Seth Melnick

I have heard that once you become a union DP you cannot operate the camera anymore - is this true and is it a hard and fast rule?

if you shoot varicam at 60 fps there is a free frame rate converter that will convert it in FCP. I think the converter is linked to on the panny varicam site

I know this and have done it in avid. But it seems our editor is from the film world and is used to offline editing. So its going to take some convincing. I know they have a digibeta deck but no dvcpro deck - whats the best way to capture - rent a deck to capture or can a post house just capture to avid media on a portable disk array?

do you mean that you can hook the panny deck by firewire to an avid system and capture the tapes? Do the panny decks do an offline downrez and burn timecode in?

Can some one outline a varicam postproduction workflow or point to a resource showing one? I am working with an editor who wants the footage on digibeta for an offline avid edit. this requires a downconvert of each tape at a cost of 280 per 30 minute run. So if we shoot 30 hours - we need to spend 18K on just these dubs. Then at the end we need to online based on the final EDL. What would be a better workflow - is there a way to go from dvcprohd tapes directly to proxy offline files? thanks in advance for any help or guidance

Is there a way to monitor the varicam on an analog monitor? It appears the camera only has sdi out - do I need to use a digital to analog converter ($$$)?

the hvx will shoot 1080 24P - its encoded over 60i but the actual progressive frames are there

Id like to offer a little perspective here. HD is better then SD - EVERYTHING ELSE EQUAL (same skilled person, same lighting etc, same size chip) 2/3 chip is better then 1/3 chip - EVERYTHING ELSE EQUAL (both in sd or both in hd etc) real 16x9 is better then letterbox - EVERYTHING ELSE EQUAL. cheaper camera is better - EVERYTHING ELSE EQUAL the list can go on. . . of course no camera makes a filmmaker - but better, stronger tools improve a filmmakers toolbox and therefore give them the ability to make choices they couldnt before. Its splitting hairs here really - more resolution is worse (ALL THINGS EQUAL) - of course not - What format will you end up in SD, HD - when will HD take over - who cares really - pick the tool that suits your art, budget, technique for making money, techniques for pulling more money, gratifies you, makes you feel better then the next filmmaker - whatever goals you have - Just go out and shoot. And stop complaining that HD and cameras are all marketing drivel - that is how the world operates - why are there so many certification programs for programmers - do you really think answering a 6 hour test prooves someone is a better programmer - of course not ( I know from experience) - but the powers that be have marketed their stuff that way. HD now has a cool factor with it - if you dont take advantage of that "cool factor" you have your head in the sand. - Of course on the other hand you shouldnt be ripping a filmmaker off shooting and charging for HD when they dont need or cant afford - A little common sense goes a long way.

you can see a summary of the test here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t...ghlight=filmout we got a good deal doing it because the post house wanted to experiment with footage from the hvx

post what? It was a film out test so it was projected

I performed a film out test at 720P and it looked fantastic - so I am sure 1080P will also

An example would show why everyone reacted this way to the question. If you went to the panasonic site and looked at the camera brochure you would see that you can shoot HD or SD to cards and ONLY SD to tape - already the question is answered and you would know there was more research needed.

Do not use a light meter with a digital camera - it is not the right tool. The camera does not respond linearly to light - it can be less sensitive at lower light levels. The true correct tool is a wavefrom monitor to show you exactly what the camera is seeing - besides that, get a good production monitor and make sure the image looks like you want it to. If you really like using a light meter - use it to get in the neighborhood but then put it down and reference your monitor (do not use the on camera lcd)

The number of cards you require depends on the project - for a doc you need more continous space. However, for a feature at 720 2 4gig cards is perfect - that is like having 2 reels of 10 minutes each. Just remember you need someone to offload - if you have that then you will rarely if ever need to wait for a card when shooting a narrative. But overall - test you workflow before you are on set and test with the people who will be doing it. I just shot a feature with 2 4 gig cards - no issues and we shot over 250 cards worth in 2 months.

I used the indie focus which works with a friction non geared wheel - THere wasnt a good geared solution for under 2000 at the time we were equipping - this worked well enough we used 2 4 gig cards and had a part time loader he would take a card load it off to 2 hard drives and then burn to 2 dvds - we never had to wait since we had 10 minutes of record time (which usually took about an hour to fill) Editing in avid

I saw some talk here about shooting a feature with the HVX. We recently wrapped on principal photography on "American Standard" with the HVX - it was shot in 720 24P. You can see the trailers and info about the project here http://www.americanstandardthemovie.com/media.html Camera performed beautifully.