Bryan Tanori (the main guy over at The Tanori Group) is a good friend of mine and also the proud new owner of a Panasonic AG-HVX200 P2 based HD camcorder. I consulted with him during the purchase to help plan his camera package and he returned the favor by bringing his new camera up to my neighborhood this past Saturday so we could take it out in the field and get some hands-on experience shooting with it.
More on Review: Hands-On Experience With The Panasonic AG-HVX200

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By: Andrew Seltz

I do a lot of corporate video projects that involve traveling alone with my gear in tow. I have spent many mornings pulling multiple roller bags through the airport with a tripod case on a shoulder strap sliding of one shoulder and my carry-on bag sliding off of the other. Getting around with a pile of bags and cases can be a real pain, and bringing a cart or dolly is just one more piece of extra baggage to check onto the plane. Well, no more!

Porter Case to the Rescue

The company I work for recently upgraded my equipment and I was able to order a complete new camera package. I chose to order a Porter Case for the camera instead of buying the manufacturer’s case. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

This past weekend I traveled on a shoot and was able to carry 2 cameras, 2 tripods, my suitcase (mostly filled with extra gear), and my laptop bag with ease! I flipped out the handle on one case, stacked everything else on top, and secured everything with the built in tie-down strap. I was able to quickly stack and unstack things as I loaded them into my car, got onto shuttle busses, and checked in at the airport.

Porter Case Even Save Me Money

When I got to the check-in line at the airport I was surprised to find that my new camera case was small enough to take as carry-on baggage. My b-camera operator and I carried the cameras onto the plane (and reduced the risk of having them abused by baggage handlers). This saved me over $100 in extra fees that I am used to paying for when traveling.

The Porter Case comes with several layers of blank foam padding that you can cut and shape to fit all of the gear you need to hold. It took a little creativity to fit everything in, but I got a Sony Z1U HDV camera, 4 high capacity batteries, cables, remote, battery charger, shotgun mike with wind screen, wide angle lens, and a Century matte box with rails packed into the case with enough of padding to keep everything safe.

It was a little bit of work customizing the foam padding, but well worth the effort. I have all of my essential gear packed neatly in one case.

The Porter Cases are not perfect (but almost!) My biggest complaint is that there is no handle on the top of the case. Everytime I put the bar handle down to stow the case, I found myself reaching for a handle that wasn’t there. There is a handle on the side, but I kept instinctually looking for one on top. (All of the rolling luggage I have is designed this way, so I’m used to it.)

I also wish the latches on the case were a little more rugged. They are very sleek briefcase type locks.

I had to load up my camera in a big hurry at one point, in order to catch my ride back to the hotel. I didn’t get everything packed perfectly and the locks didn’t close properly - but I couldn’t tell because the case stayed shut. While I was dragging the bag along, it popped open. Nothing fell out, but I got a horrific image in my mind of the case opening up in the hands of a baggage handler and a $5000 camera package spilling out onto the tarmac. A luggage strap will help here, but I wish they had just used a more sturdy latch. Thanks to the small size of the case, I plan to always carry it onto the plane too.

Without hesitation, I can say that the Porter Case is one of the best investments I’ve made in gear this year! If you travel - GET ONE TODAY!

Visit Porter Case Website
Purchase a Porter Case

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J&R is a huge audio/video/electronics store located here in New York. They always have good prices on gear, but from May 11-17, they are having their big Camera Expo and Sale.

If you are in Manhattan, head downtown and checkout all the great cameras they have to offer.

If you’re not in the city, you can still get a great deal by visiting their website.

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I had to make a very difficult choice recently. Unexpectedly, I received approvals to purchase a new High Definition video camera and had to hastily put together a purchase order for a new camera package. We’re talking about a budget in the low 5 figures, so I had the money to buy whatever I wanted and I was the person deciding what was needed. But, the choice was hard to make.

My HD Camera Dilemma

For the past year I’ve been doing a lot of research about the emerging HDV and low end HD video camera market. I’ve read and re-read all of the whitepapers and sales copy. I’ve attended the DV Expo, the post NAB gathering at Able Cinetech, and various seminars by Sony and Adobe to get more info and put my hands on the technology. I’ve asked questions, read magazines, studied workflows and more to prepare myself to advocate for upgrades at my corporate job. And I fell in lust with the Panasonic AG-HVX200.

When I saw my first demo of the AG-HVX200 (read DigitalContentProducer.com’s review) at DV Expo East this year, I fell in love with the idea of recording directly to digital files on the P2 cards (no more digitizing), having no moving parts on the camera, and being able to record full DVCPro HD footage, at multiple frame rates, on a sub-$10,000 camera. The achilles heel of this camera is that it only records HD to the P2 card and, at full resolution DVCPro HD, it only records about 10 minutes of video on the currently available P2 cards before you have to dump to a hard drive and clear the card (bigger cards will be available in the future.) There is a MiniDV tape mechanism in the camera, but it only records SD video - there is no HDV-to-tape option.

My production training was done with film cameras, so I’m used to the idea of breaking up the work into 10 minute chunks - that’s a pretty typical record time for a reel of film. I was fully prepared to adjust my working style to accomodate this limitation. I was expecting to wear a portable hard drive on a belt and dump the footage to disc as I went. But, when I did the math, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to store enough footage on the available portable drives to manage a typical project.

I often spend 2 or 3 days in the field recording interviews and generating anywhere from 6 to 10 hours of footage. Usually I’m working out of the back of a rented mini-van with limited assistance. I would need to have portable back-up drives, a laptop, and power supplies in tow to keep up with the data, plus a robust back-up solution back at the office for archiving. It was just a bad fit.

My HDV Camcorder Solution

The Sony HVR-Z1U turned out to be the best solution for my needs (read DigitalContentProducer.com’s Review.) Since most of my work is interviews, the limitations of HDV compression should not be a problem. The tape stock is cheap, easy to find, and a built-in archiving solution. When they become available, I’ll get a Focus Enhancements Firestore FS-4 HD Pro hard disk recorder for direct to disk recording. I’ll just have to get used to using a tripod for everything and stay away from handheld work - the quick set-up capabilities of the Sachtler tripod I ordered should make this transition less disruptive to my typical run-and-gun shooting style.

I ordered the camera with a full accessory kit (mattebox w/rails, filter set, tripod, HDV VTR, tripod, field monitor, shotgun mike, LCD camera light, travel case, and lots of extra batteries.) Look for an article soon about my experiences setting-up this new kit and shooting test footage. I took lots of photos.

The Bottom Line

There is a ton of cool gear out there. You can spend all day staring at the features of the various solutions. But, ultimately, it is the needs of your productions that must drive your decisions. I’m sure I’ll use the AG-HVX200 at some point, but it was the wrong solution for this need.

Does anyone out there need a DP for a project that will be on the AG-HVX200? Call me! I’m ready to go.
The Go-To Guy!

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