Support me by supporting the pd150.

[Anthony Milic]

Hey guys, nice to see y'all.
oh look at those names..Mike, Tom, Steve, ..Boyd (I know you're in there somewhere) .. Shawn etc etc '..thanks for the memories tra la la..'
I've not dropped in for a bit, you see, I've been busy cutting and slashing my way through the jungle of sony dv cam purchase options. hack, slash slice and hack again.
blah blah, long story short. I still haven't bought a blasted camera.. *sigh.

I've gone from being hooked onto the pdx10 for it's 16:9, pro-ness and price, to the vx2000 for it's versatility, then waiting for the 2100 (as I can get it for a good price).. and now onto the pd150 with the argument of; 'well, may as well spend the extra $ now, and have what I need (and probably will need), as opposed to purchasing fixes and add-ons at a later date'.
reasonable? right? yes? .. (say 'yes')

I just need some support for the argument for a pd150 purchase (going for 150 considering the price drop and above argument)
What do you guys think?
I mean, I'm not going to regret buying the superseded 150, over the 170 am I?.. well? well?

Anthony

[Shawn Mielke]

Sounds like a fine plan. Me, I'm probably going to get a second PDX10, rather than a 170, as I had been planning. Guess I'm another one who can't make his mind up.
Now is the time to strike! Get the PD150!

[Kevin Lee]

I bought the pd150 a few months ago (about a month before the pd170 was announced). It's been an excellent camera.

I used to have the vx2000. But since the pd150 and having the extra options it has over the vx200, i would never go back.

One thing about the pd150 is that it is a very very strong performer in almost any scenario you can think of. It gives you a great base image to which you can fancy up with progressive/colouring/frame rate/effects later.

I would say:
Toss a coin if you can't decide. Buy whatever you gonna buy and focus on mastering every aspect of whatever cam you will eventually hold in your hands.

[Kevin Lee]

By the way... Prices for cams and stuff are damn expensive downunder in sydney. ouch!

Have fun.

[Shawn Mielke]

Are you satisfied with the PD150's audio, Kevin?

[Kevin Lee]

I am, by no means, the most experienced pd150 owner/operator here in this forum but my reply is:

I did 2 pieces with the pd150 recently. One was a commercial video that involved 20 interviews. I used a wired lav mic. The pd has 2 xlr ports. I was happy with the results but more importantly, my client was. I made some mistakes, due to my inexperience (this was more to do with setting up the lav mic), but i was able to correct that in post. The second piece was a favour for a friend. I did a run/gun shoot of his band performance at a club. I used only the stock mic. The levels were on too high in the first 30secs which distorted a bit. Was ok for the rest of their 10min performance. My friend was very impressed with the dvd i gave him. He asked me again to shoot his new year's eve gig tonight (erhh, hiccup, burp shoot what??)

So to answer your question... I am happy with it so far but i know i can get even better audio when i get a better hang of it. I just bought a Audio Technica shotgun mic to help me along. For most of what i'd do for lower-budgeted DV projects, i think the pd150 will work fine for me.

[Don Bloom]

I've been using 2 150's for weddings and much of my other corporate work for over 2 years now and frankly I'm still dazzeled by the camera. Of course I was knocked over by my VX1000 when I first got it also, but the point is, no matter what there will always be something newer and greater and better and faster coming out, but personally I believe that if a piece of equipment is doing the job you bought it for and it's not breaking down on you and not causing you a problem with bad quality then why do you need to get the latest and greatest? I recently just got rid of my X2's, they worked great but didn't make sense to keep anymore.
What I'm saying is the 150 is a great camera and if it will do the job for you BUY IT, BUT if you bought it for $1000 and it DIDN'T do what you needed it to do then you overspent. Follow?
BTW, I'm quite happy with the audio of the 150, I found the best way for ME to work with it and the only time in 2+ years I had a problem it was MY fault not the cameras.
Hope this helps
Don

[Boyd Ostroff]

Hey Anthony! Never before has so much soul searching been devoted to the purchase of a camera! I don't have personal experience with the PD-150 but my VX-2000 gives me a pretty good idea of what to expect. I wanted to get the 150 3 years ago, but it was still new and nobody had them in stock so I settled for the 2000.

I'm sure you will be happy with a PD-150. To be analytical, there are really only 2 things I note in the PD-170 that would interest me. First would be the additional light sensitivity. This appears to be the result of using DXP chips like the PDX-10 has, allowing more gain with less noise. But the 150 is already a low light champion, so unless you plan to shoot a lot of documentaries in the middle of the night outdoors this probably won't matter a lot. The other thing that would specifically benefit my shooting is the iris with twice the steps as the PD-150. When I shoot stage shows with the VX-2000 and use manual exposure it really is very annoying to see the discreet "clicks" when changing iris settings. The 170 and 2100 are supposed to improve on this and give smoother fades.

Other than that IMO there aren't many exciting new features. The new viewfinder appears to just be a bigger tube and lens. I don't think the new LCD has any higher resolution. A new handle, new color scheme... and iLink strap! Oh boy! ;-)

So I think you should just go out there and buy a camera! Face it, no matter WHAT you get, 6 months from now you're going to see something new and better and kick yourself for not waiting anyhow! That's just the way it seems to be with any high tech stuff. In the meantime, think of all the time that's gone by and you still aren't shooting anything. GO FOR THE PD-150!

Happy New Year

[Shawn Mielke]

Happy New Year, Boyd, and all!

[Joe Gioielli]

Anthony

Both cams are great. You won't go wrong either way. You want the PD 150, get it!

There is a world waiting to be filmed, make that call. You won't regret it.

[Mike Rehmus]

OK, I hate to be a party pooper but this question has been asked and answered so many times that a simple, short search will give you all the reasons you need to make a decision.

Do it and get on with using the camera. You will like it.