a XL2, and its pretty heavy on the front. (:

Noel, k, I will be extra carefull and tight the cam to my wrist or something.
I will also go to Fujiya Avic and pick up your cam pretending it is for you. Hehe.

David,

The weight distribution wasn't anything weird. I could not stand H1, but this cam is okay. I hear A1 has better balance because of less stuff on the right hand side (HDSDI stuff) which I'm glad because I would put my A1 on Glidecam a lot.

One thing... LCD is little too small for focusing.

Microphone from HVR-A1J worked okay with G1. I'm also planning to test the VideoMic from RODE, soon.

Hey Noel, I bought a HVX200 off PV Station, Mr Masuda was very friendly and gave me a great price, I think it was because of Kaku's connection but all in all they helped me out great, Good work Kaku, Hope your going hard with all your shooting and mountain bike riding.

Jemore,

Too bad we could not get together while you were in Japan.
I think I'm settled with XH A1 for awhile, especially the HDV workflow is already proven and Matrox MXO seems to be great for monitoring.
I connected MXO to my ProjectionDesign DLP projector projected to 120inch screen and it is awesome (although the model I have don't really support the full resolution but it somehow works better than AJA HDP when AJA HDP display only part of HDV footage).

Let's stay in touch!

NP Kaku see you when I come back! I'll probably have a another cam by then maybe a HD200 or a V1 so we'll definately compare.

Take care big fella

How good was the OIS, compared to the OIS on the XL2 and XL-H1?

Kaku

If the LCD is too small for manual focus........... did you find the auto focus to work good enough for HD?

Thanks again for your thoughtful responses
JohnG