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Which is it?
I’m torn between two worlds right now, with a deadline approaching.
Which camera to purchase? At first it was a simple problem. The Panasonic AG-HMC150 or the JVC GY-HM700? The deciding factor was the price and my budget. The 150 fit the budget, but the 700 has the little bit of extra “oomph” … a better/longer lens and the ability to change the lens out. All that for about three grand more. Ouch.
Then I decided to include the alien world of DSLRs. First just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything…then, as I dove deeper and deeper into research, I found myself actually seriously putting them on my list. Ouch. For an old die-hard videot like myself, this was sacrilege. I should be burned at the alter of analog…done in by digital demi-gods. Shudder.
So for now I’m looking at the Canon 5D MarkII and possibly the Canon 7D as well.
The latter fits the budget and the former has the goodies. Similar to my problems with the video cameras. One I can afford and one I want…but I also know that no matter what I can afford or want, there will always be another camera just out of my range. Time to get realistic.
Both of the video cameras are familiar territory. I know how they shoot…where the controls are…how far and hard I can push them. The DSLRs are an unknown…but I’ve been wowed by their quality. I do see that they have minimal audio input and controls…a biggie for me. Audio is right up there with video quality – the two are inseparable.
So now I sit on a pretty damn uncomfortable fence…researching, thinking, asking question. With about three weeks to go until I make the final final.
(for those of you who are confused by two seemingly similar “Q” words: a quandary is a state of uncertainty or perplexity and a quagmire is NOT a character on Family Guy, but a situation from which extrication is very difficult. Meaning I may be stuck in a state of indecisiveness for a long long time.)
Addendum 2/24/2011
Well that was faster than I thought it would be. Thanks to reader comments, facebook input, and Chuck Fadley over at the Yahoo newspaper video board, I’ve moved on and am only considering video cameras again. The DSLRs are wonderful – don’t get me wrong. But they are not for me. Despite the amazing quality of the video, the limitations on shooting (12 minutes) and lack of embedded audio (mini-jack input only or go with what essentially amounts to a double sound system) put me off. Plus the alien (to me) design. I’ve used DSLRs and love them for still shooting – but slinging one for video just wouldn’t be the same…so added on to other factors, I’m back in familiar territory. Video cameras are meant for run and gun or slow and careful…and there IS a choice.
Cameras still on the horizon include the Pano HMC150 and Sony Z5u, with others still on the fringe. I pulled back and did a reality check on my budget…everytime I scanned the possibilities, I kept seeing better and more expensive gear. That is NOT what this is about…it’s about getting the idea camera in a set price range. The Sony is actually OUT of that range…but that long lens keeps pulling at me. Sigh.
…in this case, one I made more than a decade ago. The Internet was young and fanciful thoughts about what might happen to news were being bandied about when I came up with my wild concept.
Imagine a news organization that only employed a few anchors and reporters, but a ton of writers and producers. Imagine a breaking story…a plane crash. Rather than sending a team out, a producer does an Internet search (not even sure if Google was around at this point) and manages to locate a home across the street from the crash. Makes a phone call and tells the person who answers to hook up their video camera to their computer, point it out the window, and describe what they see. Almost unimaginable.
So what do we have today? Skype. Live streaming sites. Uh…it has happened, just not yet completely the way I guessed it might.
All this brought about by a discussion on b-roll.
What began as a discussion of the National Press Photographers Association contest and magazine has evolved into a discussion of the place of broadcast (read TV) members in the organization, how they are being served by NPPA (or not), and how the quality of broadcast has gone downhill – in terms of production values and equipment.
Sigh. There are a lot of anguished folks out there…who remember the “good ole days,” when a camera(wo)man could feel good about what they produced at the end of the day.
But financial hard times are a reality and we don’t always get what we want.
One of the lessons to be learned is from a very old, very tiny camera – the 35mm camera. For more details, check out the information on photo.net.
1914: Oscar Barnack, employed by German microscope manufacturer Leitz, develops camera using the modern 24x36mm frame and sprocketed 35mm movie film.
THAT was just the beginning. The camera became commercially available in 1924 (Leica) and took off in the years just before WWII. By the 1960s it had pushed the standard high quality cameras into the background and for forty plus years became the standard in print news photography – and there it reigned until the advent of digital.
We seem to be poised on the cusp of another change in standards…whether broadcast shooters like it or not. While there will always be room for big bucks, high end, expensive cameras, I am convinced that the news broadcast standard is the 1/3 inch three chip pro-sumer camera…with of course, the requisite bells and whistles. XLR, manual controls, shoulder mount, good glass.
The audience may love high-end high-quality in their movies. But I suspect they will settle for excellent quality video in news and general programs. I just hope they also demand the highest production standards to go with it.
Thanks to Advancing the Story for the 25 Commandments For Journalists.
Tim Radford of the guardian.co.uk newspaer came up with this list when in a panic:
…15 or more years ago to an invitation to do some media training for a group of Elsevier editors. I began compiling them because I had just asked myself what was the most important thing to remember about writing a story, and the answer came back loud and clear: “To make somebody read it.”
My two favorites:
5. Here is a thing to carve in pokerwork and hang over your typewriter. “No one will ever complain because you have made something too easy to understand.”
6. And here is another thing to remember every time you sit down at the keyboard: a little sign that says “Nobody has to read this crap.”
Thanks to teachj for this link to the four levels of storytelling.
Most high school journalists are on level one, with a few managing to get to level two.
Most broadcast journalists are on level three, with some still struggling at level two.
Level four is for the masters…the names you remember. Charles Kuralt is probably the best known of these. Steve Hartman is another. They weave their magic with words…with interviews…nats…visuals.
Level four is the golden standard we should all strive for.
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