Digital video for business: What camera should I buy?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Business is picking up. We’re double-booked on the 20th, and there’s a possibility we’ll be triple-booked. We need at least one more camera.

Right now we have three JVC GY DV500Us, one of which is brand new that I bought a few weeks ago. While this is an older model, it’s much more capable than the cameras other studios in town use. Other studios use such cameras as the Canon XL-1S, the Sony PD-170, and the JVC GY DV-300 (which, dispite the dimilarity in the model designation with the DV500U, is a prosumer camera). The 500s deliver excellent images, and we used them in July to shoot a live feed for FOX News. They’re also very impressive when commercial clients and brides come into the studio. That doesn’t hurt sales any.

We needed five cameras on the shoot we did Sunday/Monday, so we rented a pair of PD-170s from another shop. I found the PD-170 very easy to maneuver, and it’s a handy size if you need to grab a camera quickly. It uses smaller chips than the DV500U, but the images are still great.

I’d like to have a ‘grab-and-go’ camera that I can keep with me at home. (I could keep the new JVC at home, but it’s large-ish so I keep it at the studio.) That way I could gather stock footage, have it handy in case anything worth shooting happens (on our way back from the shoot, a truck jackknifed on the 5 near Everett. No one was hurt. Though we did shoot the FOX feed, we don’t consider ourselves journalists. As non-journalists, we didn’t feel comfortable shooting the accident that happened right in front of us – but it would be worth thinking about in the future.), and I could take the camera to the studio when we need a fourth camera.

So I’m thinking: Should I buy a PD-170? But I look at how much they cost, and see that for $1,000 more I can get another 500U. For a couple-thousand more, I could get a 5000. Only I’d be right back to a large camera. Pard Jerry suggested I look at a Panasonic 24-frame progressive DVPRO camera (non-HD). I’ve never used one, and I don’t think he has either.

Here’s the thing: Pard agonises over equipment. He thinks about it so much and compares so much and spends so much energy trying to decide which is ‘better’ that he never arrives at a decision. He’s all about the image. He obsesses over it. Should we spend the money to buy this camera because it has this capability? Or should we get this camera, which is cheaper but still delivers the good? Or what about this camera?

Me? I look at it like this: Our clients aren’t technical. They just want their product. Our ‘competition’ delivers a lower-quality product than we do (we put more time into post-production), and their clients are satisfied. Why spend gobs of money on a camera that won’t make a difference to the client? And with so many formats, shouldn’t we strive for commonality?

As an aside, we’re also looking at duplication services. A guy came into the studio yesterday who has experience in that area. He’d visited the other studios in town and saw ‘the one guy’ who does that. He said that we could ‘squash him like a bug’. Pard Jerry is looking into equipment, and reckons it will cost between $5,000 and $10,000 to set up a kick-ass duplication operation. We could get a lot of business, but we need another camera now. I think we should spend money on a camera before we buy the duplication gear.

So, SDMB videographers, I need your opinions. Should I pick up another JCV GY DV500U? Or should I look for a 5000? Or should I go for the PD-170? Or the Panasonic? Or something else?

2

I’d go for the Sony Z HDV camera. It’ll shoot oversampled DV as well as HDV so you’ll have a choice and when you’re ready you can upgrade to an HD suite.
And it’s just a bit heftier than the 170. I own a 150 and have shot with the 170 and Pannie 100. I think they’re great for production but not so great for run and gun. Contrast is a problem as well as narrow depth of field due to small chip size.
I still prefer any shoulder mount camera with a decent lens for news/doc shooting.

Also JVC and Panasonic have new HDV cameras coming out so you mught check into those.

3

The Panasonic is the AG-DVX100A. Seems there are a lot of HD formats out there, and most people don’t have HDTV anyway; so we’re thinking we can get by for a long time with non-HD cameras.

So are you suggesting another JVC 500/5000?

4

Looks like in a round about way I was suggesting that. Although, since you have a couple already for grab and go, you might want to consider a 24p/30p cam. The 100, XL-2, or Sony Z. They’ll get you commercial or indie short gigs. Maybe even a feature here or there.

5

Thinking about it, my situation is a little different. When I get hired for a gig, I usually walk in and there’s a camera waiting for me. I occassionally, but rarely use my 150 on a shoot. I actually bought it for personal projects before 24p so now I’m shopping around for a camera for shorts and features.

Since you have the opportunity for diversity in equipment, that’s what I would suggest.

6

The Panasonic (linked) is a 24p/30p. Actually, the ‘grab-and-go’ PD-170s were rented for the last shoot. All we have are the DV500Us. (One is in a ‘go-bag’.) The AG-DVX100A is pretty darned cheap. If the images are as good as the JVCs, it might be the way to go.

The ‘bread and butter’ of the studio is wedding videos. (Jerry hates them, but they bring in the cash.) So we have to have our own gear. Our commercial clients expect us to provide the gear (since they’re in their own business and not video production), and FOX had us bring out a camera. I guess the difference is that nobody is hiring us on a ‘film project’. In our case, we’re planning to shoot a feature and we would be the ones calling you and having the camera ready. (Of course, we won’t be hiring any shooters for the project since we’ll be doing that ourselves.)

7

Talked to Pard yesterday. It looks like I’ll be picking up the Panasonic. Nobody at a wedding is going to notice the difference if one of the cameras is prosumer, so the Panasonic will be a cost-effective way of allowing us to book more gigs. We will use the JVCs for commercial projects and for our film. Of course, Jerry wants a bigger and better camera for the film; but I think we should save money (since we’re self-financing) and shoot with what we have. He also may buy a Panasonic. That will give us five cameras. There’s a guy in town who has a so-called ‘studio’ who will be happy to bring his camera and shoot for us, so we’ll have six cameras available.

There’s a small pool of shooters we can draw from as well. The idea is that we want the Bellingham studio to run itself. Jerry is burnt out on weddings. (He reckons I’ve got two years of weddings in me.) Better to hire shooters and an editor so that we can concentrate on the more fun (and more lucrative) commercial projects.

8

I’ve shot a couple of projects with the Panasonic and was very impressed. If you’re going to shoot progressive I’d suggest 30p over24p. The electronics interpolate the frame rate difference in 24p and the picture ends up jerky. 30p still has the film look but with a smoother, more natural frame rate. Unless of course you really do plan to dupe to film then 24p is the way to go.
Good luck, have fun!