Studio will be used 2-3 times a week for shooting, and we will most likely have a fair amount of small animals coming in for demonstration. I'm hoping to ceiling-mount as much of the lighting as I can (and since it's drop ceiling, I can probably get away with it.)

I am open to a lower-price camcorder, for sure, but I wanted to try to get something with an interchangeable lens so I can have the flexibility of having a wide-angle in the field. I could use a lens adapter on the front of a fixed lens, though. Also was hoping to have a decent lens to shoot some short focal length stuff.

Any particular recommendations for a camera? Very little of what I shoot will be broadcast - I'll bet 98% of it will wind up on the web or as an MP4 HD, so I'd like to get something that shoots 1080p. Looks like the XL-H1a doesn't.

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Yes, I recommend Panasonic HMC 150 (151 in PAL land)
I does not have an interchangable lens, OTOH when zoomed completely out, it has a very wide angle, more than the others.

For the web, why not use 1280 x 720?
I have the camera I suggest above, and I use 720 all the time. Fantastic images.
Ingvar

For the web you should go with 720P, to make it easier to view for those who don't necessarily have the fastest internet access or good enough computers and graphics cards to view 1080P without choking.

With good source footage, this looks stunning also upscaled on a 1920x1200 screen (the most common size).

The XL-H1 can output 1920x1080P 4:2:2 via SDI, which you can record via a Black Magic Design card for example. That gives quality so good it is used for even some high end productions, and you don't have to spend time on tape capture afterwards.

For the room, I'd suggest having some 12.5' pipe installed between the walls near the ceiling at the 5', 10' and 15' marks. That will give you flexibility to mount your lights securely and run cables off the floor. Drop ceilings were not made to hang lights permanently, and are probably not strong enough to safely suspend more than a couple of instruments at a time.

I'd go with one or two 4' four-tube KinoFlo selects for your key light. It'll be flat, but you won't have many creative options in a room that small, especially if you're sharing it with people and animals.

Two 2' two-tube KinoFlo Selects for back lights will give you some separation and edging on the subjects.

Audio will be atrocious in that space, so any kind of wall-mounted real acoustic absorption will help. Don't waste your time with household curtains or egg cartons. Get some real acoustic panel or have a sound specialist make some from rock wool. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=Ef9&q=diy+acoustic+panels&cts=1263411855739&aq=0&oq=+diy+acoustic+pan&aqi=g2

Good ideas, everyone. What I meant about the drop ceiling is that I have the option to mount to the upper floor beams above the ceiling tiles, but the wall-to-wall pipe idea is a really good one. My idea wouldn't allow any light movement... yours does.

Any opinions about Lowel Caselites?

I live out in the boonies and will need to take a road trip in the next few weeks to look at cameras and go even further to look at lighting.

The studio will have its inherent limitations, but for most of our work, it'll do much better than what we currently have.

Thanks for all the suggestions. The Pany camcorder looks pretty darn good.

Flourescent lights can be notorious noise generators.
JJK

> Flourescent lights can be notorious noise generators.

There are no noise problems with KinoFlo selects. One of my eight Diva lights buzzes a little, but that's it.

Save yourself the road trip for lights and just buy the KinoFlo's. They're an industry standard, they're made to last, you can get them repaired easily, and there's no fluorescent light better.

Although I have a substantial lighting package these days, I still regularly use the two first-generation KinoFlo Selects I bought back in the 90's.

Amen to that. The light from KinoFlo's looks better. Their tubes are unsurpassed, and there are many little details that are missing in the otherwise acceptable Lowel CaseLites.

I would 2nd not getting the XLH1 camera. I didn't care for it very much when I used it.

As for the camera to get, I'm not sure I'd suggest the HMC 150 either. I'd be far more supportive of doing something along the lines of an EX-1 and an EX3. Same basic camera, but 3 gives you a field cam that can change lens for use in the field, and it has a full rez sensor that's larger than the HMC, and don't forget sound, are you doing lapel's or booms? or both? ( I'd suggest a good label system and something that's easy to take in the field ). I've got some sony UWP wireless Tx Rx system that works very well in the field, and some AT sub-miniature mics that I had a custom end put on to match. Works great for all my interview stuff.

Dave

"Any opinions about Lowel Caselites?"

Yes, rubbish and a waste of money. Cases on ours broke after a few trips and could not be repaired.
Your budget is tight. Buy cheap Chinese made fluro lights.They work and use the Osram tubes, the same tubes everyone else uses to light on air studios. In general the Chinese knock offs are a bit dodgy mechanically but if you're going to leave them hanging from a grid it doesn't matter.
Kinos are overpiced. Their tubes don't last long and cost a bundle. The Kino 800 we have just gathers dust, the Osram 55W tube based instruments overhshadow everything else in popularity. We get 1000s of hours out of the tubes and they're cheap because Osram sell zillions of them to studios around the world.
Come to think of it if the room has a false ceiling you could simply replace the exisiting fixtures with the ones that use HF ballasts and fit the tubes Osram make for sritical areas in hospitals. They have tubes with a CRI of around 95 from memory Doing this leaves the area pretty much untouched and therefore usable for anything.
Agree with other comments to do something about the acoustics. That could be helped by using better celing tiles, not a bad start then add panels of acoustic foam to the walls. I've also used products that are very lightweight and can be hund from a ceiling. They're designed not to become homes for bugs and dust but you might need to watch out for them casting shadows if you don't have a high ceiling.

