Camcorders - market research
 

The Camcorder forum last night in Wigmore Street, central London was most excellent indeed, and I loved every minute of it. We all sussed that the company involved was Sony, but we weren't told. 9 of us there, all men, all between 35ish and 65. All professionals, lots using VX2ks and PD150s and up. We all had to introduce ourselves and give some background, list all the camcorders we used.
Interestingly there were 3 TRV900s and a PD100 (DVCAM version of the 900) round the table. Lots of VX2ks and PD150s too. One guy did 70 weddings last year, another specialised in aerial photography. Some were facilities houses - doing film transfer and standards conversion, that sort of thing. Others did corporate stuff, others hired in people / kit when needed. I
guessed I was the 'smallest' member there, though I was vocal in the fact that I can be. Only one guy used JVC kit, two were Canon men.

We were filmed and recorded the whole time and could express anything we liked /disliked about the cameras we owned. We were steered towards what we'd be buying next, and why. What did we think of HD and would we be changing? What were our thoughts on tape vs optical disc? I put in plugs for stabilisation and side-screens, but disliked the fact that we all had to buy wide-angle converters on day one. All agreed. In fact we were in total agreement about a vast range of topics which was interesting. We talked 16:9 and anamorphics, about client needs and requirements, about editing setups and even Hoodmen.

Excellent.

tom.