easyrig.....
 

Simon, I've got the marZpak which is similar to the easyrig. While not the most stable of stablizers it moves better than my old modified mono-pod. I use it mostly in crowd shoots (events, street action, etc.)
I think if I were to go with anything else on the rig side of things it would be DVproRig.

"Just to be a nit picky bugger - it's HVX guys. :)"

HVX HschmeeX ;)

I stand....
 

corrected = HVX

To pick even more nits ... BetaSP is not 4:2:2, even assuming you are making some mathematical estimations at what the digital sampling would be if it did digital sampling. It doesn't, of course, it uses chroma bandwidth limiting in the colour-under recording to deliver the equivalent of 3:1:1 .... very marginally better chroma than the DV25 family but a lower luma so the difference is a wash.

BetaSP front ends are typically better than low-priced DV25 devices, but the recording format doesn't offer the advantages ascribed by suggesting it is 4:2:2 equivalent ... which it just plain isn't.

Cheers,
GB

true enough.....
 

but in our green screen sampling, we got much better picture quality for the process....must have been the lens? When we tried the DVX and the JVC500, we just couldn't get that hair fringe to go away. Got any ideas on that?

Maybe a better lens, but even more likely a softer image -- applying a bit of blur often helps.

Note too that the nature of BetaSP chroma recording is different -- in a 4:1:1 format the chroma pixels are really four pixels wide, in a rigid mathematical way. In a bandwidth limited format there is no where near the precision, nor the pathological edges, so the inherent softness makes the edges easier.

That said, you can get very good 4:1:1 choma keying with software designed with that in mind -- you might explore using other programs. Or stick with what you've got -- just don't assume that BetaSP keys better because it is '4:2:2' -- cuz it isn't!

GB

got any....
 

ideas on a program that will give a better key that goes with DV25?

Download the demo of Serious Magic's Ultra and give it a try. Their demos at NAB were simply stunning, and they said the demo footage was from a consumer DV camera (not even a top-end prosumer camera, just a regular $600-or-so DV camera).

thanks Berry.....
 

You are a true gem! Ultra looks like an interesting route to go.