Charles Lorch

Looks good. What kind of workflow was used. Camera set-up? Post/transfer? Color correction?

You should get a Goodmans guide along with the camera. This is a very useful tool with your 900. It gives a good explaination of interlaced vs. progressive, but check here on the Panasonic site and the links they have http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/s...Model=AJ-SDX900 It even has a link for how to get a Goodmans guide if one doesn't come with the camera. You should be very pleased if your coming over from DV.

I don't know how much help I can be personally, since my experience with Sony HD is limited, but I think anyone else would ask this question first to give any usable advise. What kind of blown out scenes are you talking about? Are you in situations that you don't have control of the scene?

Thanks Jan, I actually figured that one out yesterday after some looking around. Why is that not a standard feature? It has a composite out already. Is it having to act as a converter? Thanks for the quick reply though, and good job with the format. We've had our SDX900 and SD930 for about two months and love it. A huge jump after being in strictly a Beta market for so long. I have seen that you've directed people looking for crews w/ 900's in markets or regions in locating a crew. Any tips on how to get the word out that we have our 900 and are a solid crew? Thanks again. C.B. Lorch Evolution Media Tallahassee, FL 850.264.9013

I am trying to loop a composite signal from a VHS through the 930 and into an NLE. The input select on the front only toggles between SDI and SG2. Input select inh is turned OFF in the menu. any thoughts?

If you're going to transfer via firewire to your NLE then the 93 should be fine. Give a call to Jeff at Able Cinema @ 212-462-0100. He is very knowledgeable on all the deck options and was a great help to us when we were looking. He can get you a 93 for under $6,000 too.

The book that's out there is the Goodman Guide. It is suppose to come with the 900 upon purchase. It's $125 if you buy it otherwise. As strictly a video shooter though there are still many aspects of the book, espesially with regard to shooting with frame rates that does not get addressed in the book. It does however go into detail about tweaking the cam. Just be ready to sit down with the cam and a vectorscope for quite a while to really play as the guide suggests.

We ended up finding a package and got a great deal on a 930. Thanks guys.

I second jay in saying that noone would use the 900 as a VTR. Although I don't think the 93 is over $9,000. The base with only firewire we had priced out at about $6,000. The only way though to get RS422 is with the optional component card, which in our case wanting SDI as well would have ment having both cards and putting it in that $9,000 range. In the end we got a great deal on a 930 which we are very happy with. I also second the question of why you would ever consider not rolling tape. Are you actually working with clients and projects or just playing around?

When you say "just add the letterbox to get you back to 4:3 delivery at the very end. " Are you not actually sizing the image within the NLE? We have not been happy with the sizing tool within FCP on some other projects, although they were larger percentages. This made us somewhat concerned that we may actually lose some quality. How can we avoid that loss? Thanks.

We recently purchased a package of gear, and now have a Panasonic AJ-SDX900 package to sell. The camera was used almost entirely in a studio environment and is in great shape with low hours since it was switched and rolled on a deck. The package includes: Panasonic AJ-SDX900 Panasonic AJ-VF15 viewfinder Fujinon A20 x 8.6BRM-SD lens Fujinon Manual zoom and focus control kit Thermadyne hard case Camera Plate Package price $26,000.00 Call C.B. at 850.264.9013

We finally took the plunge and picked up a 900 along with a 930 deck. We had our first shoot with the camera yesterday, and I'm very pleased, :D as was the client. Thanks to all who gave input in my decision process on the forum, it really helped. I still have a ways to go in maximizing the camera and look forward to this forum helping me get there. The shoot yesterday was a spot for a law firm for broadcast. I shot the spot 30P 50meg 4:3, and used the portrait scene file from the CD w/ the Goodman, treaked a bit. I framed for 16:9 box in post. We are posting on Final Cut via SDI through an AJA IO for now. We take delivery of a Media 100 844XE in two weeks. Any thoughts on record modes or looks based on our NLE situation or does it matter? Also thoughts or info on 4:3 vs. 16:9 for general broadcast applications such as this. Is there a better way to accomplish 16:9 look in a 4:3 finish space? We bought an entire package of gear and have a second camera package for sale along with some other gear. All of the gear is in great shape and was used in a studio. Feel free to contact me if you're interested. I attached the list of gear. Gear_List.doc

We're pretty set now on picking up a 900 in the next week. We are also getting a Media 100 844XE. The AJ-SD93 deck is pricing out at around $9,000 in order to get the analog card for 422 control and SDI option to get into the 844. I could pick up a used AJ-SD950 for $6,500 that I found. Moderate high hours but less $. Are there any thoughts as to +'s and -'s on each? Thanks.

Thanks all for the input. I know I want the camera, I just wanted some reasurance that it was worth the jump now as opposed to a wait for HD. I got one a couple months back as a demo and could certainly see the possibilities and got excited. I also was reading all you guys posts along with other articles and have yet to find a single person to post a negative. I'll just be sure which aspect ratio I'm shooting in. :rolleyes: But I think I can handle it.

I am trying to decide if a 900 is in my companies future. We are relatively new in terms of the company, but have all worked in the Tallahassee, FL market for more than 35 years combined between the three of us. The only packages in the market are SP but are well established with the typical crew hire agencys (Crews Control, Crew Connection). Is there a demand for the 900 that with make it worth the extra cash (would need a deck as well) to go the 900 route versus just going with Beta to get to HD faster. Will the work be there? Thanks.