Don't waste your money on HDV tapes; then it won't be more expensive to shoot in HDV.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...880#post850545

Andrew,

I am using standard Sony Mini DV tapes and they work just fine.

John

Can you re-use HDV Tapes over and over to save money?

It's the same as with regular tapes.

Technically yes, it's up to you if you're willing to put up with occasional dropouts. Reuse them for non-critical stuff (playing around), but not for times where you need to make sure your recording is flawless.

If you're earning money by shooting a paying job, then buy the most expensive HDV tapes you can afford. If it's just for personal use, then it doesn't matter as long as you don't mind the occasional dropout or glitch.

Question about tapes, is it ok to mix brands?

The general consensus is no, due to the differing lubricants used by different mfrs. If you switch then you should use a cleaning cassette between brands.

HVR-HD1000 vs Canon XL2 and GL2
 

I currently shoot with Canon XL2 and GL2 cameras; musical theatre, weddings commercial training, education and documentaries. Have any of you done a direct comparison between the HVR-HD1000 and some of the popular 3 ccd cameras.

Earlier in this thread I posted my experiences comparing the JVC HD-100, the Sony PD 170 and the HD1000.

HD 1000u Microphone
 

I filmed a birthday party for a costumer and 3 weeks later I was notified of the incredible sound reproduced by the microphone. The customer said that while watching the DVD of the party in a stereo TV with external speakers the sound and voices seemed to pop out of the different places of the room just as if they were right there. I immediately took a copy of the DVD and in my humble stereo non-surround component could hear exactly what the person told me, something I never experienced before, the sound was 'quadraphonic' a there was an eerie presence of the music voices, laughter, steps, etc. It sounded juts as in a sorround system, something neither the customer nor I have?
Has anyone had a similar experience?

What did you use to edit your video?

I use Premiere Pro and I have checked other projects and they alll sound the same way when filmed with the HD1000u
Thanks

why both video and stills
 

I do journalism work both video and stills.... need both... expect both..

I like what I see so far.....l

Ed!

hi res stills
 

this is supposed to alsop shoot 4 and 7 megga pix top a memory card?

explain? examples... how do you like it etc///

Shooting a concert
 

Just shot a concert from the balcony. Here are some working observations:

Exposure: The concert was an exposure nightmare as the lighting kept changing from one song to the next with no consistency in foot-candles. The limited control offered by the camera was a challenge.

Focus: The band was far away enough that I had to shoot with the lens zoomed in for most of the time. The low lighting kept the aperture open so my depth-of-field was very shallow. The low res LCD made manual focusing hard and the auto focus kept going out as the musicians moved around.

Working solution: I set the lens ring to control the exposure, turned on the zebra stripes for 100% and used the spot focus function on the fold-up LCD screen. By watching the zebra stripes I had a good idea of the exposure and could adjust with the lens ring. When I changed shots I used the spot focus to adjust the focus. Spot focus works really well.

A few problems with this method:
The Spot Focus screen removes all normal LCD re-outs except the time code of the tape. No audio levels, no battery count and, worst of all, no exposure bar. This meant that I was entirely in the dark about the gain since that is hooked into the exposure settings. In addition the spot focus screen puts a large white box outline in the center of the screen. This made composing the shot really difficult. Screen clutter is a problem with a lot of cameras but this really altered the way I was composing.

Result: A mostly decent document of the concert. When everything was working well the shots came out really nice.