2015 Edition: What Camera are you Using?

Im looking to upgrade my main video camera - I shoot mostly spot news as a stringer, lots of night work so looking for good low light.

Currently main video camera is a Panasonic HMC150.

Shooting to SD or other solid state is a must. 4K quality would be a plus. Wanting to go to a shoulder style camera, probably 2/3". What would your recommendation be, and what are you currently shooting?

Thanks!
 

Necktie Boy

Well-known member
How much money do you want to spend? How will it take to payoff the camera?

If most of your business is chasing news, It seems most stations have gone with JVC's, at least in my market. For semi shoulder, the 7xx series. I haven't been out, but maybe the 8xx series is being used. The smaller 600/650 with the 23x zoom is the other popular camera. You can find the 7xx used. The other news camera seems to the Panny 370, using P2 camera. This is also a 1/3 chip camera like the JVC's.

As for 2/3 Chip cameras, I have only seen them at a top ten market. Sony offers the XDCam HD(PDW) or EX(PMW). On the Panny side, a 2000 and 3000 for news. I may have gotten the models mixed up. Someone can job in and correct me on that.

If you have happy with the form factor of the 150, Sony offers the X70. Maybe Paul will jump in since he is using one for news gathering. There are a few small cameras coming out that can do 4k, but it may be an overkill for news. Heck, we still don't have many programs in 4k. As you remember, it took local news forever to go HD.

For me, I was shooting on a 2/3 SD taped based camera for sports. Since it was 2/3's it rez up pretty nice for a SD camera. Just picked a Sony PXW-FS7 camera for production shooting. No news for this camera.
 

Starman

Well-known member
I want to make an interesting addition to this discussion. I have bringing my HPX370 P2 camera for my NBC News jobs. Most of the news department has gone P2 (the local affiliate here and elsewhere have already been primarily P2 for the last 4 years at least), and I just happened to have the same. Before that, it was HDCAM tape cameras with a Nano Flash. It's been really convenient, I just bring a P2 card to the satellite truck and feed. I have had no problem getting shallow depth of field by getting creative with my ND filters and opening up during my live shots and interviews. Also, I have plenty of light during that time. There have been some night shifts where I had to crank the gain up of course. Overall, with good light, I have provided a nice, clean, HD picture. FYI, I do NOT use the stock lens on my HPX370, I have the highest end 1/3 inch lens money can buy for the camera, with a doubler, which makes a BIG difference in picture quality. For a Nightly News Interview, I used my HDX900 with a Nano Flash for the interviewee, and my HPX370 for the reporter. I have them matched up color wise with the scene files.

The only catch is that I can't charge as much for my HPX370 off of the freelance rate book. Therefore, I have decided to start bringing my HDX900 with a Nano Flash instead. The satellite truck still has a Nano Flash for feeds, so it won't slow me down. I usually have the pre-record buffer on in both the camera and the Nano Flash and the heads on standby if it's a spot news situation.

I have also been still using my C300 for most of my corporate shoots and feature stories. It's still a very popular camera. The Sony FS7 is coming in a close second. For now, I am renting this camera as needed, since I am saving money for other things. I'm really liking the FS7. I think you have to have more support and be a little more careful with PL and ENG zooms, but it's a really nice piece of kit.
 
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