Deadliest Catch: How many Z1Us sacrificed?
 

Just watched a bit of the Behind the Scenes special of Deadliest Catch and I hear that most of the Z1Us used all go beyond repair once they're back at Dutch Harbor. They start with 50, now I wonder, how many Z1Us were lost to the tough conditions of the Bering Sea?

Attached are screenshots of some of the busted ones. However, I need an exact #.

I read an article that said they lose about 2/3 of them.

That's a lot! Around 33 lost out of 50... that's like around $132000 or more of done away money! Enough for a low-end Apartment!

But what's the exact number?

why not contact the production company and ask them. I *think* it's Pilligran Productions or maybe Pilgrim Productions in LA
Also on the website if it's still there under discovery.com there might be a lead to the production company or there might be something about the info you want on the message board again, if it's still there.

Don

The production company is based in Santa Monica ,CA if that helps, I can't remember the name.

Original Productions. They just struck a pretty major deal with NBC, detalils are floating around in the New York Times.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/...LIFE/704030328

This is the article I was refering to.

That's pretty interesting. The photos above remind me of this: http://www.camcorderservice.nl/sony_fx1.htm

It's probably 50 out of 50, I'm guessing they get a REALLY sweet bulk discount, or maybe even some sort of endorsement... yeah, it's expensive, but I doubt many of these cams come back serviceable by those pix... doubtful even usable as parts with all the salt water!

In budgetary terms for a series, that's probably peanuts - supposedly reality series are cheap to produce in the first place compared to a sitcom or traditional series with "stars"... the Z1 budget wouldn't even buy 1/10th of a "Friend", and probably Seinfelds left toe or something...

Oh...thats just not right...

Not only that, some of the rigged cameras froze over in ice inside a waterproof casing on icy days.

But not all cameras were on deck, the Capitan cameras didn't get any water in them. Only banged up if the waves are really big and the cameraguy was unstable.

Deadliest Catch is one of Discovery's most popular shows, I'm sure they're making up the cost of that in a couple of commercials.....

Still, it isn't really economical.

Well, Jack, you're talking about a show that makes millions for the network. They need a camera that's going to produce an acceptable picture for Discovery while still having professional features. You're not going to find a HDV camera with the features and size the z1u has for less.

I would say it looks like they are being about as economical as they can be....... Could have been XDCAMs in the pics.....

How do you figure?

It's the cheapest camera that produces the image quality that Discovery demands. Considering the shooting conditions you're gonna lose 2/3 of them.

I'd say the production company is being very economical, considering the conditions, and the quality of the final product.

Yeah, economical is relative...

It's like I'm not going to want a racing engine in my car as I don't want to have to rebuild it on a regular basis - I want 100K MILES out of it at least...

but if I want to win races in my RACE CAR, I probably just accept engines at around 100K a pop, and they are going to blow up fairly regularly - two different scenarios.


SO, I'm gong to go shoot some high risk video situation, but I need a certain level of quality, I'm going to sacrifice the least expensive camera I can and still get my shot. Not terribly unusual in TV land... ever hear the term "crash cam"? It's just part of the budget that some gear may not survive!

The small, relatively inexpensive cams are getting a fair amount of mileage in reality TV shows - I remember that someone posted the A1U from "Ice Truckers" (?), and Survivorman uses Z1 and HC3 from what I've seen. Bottom line the footage looks pretty good, and if the cam doesn't see a second season, so what, just replace it with the newest one.


I think what's hard to "get" is that those of us who baby our cams and expect them to last more than a few months are on a slightly different budgetary footing.

It's all relative. I scratch or dent a camera by accident, I'm crying... they destroy a camera nailing a tough shot on purpose, and their ratings go up and the audience applauds... the audience is watching to see scenes that most sane videographers (or most anyone for that matter) wouldn't be caught dead in... and SOME camera has to go there to get those shots! It's a testimony to the quality available to the average shooter that these cams are used and survive as well as they do...