Canon C300 In the House

Canon's C300 arrived a few weeks ago, and I've had a chance to use it on six shoots already.

What a great camera! It's sharp with shallow but manageable depth-of-field, a XLR audio, lots of exposure tools (Zebra, waveform), 4:2:2 chroma subsampling, etc. etc. 

The image really does looks great, but the small size and low weight (3.5 pounds) have also made a big impression on me. I can carry two cameras in bag that's still smaller than my Varicam bag. Plus, it's easy to use small gear like sliders, and mini jibs to add production value which would never work with a bigger camera.

I'll write more about the C300 when I get to know it a bit more, but so far so good. I'm actually thinking about getting a second body. Hmmm.....

Panasonic HPX250 Review

My review of the HPX250 is up on Creative COW. Overall, the 250 is a really good documentary and reality camera, as long as you don't need a shallow depth-of-field. And you can get it with a $730 rebate until March 31, bringing the price well below $5000. 

Click here for the review. 

Next up: the HPX250

I'm also finishing up my COW review of Panasonic's HPX250, which feels like the true spiritual successor to Panasonic's warhorse, the HVX200 (see attached pic showing them side-by-side...the HPX250 is bigger, but it feels like it weighs a little less). 

I should (hopefully) have that posted in about a week. 

And then, it's on to the Canon C300. 

Panasonic HPX3100 Review

I finally got some time to get a review written for Panasonic's HPX3100, and it's posted right here on CreativeCOW. 

This is a very impressive camera. Good price point (about $20K), a nice 2/3" 1080 native imager, a fantastic 10 bit codec in AVC-Intra, a shoulder-mount form factor that's born for handheld work, and all the features you'd expect from a mature ENG camera (nd filters, 4 channel audio, tons of image controls, scene files, etc. etc. ). You can get so much work done so quickly with a camera like this. 

But what's really unique about the 3100 are two add-ons you can purchase separately. One lets the camera simultaneously record very high-quality, time-coded proxy videos to an SD card, which you can hand to your client at the end of the day. From there, the client can play the footage on virtually any device, immediately. Or they can quickly email the proxies to a transcriber, other producers, etc. 

The other add-on is even better: a wireless metadata module that lets a producer wirelessly enter shot names and other metadata into clips, before they record (or after), all with an iPad or Android tablet, or a laptop. You can also insert shot markers into footage as it's recorded, just by hitting a button on the iPad (or whatever the device you're using). Suddenly, producers can do a ton of footage logging while they're in the field, so it's already organized by the time it gets to editorial.  

Check out the review right here. 

Panasonic BT-LH910 Review

CreativeCOW recently posted my review of Panasonic's new 9" monitor, the BT-LH910. I love this monitor. I had been using a 7.9" BT-LH80 for the last couple of years, but when I did side-by-side comparisons, the 910 blew the 80 out of the water. Watching footage on a 9" screen feels luxurious, and 910's image is very sharp at 1280x768. PLus, it's only a half pound heavier than my LH-80, so I can still mount it on top of a Varicam, or hand it to a producer. It's got two 3G HD-SDI input/outputs, a headphones jack, audio meters, waveform and vectorscope, 3D calibration tools, a built-in screen protector (not velro'd on), and an HDMI input for DSLRs, etc. It also comes with a viewing stand if you want to place it on a desk or table. 

Shortly after getting the 910 for review, I decided to put my LH-80 up for sale on eBay, and bought the 910. It's not cheap ($3500 list, but $3000 on the street), but it felt like a monitor that could suit me for a good 5 years. 

Here's the CreativeCOW review. 

P.S. The screen shots below show the 910 with the older BT-LH80.

Long-time Final Cut editor tries out Premiere Pro

I've used Final Cut Pro for more than 10 years, and have written four books about it. But after years of slow neglect on Apple's part, and then the shockingly under-powered Final Cut Pro X, I've started looking around for a new editing/post production suite. 

I decided to use Premiere to cut a real-world documentary video I was working on, and then wrote up my impressions on CreativeCOW. If you're frustrated with the direction that Final Cut is going, then you might find my first impressions with Premiere helpful....

See the story here.