Bob.

> The Kino 800 we have just gathers dust,

What is a KinoFlo 800?

> Your budget is tight. Buy cheap Chinese made fluro lights

The 2' systems are $1000 each http://www.filmtools.com/kiflo2se4bsy.html and the 4' are $1100. http://www.filmtools.com/kiflo4se4bsy.html Two of each along with some mounting hardware and electrical stuff is well under $5k. Hardly expensive for lights you can rely on for a decade or more. Kino Flo tubes cost a little more because they have the highest CRI possible and therefore the true-est color. They're also plastic coated so if they pop, nobody gets hurt and you won't have mercury and glass fragments all over the place.

> We get 1000s of hours out of the tubes

All fluorescent tubes degrade and their CRI value drops after much use . It's good practice to replace photographic flo lamps according to a schedule. I generally replace all my tubes every 18-24 months if they're used often.

"What is a KinoFlo 800"

KinkFlo 800

Basically 8 x "100W" tubes. We have both the daylight and tungsten tubes. I think when we bought it 2nd hand there was a set of the skintone tubes in it but they were stuffed, the plastic coating was burnt. A set of two tubes cost more than we paid for the light and one of the ballsts was also dead and needed to be repaired.

The Osram tubes hold their color pretty well, they are specifically made for televsion studios and you'll find them in lighting instruments at a considerable variant in price. We check our 15 units with a light meter, once they drop over 10% we replace the tubes. That said I've run them for well over 6,000 hours in situations where the lighting is not critical. Cool Lights have the CL-455MD which is very reasonably priced, even cheaper if you don't need the dimming capability. We don't use them, we pay considerably more for the Italian Lupo lights as they hold up better mechanically. Lupo don't try very hard to sell retail as their main business is complete studio fit outs.

If you want the Kino Flo experience then one can buy any of the cheap Chinese instruments and fit the tubes that Kino sell for their Diva range, link here. We've tried some and darned if we could see any difference but at least in the USA they're around the same price as the Osrams.

To put it another way. If I had a big budget I too would be buying Kinos. Why not buy the very best when money isn't an issue but when you've only got a limited budget you've got to make every dollar count and in this game getting the 10% extra that the top shelf gear brings to the table costs around double what the next level down kit costs.

Bob.

Most 3 chip cameras are a selling point only.

You're better off going with a lower end camera fitted with a nanoFlash. Camera's come and go - the NanoFlash can be taken to any other camera in the immediate future and provides technically broadcast quality material -and is recommended as broadcast worthy capture for the BBC - especially with the SONY EX1/EX3

Take a lower end 3 chip camera like the SONY FX- 7 (less than $2k each), add a nanoFlash - and your HDV 4:2:0 compressed footage becomes 4:2:2 footage via HDMI - buy 2 FX7's and a nanoFlash and use the leftover $$$ to do whatever is needed. Buy a lens adapter and prime lenses if you need selective DOF.

Cliff Etzel
Videographer : Producer : Web Designer
bluprojekt
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Desktop: OS: Win7 x64 | CPU: Q6600 | Mobo: Intel DG33TL | 8GB G.Skill Dual Channel RAM | Boot/Apps Drive: Seagate 160GB 7200RPM | Audio Drive: Seagate 160GB 7200RPM | Video Drive: WD 640 7200RPM Black Series | Vid Card: nVidia GeForce GT 220 1GB

Laptop: Dell Latitude D620 | C2D 2.0Ghz | 4GB G.Skill RAM | OS: Win7 x64 | Primary HD: WD 320GB 7200RPM | Video HD: WD 250GB 7200RPM

Wow... this is great. Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the input. I might need to rethink my camera choices and make that my primary purchase and select lighting based on what I have left over.

Personally, I think you should buy the camera with whatever you have "left over".

If you buy quality audio and lighting gear it can last you decades. Any pro-sumer camera you buy will be outdated in a few years.

Ingvarai-

You peaked my interest in that you are using a Panasonic HMC-150. I am looking to convert my current SD equipment to AVCHD. I'm a current and pleased user of PV9.0c for SD.

I'm an event videographer (glorified hobbyist) that is making a little money on the side doing weddings. (Around 14 per year, by word of mouth). I'm looking to build a computer around the HMC-150 and Vegas Pro 9.0c. How do I go about deciding what hardware to buy; ie, can you make any recommendations of what to use? I am not confident in building this myself, but I do have access to a Fry's, which will put components together. Any suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Bob

Hi Bob,

I am a glorified hobbyist myself! My experience is only a Canon HF 10 and now this Panasonic HMC 151 (it is 151 in PAL land). Apart form using pro equipment back in the VHS days, if that counts.

