AG-HVX200 or the HVR-Z1U: A Painful Choice
I had to make a very difficult choice recently. Unexpectedly, I received approvals to purchase a new High Definition video camera and had to hastily put together a purchase order for a new camera package. We’re talking about a budget in the low 5 figures, so I had the money to buy whatever I wanted and I was the person deciding what was needed. But, the choice was hard to make.
My HD Camera Dilemma
For the past year I’ve been doing a lot of research about the emerging HDV and low end HD video camera market. I’ve read and re-read all of the whitepapers and sales copy. I’ve attended the DV Expo, the post NAB gathering at Able Cinetech, and various seminars by Sony and Adobe to get more info and put my hands on the technology. I’ve asked questions, read magazines, studied workflows and more to prepare myself to advocate for upgrades at my corporate job. And I fell in lust with the Panasonic AG-HVX200.
When I saw my first demo of the AG-HVX200 (read DigitalContentProducer.com’s review) at DV Expo East this year, I fell in love with the idea of recording directly to digital files on the P2 cards (no more digitizing), having no moving parts on the camera, and being able to record full DVCPro HD footage, at multiple frame rates, on a sub-$10,000 camera. The achilles heel of this camera is that it only records HD to the P2 card and, at full resolution DVCPro HD, it only records about 10 minutes of video on the currently available P2 cards before you have to dump to a hard drive and clear the card (bigger cards will be available in the future.) There is a MiniDV tape mechanism in the camera, but it only records SD video – there is no HDV-to-tape option.
My production training was done with film cameras, so I’m used to the idea of breaking up the work into 10 minute chunks – that’s a pretty typical record time for a reel of film. I was fully prepared to adjust my working style to accomodate this limitation. I was expecting to wear a portable hard drive on a belt and dump the footage to disc as I went. But, when I did the math, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to store enough footage on the available portable drives to manage a typical project.
I often spend 2 or 3 days in the field recording interviews and generating anywhere from 6 to 10 hours of footage. Usually I’m working out of the back of a rented mini-van with limited assistance. I would need to have portable back-up drives, a laptop, and power supplies in tow to keep up with the data, plus a robust back-up solution back at the office for archiving. It was just a bad fit.
My HDV Camcorder Solution
The Sony HVR-Z1U turned out to be the best solution for my needs (read DigitalContentProducer.com’s Review.) Since most of my work is interviews, the limitations of HDV compression should not be a problem. The tape stock is cheap, easy to find, and a built-in archiving solution. When they become available, I’ll get a Focus Enhancements Firestore FS-4 HD Pro hard disk recorder for direct to disk recording. I’ll just have to get used to using a tripod for everything and stay away from handheld work – the quick set-up capabilities of the Sachtler tripod I ordered should make this transition less disruptive to my typical run-and-gun shooting style.
I ordered the camera with a full accessory kit (mattebox w/rails, filter set, tripod, HDV VTR, tripod, field monitor, shotgun mike, LCD camera light, travel case, and lots of extra batteries.) Look for an article soon about my experiences setting-up this new kit and shooting test footage. I took lots of photos.
The Bottom Line
There is a ton of cool gear out there. You can spend all day staring at the features of the various solutions. But, ultimately, it is the needs of your productions that must drive your decisions. I’m sure I’ll use the AG-HVX200 at some point, but it was the wrong solution for this need.
Does anyone out there need a DP for a project that will be on the AG-HVX200? Call me! I’m ready to go.
The Go-To Guy!
