HDR-FX1 Questions???

I have a question;the Sony HDR-FX1 compresses the HD 1080i to MPEG-2 on a miniDV tape. When you import it into a NLE (for me FCP on a G5) it would be so compressed, how is this to edit with? How is the chroma Keying compared to an uncompressed SD DV such as the AG-DVX100A? I want 16:9 and a film look but I want the highest quality in picture. I can apply filters in post to give the HD a film look. I want to make a movie with a-lot of composting which is the better way the sony or the AG-DVX100A with an anamorphic lens?
 
Thanks

hey, thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it. I do have some experience with directing and editing but my software is way behind the times. I used Videowave by Roxio which is really probably for just those hobbyist such as myself. But now I'd like to get serious.

Do you guys know of any seminars or crash course in California about film directing?

Thanks. Does anyone have an experience buying film stocks and renting camera equipments here?
 
It should be a nicer picture, just not as much overall resolution as the FX1 or Z1

Depends. As far as I *know* the CCD specs haven't been released. It is true though (which you probably meant) that the codec used stores a little less luminance information than HDV but twice the color info.

Honestly I'm very interested in seeing what Panasonic brings... I haven't been impressed with the HD100 so I worry a bit :(.
 
Everything I've heard is it will be 720p. No doubt, it will be a helluva camera no matter what the end specs are, and many indies will use it. But as it stands many indies can own an FX1 or Z1 NOW and shoot now and work now, or they can wait, as theyve been told to do for the past 7...8 months? and 6 months more for the panasonic. And of course, with an appropriate card, not many of the indies, certainly the ones here, can afford over $5k for a camera let alone 10.
 
Oh I completely agree.

I'm 100% sure the camera will record 1080p though this will be recorded in an interlaced stream just as the DVX does with its 24p. I wish there were a cheaper option than P2 but I suppose I'll just have to wait and see how that turns out...
 
ELLENTIGER said:
Do you guys know of any seminars or crash course in California about film directing?

Thanks. Does anyone have an experience buying film stocks and renting camera equipments here?

Post from a while ago but oh well. :)

New York Film Academy has a variety of courses, based out of Universal Studios, from short 8-week intensives to multi-year programmes.

Kinda expensive but very hands-on, it appears.

Can't help with camera rentals, but as far as film stocks... if you want new, fresh stock get it direct from Kodak.

For unused second-hand film stock, there are places like Film Emporium & Dr. Raw Stock that have re-cans & short-ends for substantial savings. I don't have the links for those handy, but they should be easily googlable.

:cool:
 
Personally I don't see why people would use the new Panasonic camera. If I was shooting a feature for $10k I wouldn't want to have to drag a data copying person around with a laptop, big hard drive and a tape drive to do nothing all day other than copy video from P2 cards to the laptop and back it up to tape. If I was shooting for $100k, I'd rent or blag a real HD camera with a decent lens rather than a Handycam.

About the only use I can see where it makes sense is if you're shooting entirely blue-screen, where you can have a PC set up right by the camera and copy data over straight away. Otherwise it seems to me the small potential picture quality improvement over HDV will be blown away by the hassle and cost of dealing with the P2 recording.
 
I saw the new Panasonic HVX200 or whatever they are calling it at CineFest 2005 in denver over the weekend. It is definitiely the way to go in my mind. It is NOT an HDV camera, in the normal sense. It does record to tape, but also records to P2 cards that are pcmcia data cards that you can put into your computer and pull the files off directly. Right now they have an 8Gb card (only 8 mins of HD) but I heard rumblings that a 100Gb card is available from another manufacturer. Pretty slick little arrangement, No drop outs and now "capturing" to go to the NLE. The best part of this camera is that you can record SD, DVCPro and DVCPro HD(1080i/p) The image quality is amazing and the camera is remarkably familiar. The brochure does mention 60i but the sales guys were suggesting that off speed recording similar to the varicam would likely be supported in a few predefined steps (12 fps, 48fps, etc.)

Just thought I would share. :)

Oh yeah, they said it would be available in Dec.
 
Sounds great Joe, have you priced out everything you will need to support the HVX yet?

On paper the Viper sounds great too, heck so does shooting 35mm until you realize most normal people wont be able to afford one of those cameras in their lifetime.

FX1 + Beachtek + DvFilmmaker + Fully Upgraded Computer to handle HDV + + + still should cost less than the base cost of the HVX let alone the media and computer to support it.
 
The camera is going to be under $10k, but the media costs are not an ongoing expense. The P2 cards are reusable and backedup in the same way you would back up any computer data. It is possible that this will not catch on, but I think this or something similar will win in the end, because it a managable way to do the direct to HD that seems to be getting popular.

That said, yes I would prefer to shoot on 35, but If I am going to go video, i would rent one of these for a short or buy one for a feature.
 
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