I chose the HMC based on advice in this very forum. And the more I read about other cameras, the more I thank the guys here for helping me with this. This is the right camera for me, I had no $7000 to spend. What I like about the camera:

* The price
* Very wide angle (I need this, much much more than a a large zoom)
* XLR Audio inputs with phantom power supplies (I am an audio freak more than a video guy)
* The ability to shoot 50p (yes - 50 frames progressive) I guess 60p in NTSC land
* Focus assist (zooms in and lets you focus much better)
* Various Graphs

Ok - the list can be extended. All in all - this camera has it all I think, at this price. What I added was a much larger battery, and I also purchased the Panasonic directional mic that is made for this camera. Apart from this, I have just bought a few minor things, pola filter, UV filter, and some SD cards, Class 6. The sound quality is outstanding when it comes to noise/signal ratio, as far as I can judge.
The AVCHD files work just great in Vegas. On my quadcore they play back in realtime, but I convert to MXF if I want a fluid playback with effects added. Adobe After Effects however will not work well with the raw MTS files from this camera, but AE does not like compressed media at all, as far as I know.
And I have bought a lot of additional gear that does not have anything to do with the camera itself. Lights, a jib, ladder dolly, tripod etc. etc. I hope this is an answer you can use.

Edited:
I want to add this: Yesterday I tried something I have not tried before, I connected my camera to my Pioneer 50" plasma, using an HDMI cable. And I was blown away by the quality, the sharpness, the colors. And this from 1280x720, 50p. I though I would stay with DVDs for a year or so, but watching this quality, I will go for bluray any day now. I obviously have not fully realized how good this camera is, by watching my video on the PC. When this is said, I am sure other modern cameras also will make good video.
Ingvar

Ingvar

Forgive me getting back to you so much later. I'm out and about and don't stay stationed at my PC. Thanks so much for your response. I was really getting "spooked" by all the forum chatter about AVCHD not working very well in Vegas.

Ingvar-Can you tell me or point me to some forum talk about what hardware to use? Specifically I'm wondering what motherboard to use, whether dual processors are needed, or just a fast quad core, what chip is best, what video card is best (and 512 or 1 GB), whether I should set up RAID 0 (I'm really getting out of my comfort zone here), and it sounds that optimally 4 drives would be the way to go. Did you build your own system? Again, thank you for your time!


Bob

Ok, I'll make this comment, and leave it alone.

Do NOT put AVCHD on the timeline. It's probably the poorest editing codec available in the consumer space. Poor color structure, poor compression structure for editing, horrible generation resilience. It is ridiculously easy to convert to a real editing codec and use it.

What CPU you buy, what video card, etc., will not matter in the least. None will make doing any real work with AVCHD on the timeline palletable. Can you stick it on the timeline and get playback? Yes. As soon as you start to do anything with it, it will fall apart. Which is why ANY decent pro app will transcode the footage from the get-go.

You want to be one of the masses here who complain every other day about their poor AVCHD performance? Go right ahead. Or you can keep some money in your pocket, keep some gray hair off your head, and get a better final result to boot, by not putting that mess on the timeline in the first place.

Good luck with your choice.

PerroneFord:
Do NOT put AVCHD on the timeline

Too late! I have already done it! LOL
I have no idea why you wrote this. The fact is - I do not have $7000 to spend on a camera, but I had $4000. So I bought my HMC. Now, this camera records to SD cards, using the AVCHD format. I do put AVCHD on the timeline all the time! When this is done, I never compress any video, until it is time to output to DVD, Internet or Bluray.
Again - I have no idea why you keep writing things like this. What do you suggest me to do instead?
Ingvar

Bob C:
I was really getting "spooked" by all the forum chatter about AVCHD not working very well in Vegas.

For the record, today I got my new toy, a Panasonic Lumix FT1
While taking acceptable pictures, i bought it to have a super small video camera, to put in my pocket. It records to SD cards, AVCHD Lite. I was excited to watch my first video, so I first loaded it into VCL Player. It looked good, but had some strange artifacts when the camera had moved fast. However, I dropped the MTS files on the Vegas time line, and they look great!

About the PC - I built my own, using these components:
Mobo: ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
CPU: Intel Quad Core
RAM: 8 Gb
I have 4 harddisks, two Raptor 70 Gb and two Raptor 150Gb
The two pairs are set up in two RAID 0 pairs
NVIDIA Geforce 7600
The PC is already 3 years old - acquired before I even knew what AVCHD is..

In the mean time, new hardware has entered the market. Now I would go for an i7 CPU. Dual processors will mean a server board for the i7, and I am not sure if Windows or the mobo architecture really can take advantage of 16 cores (2 x 8).
Good luck, please ask again if I can answer, maybe you can help me the next time. I am about to upgrade, so I ask myself the same questions as you do.
Ingvar

I keep writing this because people keep getting red frames, black frames, keep having preview issues, out of memory issues, and other problems with Vegas because they keep putting AVCHD and other h.264 based media on the timeline.

If your workflow is such that you put raw files on the timeline, snip in a few places and write out to DVD/BluRay and you have no problems, then great for you. But to walk someone else down what is potentially a frustrating path is just wrong. At least TELL him about potential pitfalls before he spends his money. He's got an employer who is expecting a professional product and a professional workflow.