24p Low Light
 

So I need to get a camera that shoots 24p, but it has to shoot well in low light situations and have XLR inputs. Any suggestions? My price range is around $3000 and I also want a great picture when not shooting in 24p (obviously). ANy help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Panasonic hmc150. It does all you want, and it's as close in price as you are going to find.

Include the Canon xh-a1 and i guess that's about it in the pricerange for camera's with xlr inputs and 24p possibility.

You should also look at the Sony Z7...or the cheaper Z7. These cameras shoot real 24p unlike the canon 24F. Also these cameras are great in low light almost back to the level of the PD170, especially in 24p mode they really suck the light in.

I have the Z7 and love it, it is a great camera. One of my friends has an A1 and since seeing the Z7 is considering swapping across to it.

What about ease of use? I'm an editor first, camera man second, so I don't really want something I'm going to have to take a long time to learn how to use or get comfortable with.

I just looked at the Sony. I saw some test footage that looks really good, but it doesn't seem to have xlr and over $5000.

Canon's 24f is just as real as the other camera's 24p, it is true progressive and not interlace

Any camera in the 3000 + range will take a lot of time to get comfortable with, if you want ease of use then it's better to get a Canon HV30 and only use the record button. :) Good camera skills are the very basics of every quality production, good editing can lift that to a higher level but if your camera footage is crap, not even the best editor wizard can save that.

So true. So true.

I know how to use a camera, I just mean I don't want to get a new camera a week before I need to use it and I have a try to figure out how to navigate a bunch or menus in order to change something basic.

I second this notion.

lighting fans
 

Im going to be purchasing a light kit soon and I was wonder how
you guys deal with the fans on some of the light kits out there?
curious to see how you deal with it when making your films.Im
considering the kit below.

Thanks
shawn




2000 Watt Digital Video Continuous Lighting Kit SoftBox - eBay (item 310092937993 end time Oct-27-08 16:00:11 PDT)

Then certainly don't buy a canon xh-a1, I was lucky that I have a rocket science degree. :)

Compared to my dvx100 the xh-a1 has a much steeper learing curve.

I have a Canon now, don't like the menus. Took me forever to figure out how to adjust the gain.

I've never encountered a light kit with fans. I'm not exactly sure who makes one with them. Honestly, if you're looking at buying some lights and they have some type of cooling fan built in, avoid them at all costs. The noise will drive you nuts.

That being said, that's certainly an impressively low price on those ebay lights. Do they have a fan? I need to take another look at the ad.

Hi Daniel,

That's a good price considering a Tota light kit would set you back $ 700. Does it have the option of using 500W lamps? Imagine 2-1k Lamps at a reception, that is extremely bright.

We don't.

Professional lights don't need fans. Cheap plastic fixtures do. If you're really going to purchase a lighting kit, step up and do it correctly. Especially if this is for your business. Lowel and CoolLights make decent fixtures. I don't have direct experience with CoolLights, but I do with Lowel. They are rather inexpensive, but they are pro level lights. I understand that not everyone can afford Moles and Arris. That's ok.

A Lowel DP light is $168 at B&H. The 1k bulb is $19. Add some barndoors and you've got yourself a REAL light. It floods and spots a bit, you an get a filter frame for it so you can add color correction, diffusion, or even a pattern. And believe me, a 1k open face will give you quite a bit of light if you're not too far away. And a foam core bounce board, and now you've got a key and fill. Set this up outside the church or whatever in daylight, and now you're using the sun as a key/kicker, the foamcore as fill, and the DP as a nice hairlight or supplemtary fill.

If you're looking to get a "kit" I'd say to start with 3 lights.

1. A Fresnel if you can afford it. 500-700 watts. If not, a 1k open face.
2. A broad. Lowel Tota works fine and it's cheap and very powerful
3. A small focusable like a Lowel Omni or Pro Light. Something in the 250w range.

Those three lights in a kit with barndoors, stands, some diffusion, and color gels will put you in the game and allow you to handle most indoor lighting needs as long as you're not trying to light up a ballroom.

I have started taking photos of some of my setups as I shoot just so people can see what I am doing. This is a link to a VIP shoot I did this week. Two lights (one is a softbox) a piece of black fabric from the sewing place, and piece of foamcore. I also had stands. In place of the softbox, I could have bounced and open face off a piece of foamcore for nearly the same effect. I just would have had to get a bit closer.

DVXuser.com -- The online community for filmmaking - PerroneFord's Album: VIP Interview

Hopefully, the mods will forgive me for linking to another forum site. I'm not sure how to use the gallery here, but I may work on that today.

lights
 

Ethan,
yes the kit has a fan on it I read somewere about
the kit that it wasnt that noisy I could be wrong thow. I guess
ill do somemore research.

Not that noisy isn't gonna cut it if you're doing a sit down interview type setup. Any type of fan noise will be a serious problem in a controlled shooting environment. I'd heed the advice given in the previous post and get yourself a Lowel DP with a softbox instead of this nicely priced Ebay model. Now if you don't need good location sound, maybe the Ebay light would work.

lighting
 

Ethan point well taken ill take your advice lowell sounds good to me. As i will be shooting interview style at point or another. the fans on the other light are able to disable but im not going to mess around with that.


Thanks
Shawn