I will buy a HVX200 and I need some help
 

I am considering to buy a HVX200 and I need (with some urge) to know some info about:

1.- what is the best option between a AJ-PCS060G 60 GB Portable Hard Drive Storage Device for P2 Card and a Panasonic FS-100 FIRESTORE HD 100GB f/HVX200? Any recomendation about?...advantages and disadvantages?

2.- Is a wide angle lens adapter necessary? What is the best option between Cavision and Century? and what about...0.6x or 0.7x?

3.- Is a senheisser MKH-416 adequate for this camera?...Another option?

Do you believe I will need another stuff (like a must) for this cámera?

Thanks

Federico

Federico...

I just put in an order for this camera. This is what I decided to do:

"1.- what is the best option between a AJ-PCS060G 60 GB Portable Hard Drive Storage Device for P2 Card and a Panasonic FS-100 FIRESTORE HD 100GB f/HVX200? Any recomendation about?...advantages and disadvantages?"

-- I went with one 8-gigabyte card and a Firestore. The Firestore is to give me longer recording times without having to swap out cards. What I don't like is the firewire cable between the camera and the Firestore. It seems a flimsy connection, but it's a necessary tradeoff for how I plan to work. The 8 GB card is to do smaller jobs. I didn't get a 4 gig card as I didn't want to get something that wouldn't provide at least decent capacity. The P2 Store has 60 gigabytes of storage and I wanted a bit more than that. Also, I've been reading that the file transfer to a Mac was very slow.

If I had to shoot with a P2 card and a P2 store, then I'd probably get three 8 gigabyte cards with the P2 Store.

"2.- Is a wide angle lens adapter necessary? What is the best option between Cavision and Century? and what about...0.6x or 0.7x?"

-- When I looked closely at the camera during this last NAB convention, it seemed to me that the stock lens was wide enough for my style of work. It's much wider than the stock lens of most other cameras, which is an issue that should have been addressed by all camera manufacturers long ago. While I've used wide angle adapters on every camera I've ever had (seldom took them off), I'm not planning to get a wide angle adapter for the HVX200. It seems wide enough, and I'd rather not put additional glass on this HD camera if I can avoid it.

If I had to get one, however, I'd get one from Century. It's what I used for my XL1 and XL1s, and what came with my Sony PD170.

Thanks Dean.....your answer helped me to take some decision...The only doubt is if I must buy the Focus firestore or wait for Cineporter...The problem I have is that I have not to much time and looks like Cineporter will be not ready in the next two months.....

regards

Federico

One is used to transfer p2 card contents, and the other is to acquire DVCProHD directly on the fly through firewire.

Best to take look at each product on line to understand the very significant difference.

Of course....the difference is very clear.....I just want to know what do you prefer with a limited budget....if record only on cards and empty the data in a HD and continuing the recording or record directly on the New firestore.....If the firestore works like a charm, the storage hd has not major sense....

With p2s you can shoot 720/24pn footage. Not possible, currently, with the Firestore.

That is important to me, at least

Why is that important?

Firestore
 

if you shoot 24p, the firestore only records 60p and flags the 24 for your edditing system. So you are filling up a 60gig hard drive with 36f that you will never use. I bought two 8gig cards so I can record only 24PN

So the only benefit of 24PN is space?
The firestore is 100GB. That is a little over 1:40. In most cases it should be enough.
I bought the Firestore and a 4GB card (10mins @ 24PN). Between that and my G4 laptop I should be alright.

No. The other advantage is that you can over/undercrank the frame rate to do true slow/fast motion video.

I think your question about storage depends on your application. If you're doing long form documentaries and interviews, the Firestore solution would make sense. You may not care about fast/slow mo in that case. Also, you may have time in post to render away the unused 60 fps frames (assuming that your end target is 24p).

In my case I'm interested in the camera (played with it at NAB) for narrative films. We record very short cuts. The only reason we need much storage at all is for multiple takes. I'm thinking that two 4M cards (10 minutes each) will do it for us. One guy shoots to card 1. Another guy transfers from card 2, saving only the valuable takes and outtakes, and doing rough edits and reviews. If anything is corrupted, lost, or otherwise messed up, we find out right away and reshoot it before tearing anything down.

That's the theory anyway.

It's great for quick-cut narrative work. But for longer takes, you'll want an external solution for sure. So it depends on your application.

Same for the Sennheiser MKH-416 question. It's definitely good enough for the camera, but that's not the question: Is it the right mic for your application? For instance, it's a bit long for camera mounting. It's good for dialog, but not ambience.

At NAB I compared the 416 to the MKH-70. The 70 had a lot more reach. If you can't get close to the talent and want theater quality sound, rent a 70. If you can get closer to the talent, or the environment won't be overly harsh, the 416 should be fine. I haven't used it live, but spoke with a couple of people who really love it.

-Jon Fairhurst
http://PoorlyProjectedPictures.com

Thanks a lot for your help....Finally I made the buy and with the budget I have I bought the following:

- HVX200 Camera
- Firestore FS100 (the cineporter is not ready, has not release date and I have some urge)
- 8gb P2 Card
- Sennheiser ME66/K6 Shotgun Condenser Microphone Basic Kit, with a M64 capsule and a M102 lavalier capsule and a Varizoom

With this camera I will sustitute my VX2000 and I will kept my new DVC30 for shot and run...run fast....hehehehehehe

I heard that the HVX200 audio is a LOT better than the VX2000 (By the way, the DVC30 audio quality is FAR superior than Sony camera)..In any case the nightmare sony audio experience made me bought too a Tascam HD-P2 .....

So now I am here.....waiting.....salivating........

thanks again

FP

Federico,

Congratulations on your purchase. I hope that your wait is not too long...

-Jon Fairhurst
http://PoorlyProjectedPictures.com

thanks buddy......I hope too, but I am not sure about. In any case I rented around 30 movies meanwhile.... (Antonioni, Godard, Bergman, Fellini and all 24 Hours seasons)..hehehehehe

by the way, where is Camas.....every two years i spend some weeks around Seattle and Trycities

F

Hi Federico,

Camas is downstate. At the day job, I can look out the window and see downtown Portland.

All the best...

-Jon Fairhurst
http://PoorlyProjectedPictures.com

Jon, are you saying that you can't do variable framerate 720 with the FS-100? Not possible? More difficult?

Does anyone know anything about this other firestore-like device:

http://www.shining.com/products/tota...on/citidisk_hd

I wonder if these CitiDisk HD drives can record 720/24pn?