RIP broadcast TV camera, roll camera SLR!

[rodw]

Today I stepped out of the office to grab some lunch and a film crew was set up about 50 m up the road. They packed up and crossed the road with me and our paths crossed. The guys had T shirts with CREW on them. I looked at the lightweight tripod the cameraman was carrying and wondered where his camera was. Then I looked down at the bag he had over his shoulder and realized he was carrying an SLR in a compact case (the kind that only has room for a short zoom lens attached to the camera). On the way back from lunch I spied the Channel 7 broadcast van parked nearby.

We have a HD broadcast quality camera at work and the lens alone cost about $9k so here is a TV station with a complete set up that cost less than the cost of yesterday's lens.

Really interested to see this and one more reason that makes it hard to wait for my D800 to arrive!

[Clubmanmc]

Entire films and TV episodes in HD are being recorded on 5D II and 7D's the movies are far from using standard L series lenses, most opting for self focusing units that are made for the film industry...

Canon has also released a 300C camera that is more dedicated to the film industry, incorporating mounts for Film lenses..

its come along way...

M

[rodw]

I saw the Canon unit, cost about $15k which is pretty reasonable for what it is..

I had a look at the rigs people add to their DSLRs to shoot video on Google and you could spend $5k pretty easilly. It will be interesting to see how good the auto focus is on the Nikon D800 in movie mode when I get it.

Back in 1990 I spent about $2200 on a video camera and decided after a year or so that I much preferred still cameras. Recently, I grabbed a cheap video camera and did a couple of videos with Premiere which made it a lot easier and faster. To get a DSLR and a free HD video camera for 30% more than what I paid 22 years ago for video is probably pretty good.

Maybe I could be tempted to do something with video again...

[Simsya580]

Yesterday I spied a promo video being made for Generator company the crew were useing a DSLR on a tripod and a large mike so yeah times have changed somewhat.

[davros]

They have been doing this in the US for a few years now. The networks started sending them with embedded producers during the 2008 presidential elections. Now a few affiliates are doing the same as it's cheaper and they can't use it as an excuse not to hire a proper photog. The video sadly is very good, but the audio still has a ways to go - imo.

[rodw]

They have been doing this in the US for a few years now. The networks started sending them with embedded producers during the 2008 presidential elections. Now a few affiliates are doing the same as it's cheaper and they can't use it as an excuse not to hire a proper photog. The video sadly is very good, but the audio still has a ways to go - imo.

I think the sound can be sorted for about $500. First adding a Rode Video Mic pro
http://www.rodemic.com/mics/videomicpro

This gives you a synced sound channel that is included in the video track. Then you can add a Zoom H4n recorder with a built in stereo mic that has two XLR inputs and a built in mixer that records to SD cards.
http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4n/

These 2 items will cost you around $500. So then if you are doing a documentary style production, Sennheiser has a nice compact wireless lapel mic for about $600
http://www.sennheiser.com.au/au/home_en.nsf/root/professional_wireless-microphone-systems_lavalier-mics_ew-100-g3_021111

You don't get time coded audio so you need to sync the external sound with the soundtrack from the Rode but this is fairly trivial with current video editing software. So with this setup, you still have one more input on the Hn4 for another mic.

So now you might need to consider some sort of rig for other dedicated video accessories to complete the setup.