Best HD camera for untrained scientists?

[Dave Blackham]

I recall reading the Sony EX series (EX1 & EX3) cameras are approved for use on the Discovery channel.

Quoted:

"Discovery HD has 3 levels; gold, silver & bronze. 35mm and some of the 1" imager cameras are gold, the bulk of production HD cameras such as the Sony F900, Varicam, HDX900 are all silver. HDV, HVX200 and all SD material are bronze.
Bronze has severe restrictions on length of time within a show and the use has to be justified with no alternative available.
Silver is fully accepted for the entire length of programming on Discovery HD.

The EX cameras are silver level so Discovery is putting them on the same acceptance level with F900, Varicam & HDX900. Note the HVX200 did not make it nor did any HDV."

from -> http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/142/867456#867457

They are. But if you use them with a Nanoflash recorder they are way better and conform to a far better spec with 1920 x 1080 4.2.2 recording, Id suggest 100mbit long gop is fine for most use. It is 8bit though but still better than the EX onboard capture.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Exactly. I call those crazy rigs people build with DSLRs, microphones, monitors and grips Frankenstein-cameras. Having said that, handing them a 7D might be the best way to meet our technical requirements and match the other footage. Am i crazy?

I see two major flaws with the 7D option. One is that focusing the camera can be a real problem if you just want them to shoot video. Also, the camera stops recording after about 12 minutes. It's no big deal to hit the record button again after that, but this can be a problem for shooting interviews or video documentation, etc..

The Kingston 133X 32GB CF cards can be bought for about $76 each and they work wonderfully well with the 7D. Hold over 1000 stills at full quality or about 85 minutes of video ( I think), but I haven't filled one up with video to test.

For the 7D, if you go that route, take a serious look at the EF-S 15-85 zoom. It's a nice compact lens that gives excellent wide angle for interior use. It ramps the iris though - It's F3.5 at 15mm, but F5.6 at 85mm. It has some vignetting at 15mm, but nothing that bad - I actually kinda like it. And this lens has less distortion than the EF-S 18-103, or 18-135 models. The lens creep on those two longer zooms is a complete joke. None of the EF-S lenses will hold focus through the zoom range, they don't even pretend to try. Of course, there's the dirt-cheap 18-55 lens too.

The 7D has good low-light performance. Video is pretty much noise free up to ISO 1000 and even at 1250 in the right conditions. ISO 1600 is still pretty darn good. The EF-S lens is softer than the nicer L glass, but I actually prefer this on the 7D for general video use as it helps to combat some of the aliasing.

Anyway, all things considered, if I were giving a camera to a couple guys who don't really know much about cameras... I think I would give them a more conventional camcorder. Something they can just turn on and start shooting without trying to auto-focus on something and then worrying about keeping everything in focus while the camera is rolling. Take a look at the Canon HF S11, which is about $1400. It has 64GB of internal memory and can also accept SDHC Class-4 or better. A 32GB SDHC-C6 from Transcend or Sandisk is about $90. The internal 64GB will record approximately 6 hours (I think) at full quality. It shoots 1080i AVCHD. The camera will also do 24p and 30p embedded into 60i. 10X optical zoom, the FF35 equivalent would be something like 43mm to 435mm.

Sony makes one very similar at about the same price too. It has a 120GB HDD instead of built-in FLASH and instead of SDHC it takes Memory Stick Pro. It has a little longer zoom (12X), but I think the Canon unit has better optics overall. Other than that, both cameras are very very similar. The Sony model is something like the HDR-520 or something.. But in my recent search for a couple camcorders, I went with the Canon (HF S10, not the brand new S11)... I didn't like the thought of mechanical hard drives that Sony and others are using since we were going to be using them in extreme cold. And I'm not a fan of Memory Stick so...

If you want to spend more money and give the guys a better camera, then the Sony EX cameras are probably the way to go.

 

[Stephen Strangways]

I just recommended an HMC40 to a client that wants to shoot their own B-roll, with great trepidation... but it's just B-roll.

You say the expedition footage is a critical part of the program... which is going to be delivered to some very particular networks... man, I'd fight long and hard to send an experienced camera operator.

You might get lucky with one or more of the scientists, but if you don't... what's the worst case scenario if the footage sucks? Does it kill your whole program? Do you spend a massive fortune to shoot a re-creation later? Can you afford to take the chance?

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Not to mention, won't the scientists be too busy to also be shooting footage? It's a little like asking the groom to shoot the wedding video, isn't it?

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

I recall reading the Sony EX series (EX1 & EX3) cameras are approved for use on the Discovery channel. ...

I think its worth noting that the DSLR camera's are not approved by Discovery, BBC or any other "picky" HD broadcast outfits.

If I had to guess, the 7D, and its ilk, will be accepted by Discovery as Bronze, when used with L lenses or comparable. They'll probably make a lot of exceptions for people with simple shots where moire and rolling shutter shouldn't be an issue- because under ideal circumstances the camera is definitely Silver level or better.

Of course, they'll probably also specify second system sound.

The DSLR's sound like a really bad match unless there is a well trained dedicated camera operator.

Of course they can be problematic even with a full crew. I know from the results of a feature I just shot on a 7D where I had a 1AC, a 2AC, a dedicated sound guy and full ingest facilities.

If it has to be the scientists then definitely a "real" video camera.

My main concern with the EX1 is that either the budget will skyrocket due to media, or you have loads of ingest to worry about.

I wouldn't trust this sort of thing to SxS to SDHC adapters.

So, unless there is budget to send tons of SxS cards on the shoot an EX1 is probably back to having at least a dedicated ingest computer, if not an operator as well.