Hiding Under Here
Well-known member
Again I am killing time, avoiding my accounting. A few random observations....
The price of used SDX900s has fallen dramatically. Here's a camera that was selling new almost two years ago for $26,000. Now you can purchase a decent one on eBay for about nine grand. And used Varicams are all, generally, under $20K on eBay. Of course those are older, heavily used rigs. Still the price of used gear says something interesting about it's "value" to the community potentially interested in buying it.
Here's what you don't see for sale on eBay -- wide angle HD lenses. Very very rare. One or two come up per month. You also never see HDX900s for sale used. Sure I have seen a couple. But they go very quickly, and for about $20K with a viewfinder. That's a bargain, too, if the camera is in good shape.
Looks like we lost "onemanbanned". He hasn't posted in weeks. I thought he was a solid contributor and I hate to see him go. His kind of comet-arcing-through-the-sky-only-to-burst-into-a-ball-of-flames type of poster has a number of predecessors here. I'm one of them. I remember coming in, posting in a prolific flurry because I discovered how fun writing could be, only to get caught up in fights with Ivan. Newcomers don't know Ivan because he, too, suffered the comet-arc fate. You write a lot. Then you want other people to change the way they think because your writing has helped convince you of your own opinions. Problem is, not everybody reading you is as malleable as you'd like and it becomes frustrating when they refuse to be swayed by your zealotry. I approached writing here that way once. When I insanely worried whether Ivan was going to come over to my house and confront me (he's from Vancouver, I'm in Boston) I realized my paranoia was out of control. So I stepped away for a few weeks, maybe for a couple of months, I don't recall. Then I returned, calmer, less psycho, with respect for other people's opinions. Ivan is gone for good. We patched things up and he and I talk via email every now and then.
I'm jealous of these guys who have Sony asking them their opinions about how to engineer a video camera. I wish someone would ask me my opinion -- not that I have much to say. I probably don't. But I'd like to tell other freelancers that Sony cared about what I thought, that a certain switch got moved because of my opinion. Plus, there HAS to be some cool swag involved. And if nothing less, you get to eat good sushi on the trips to Tokyo.
One minute I'm convinced the PDW700 is the solution to all our problems, the next I'm fretting that it's just another patch on the problem. I talk to a lot of freelancers. Everyone has an opinion or some piece of gossip to pass along. One of the troubling whispers I keep hearing is that CBS is interested in ultimately moving to P2-like hard media, not disks. If you look at NBC keeping its decision at bay for what looks like two years (based on the F900 arrangement with Sony), and if you consider that ABC isn't convinced of HD XDCam's efficacy and has stated its interest in solid media, then the PDW700 begins to look weaker as an investment. Factor in, also, that the PDW700 has an output for a solid memory card recorder and you have to wonder. My belief is that if you are considering the PDW700, don't do it based on a hunch that work will follow. Not at least until the format starts to become "proven".
I'm also a little regretful that I didn't go to NAB yet again. B-Roll.net has become a sort of fraternity for television photographers across the United States and in other english speaking countries. Watching the video from the show where the B-Roll guys are walking around has brought a smile (or two) to my face. Here they are at this enormous trade show shooting mildly passable footage like every other tourist in the building. Yet, in truth, these are the bricks-and-mortar professionals who start the building process every day they unload their vehicle at the assigned meeting point. I am amazed at how young Kevin is and marvel at the web-stop he has built with help from a consortium of knuckle-heads, some of whom just happen to be very adept with a keyboard.
The price of used SDX900s has fallen dramatically. Here's a camera that was selling new almost two years ago for $26,000. Now you can purchase a decent one on eBay for about nine grand. And used Varicams are all, generally, under $20K on eBay. Of course those are older, heavily used rigs. Still the price of used gear says something interesting about it's "value" to the community potentially interested in buying it.
Here's what you don't see for sale on eBay -- wide angle HD lenses. Very very rare. One or two come up per month. You also never see HDX900s for sale used. Sure I have seen a couple. But they go very quickly, and for about $20K with a viewfinder. That's a bargain, too, if the camera is in good shape.
Looks like we lost "onemanbanned". He hasn't posted in weeks. I thought he was a solid contributor and I hate to see him go. His kind of comet-arcing-through-the-sky-only-to-burst-into-a-ball-of-flames type of poster has a number of predecessors here. I'm one of them. I remember coming in, posting in a prolific flurry because I discovered how fun writing could be, only to get caught up in fights with Ivan. Newcomers don't know Ivan because he, too, suffered the comet-arc fate. You write a lot. Then you want other people to change the way they think because your writing has helped convince you of your own opinions. Problem is, not everybody reading you is as malleable as you'd like and it becomes frustrating when they refuse to be swayed by your zealotry. I approached writing here that way once. When I insanely worried whether Ivan was going to come over to my house and confront me (he's from Vancouver, I'm in Boston) I realized my paranoia was out of control. So I stepped away for a few weeks, maybe for a couple of months, I don't recall. Then I returned, calmer, less psycho, with respect for other people's opinions. Ivan is gone for good. We patched things up and he and I talk via email every now and then.
I'm jealous of these guys who have Sony asking them their opinions about how to engineer a video camera. I wish someone would ask me my opinion -- not that I have much to say. I probably don't. But I'd like to tell other freelancers that Sony cared about what I thought, that a certain switch got moved because of my opinion. Plus, there HAS to be some cool swag involved. And if nothing less, you get to eat good sushi on the trips to Tokyo.
One minute I'm convinced the PDW700 is the solution to all our problems, the next I'm fretting that it's just another patch on the problem. I talk to a lot of freelancers. Everyone has an opinion or some piece of gossip to pass along. One of the troubling whispers I keep hearing is that CBS is interested in ultimately moving to P2-like hard media, not disks. If you look at NBC keeping its decision at bay for what looks like two years (based on the F900 arrangement with Sony), and if you consider that ABC isn't convinced of HD XDCam's efficacy and has stated its interest in solid media, then the PDW700 begins to look weaker as an investment. Factor in, also, that the PDW700 has an output for a solid memory card recorder and you have to wonder. My belief is that if you are considering the PDW700, don't do it based on a hunch that work will follow. Not at least until the format starts to become "proven".
I'm also a little regretful that I didn't go to NAB yet again. B-Roll.net has become a sort of fraternity for television photographers across the United States and in other english speaking countries. Watching the video from the show where the B-Roll guys are walking around has brought a smile (or two) to my face. Here they are at this enormous trade show shooting mildly passable footage like every other tourist in the building. Yet, in truth, these are the bricks-and-mortar professionals who start the building process every day they unload their vehicle at the assigned meeting point. I am amazed at how young Kevin is and marvel at the web-stop he has built with help from a consortium of knuckle-heads, some of whom just happen to be very adept with a keyboard.
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