RDaC
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Nov 15, 2007, 12:16 AM
Post #5 of 10
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Re: [RDaC] HDV Setup Suggestion
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Final Picks and Cost:
Canon XH A1 - $3250 x 2 - $6500
Canon HV20 - $800 x 3 - $2400
nNovia QCHD - $1450 x 5 - $7200
Ok, I went a bit over: $16,100. But think about what you get...you don't have to spend as much time capturing footage, you eliminate unnecessary head wear on your cameras, and you save your sanity by not having to worry about swapping tapes on all those cameras.
This represents a five camera setup with five 120gb discs that will last you several hours. You'll have a main camera, a backup main, and three kickers, which should be enough to guarantee coverage even at a large event. There's a nice promotion over at nNovia this month that will get you the drive for free plus a shoulder mount kit which comes with a nice, big battery. Also, since you're buying all Canon, color matching should be a breeze as long as you maintain a consistent setup.
If you can get them to spend a bit more, here's some additional suggestions, in no particular order:
- If you don't have cases, spend $200 on a Pelican with some wheels. I think the 1650 should work for all the cameras and such. It might be a little tight, but should be bearable, and the wheels will save your back.
- You could get a FlowPod. This thing is awesome...it's a stabilizer and a monopod all in one. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a lot of buzz about this device. It's $500 for the 'pod, the case and the low-angle kit.
- Try on a $200 camera crane with $100 Bescor motorized head. Thank you eBay for lowering the price of those things. Grab a standard tripod for a PA speaker, and you're good to go. You can get the casters for said tripod as well. This setup would work well with one of the small cameras. You could add a small LCD monitor to the mix, but I'm currently experimenting with an interesting alternative. More on that later.
- Buy a second (or third!) monitor. If you're just using a single small screen, you'll more than double your productivity. Also, some of the monitors (such as some Dells) can be used as dedicated HD monitor as well. For about $200 each, you should be set.
- A wireless mic set would be nice. I recommend Sennheiser, but other folks have had good luck with other brands too. Get two if you can afford it, and a standard hand mic plug in transmitter as well. This should cover you in most any situation. Also pick up a 'Musician's Survival Kit' from Hosa. It'll give you a good start on emergency adapters for tapping into sound boards. Expect to spend $500-1000 on all your sound equipment.
- Buy a HD projector and screen to show off your work, or get a big screen LCD. There's a 40" Sony 1080p one over at Fry's for $1,300 right now. This is another one of those items that will make its money back by not having to rent one. I used a 32" as my primary monitor forever, and it was worth it. I didn't even need my secondary monitor, for the most part, and my timeline fit so nice across it. I wouldn't get plasma, as per they don't transport well unless you get hold of a commercial-grade unit.
- Extra batteries. I kept two of the biggest possible for each camera I owned, as well as rechargeables. I recommend the Eneloop Power Pack, as per many folks report that they don't die like other brands do. So far, I've heard that they're one of the few types that work well in constant-use, low drain devices like remotes and clocks. When the nice rechargeables came out, I wasted a ton of money on the supposed 'high energy' Energizer rechargeables. We chewed through a ton of those the first year. It seemed that they just weren't that great at holding up to our repetitive usage. I finally got sick of looking at $30 worth of batteries lying in the trashcan, and supposedly these work.
- You could always buy a laptop. I just picked one up at Wally World for $350 that has a nice, bright widescreen perfect for HD field monitoring. I've got to add a firewire card, but other than that, it was a great buy. You could also just bite the bullet and get a Macbook Pro, too. What a great machine to do SDEs with!
- A light kit is preferable. I got one of the Lowell DVCreator kits. Go with either the 44 or 55 kit, and you should be prepared for most situations. This will set you back a little more than a grand, but it's worth it. It'll pay for itself in one or two shoots vs. renting them. I highly recommend you also pick up an extra set of bulbs for every light in the kit. They're pricey, but nothing's worse than having a bulb go out on you and having to scramble to rearrange your setup to fit or have your footage no longer match because you were short a light.
- Again, I don't know your situation or how much equipment you have on hand, but you'll probably need tripods. I've used Bogen for years and they're worth the extra cost. When looking at legs, keep this in mind: although center connects leave you better off for support, don't get them. They'll end up limiting your flexibility later when you need to straddle something. I find that the ball head works best when I'm on the run. I can normally get the sticks in some sort of position, then adjust the head accordingly. On all of the cameras listed above, the 501 head should do a great job. You can get the 503 if you feel the need to on the bigger cameras, but overall it shouldn't be an issue. Also, get extra arms if you can. Having two vs. one point of contact with your tripod will make your pans smoother. Remember, your tripod is the most important investment you will make equipment-wise. A good set of sticks will last you throughout your career, so spend the money and make your life easier.
- Buy a pro level warranty to cover your equipment. I've heard some people just buying it at a big box to get the consumer warranty, and whereas that works, if they ever find out that you've used it commercially, you're toast. I don't think the pro warranty costs much more than the in-store ones anyway. Buy it for 4 or 5 years, as most things start messing up (if they're going to) around 3 years. Since the warranty is transferable in most cases, it adds value to the resale of your equipment when the time comes.
- TRAINING. First off, I'm not saying this to promote myself, but this is just personal experience. Buying all this nice equipment will mean little to nothing if you don't know how to use it. Get with whomever you can and get trained on it. Even if it's just a little, it'll help you hit the ground running and eliminate some of your downtime getting started. The worst thing is getting everything you want, getting really excited, then getting really frustrated (or botching a job) because it didn't work. I did it when I started out, and I'd recommend to anyone that they make some sort of training in whatever method they learn best a priority, and keep up with it.
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Rex Hollingsworth
Multimedia Specialist & Trainer
Adobe Certified Expert
RDaC - Research, Development and Creativity
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