P2 vs. Tape

[Adamo P Cultraro]

Hey Phil,

 

Of course - I own a P2 HVX and Sony Vegas. I do it all the time. Once you experience it you'll never go back. Especially not to some tape based system....ughhhh....

[John Cummings]

P2?

 

I shoot docs and especially reality shows where we slap in tape after tape, all day long. Hours and hours of video each day for a week, often with multiple cameras.

On some shows, they tell us to roll the cameras and don't stop till we need tape.

 

P2 couldn't hope to keep up, even with dedicated assistants and a massive amount of P2 cards.

 

Tape ain't dead yet!

 

John

[Adamo P Cultraro]

Well, John, you're the exception was speaking of. P2 is no good for event videography, period.

 

If I had to do it with my cam, I'd be recording straight to a laptop with DVrack.

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

It's too bad Apple screwed Panasonic with the card slot.

 

Still, it's great for narrative work. I know some DP's and AC's who rave about it...even AD's and Line Producers rave about it because it saves a lot in time and workflow.

[John Cummings]

"...now, the RED may very well chip away at those who have invested in higher end cameras"

 

Sounds like a valid point until you consider what a fully equipped RED camera with good glass, adequate storage and all the accessories will actually cost.

Suddenly, you're looking at the equivalent of at least a mid-priced pro HD cam...what, $40-50K?

 

I don't think the playing field will change all that much...

[Brian Dzyak]

"...now, the RED may very well chip away at those who have invested in higher end cameras"

 

Sounds like a valid point until you consider what a fully equipped RED camera with good glass, adequate storage and all the accessories will actually cost.

Suddenly, you're looking at the equivalent of at least a mid-priced pro HD cam...what, $40-50K?

 

I don't think the playing field will change all that much...

 

 

In my world, at least, HDCAM is the medium of choice for Producers so that's the baseline I use when weighing pros and cons. The clients I know are either using BetaSP (still....really!), Digibeta, or HDCAM. On RARE occasion, one of the small "toy" HD cameras will get used for additional shots or on seriously long projects in order to cut the budget, but when the shot is important, nobody even thinks about using anything less than a professional full sized camera. And in terms of HD, only HDCAM is asked for, especially by movie studios and their vendors.

 

With that in mind, I have estimated that a $30,000 investment (approximately) would buy a RED body plus the necessary extras I would need to make a package comparable to an F900® package. That's a third of what I would have to spend on HDCAM. Nothing to sneeze at.

 

As "less expensive" as it is, there is still that nasty problem of post workflow. Tape is definitely not dead, primarily because it works.

[John Sprung]

With that in mind, I have estimated that a $30,000 investment (approximately) would buy a RED body plus the necessary extras I would need to make a package comparable to an F900® package. That's a third of what I would have to spend on HDCAM. Nothing to sneeze at.

What would you add to make that package? Are you considering Russian lenses, for instance?

 

 

 

-- J.S.