The case for tapeless video cams
posted by Kirk
Having just sold my XH A1 to go tapeless (the HF100 records to Flash cards) I wanted to see how my new workflow and equipment would respond.
After making this short clip (see below) I think that my new camcorder (although laughably small in comparison to the Canon XH A1) was a wise investment. My workflow will be much faster now that I no longer have to log tape.
Having the idea, executing it, editing it and getting to the next idea is what matters most.
…a few projects shot with the XH A1 never materialized because I loathe logging tape.
The Canon HF100 is a great little HD camcorder and in many ways it is like the Flip Video camera: small, easy to use and with few adjustments.
However it is quite a step up in terms of image quality, image stabilization and control over sound. In this case I used the Canon DM-100 shotgun mic with the camera to great effect.
In regard to image quality I am getting true HD resolution at 1920×1080, instead of the Canon XH A1′s 1440×1080.
This camera being so compact will always have a place in my camera bag. (Hell, the stills pulled from the HF100 video are already 4 mega pixels in size! Maybe I won’t need a camera in the near future.)
I’m looking forward to making a full length documentary with this diminutive camera and using its small size and inconspicuousness to my advantage.
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3 Comments, Comment or Ping
Jeremy
“Maybe I won’t need a camera in the near future.”
I’ve heard a rumor from a friend at Corbis (their chief photographer, so I think it’s fairly reliable) that Canon has plans to phase out their high-end digital cams over the next couple of years in favor of HD video. Gotta say – the concept of yanking frames from HD-quality source sounds a lot easier than setting up shots. Just let ‘er rip and extract the good ones later.
Hmm… Did I just paint a target on my chest for Kirk and John?
Apr 25th, 2008
hrhmedia
I’m going to have to differ from my HD partner-in-crime on this one.
First, he may not be logging tape, but he’ll ALWAYS have to log, if he wants to know what’s good for him (and his film). What this medium minimizes is “digitizing” time. Now, you just drag and drop the files, rather than waiting for a tape to digitize in real time.
That said, even with my Big Daddy PMW-EX1 camera and its solid state memory, even though it takes a few minutes to drag a file over to a hard drive, I’m still paranoid enough to back up every 8GB file to a double-sided DVD. Which can take up to 90 minutes each. When XDCAM disks and Blu-Ray burners are more available, this will be easier, but until then, there’s still some value in the archival properties of tape.
Also, the HF100 is still AVHCD, and from what I can tell, the pro’s out there still prefer HDV as their b-cameras in HD productions (particularly the HV-20) with 25 Mb/s bandwidth to the 17 or so from AVHCD.
Apr 26th, 2008
bsteel
But why not one of these http://www.red.com/cameras
Apr 28th, 2008
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