Documentary Video Boot Camp, January 2009, Photo by Anne Marie Stein

The four sessions being offered this summer are:

• June 6 – 10: Documentary Video Boot Camp with yours truly.
• June 13 – 17: Producing the Documentary with Maria Agui Carter
• June 20 – 24: The Documentary Camera with Stephen Maing
• June 27 – July 1: Editing the Documentary with Bill Anderson

For course descriptions and instructor biographies visit the Documentary Filmmaking A-Z page on the MassArt web site. You can register by calling MassArt Professional and Continuing Education at 617.879.7200. You are welcome to contact me if you have specific questions about the Documentary Video Boot Camp.

Today, writing with a camera has yet to achieve the expressiveness Astruc envisioned. Astruc would have loved MTV (at least back when they actually showed lots of music videos, I fondly remember watching MTV during its first three years, I thought I was witnessing the cinematic avant-garde going mainstream), anything that challenges mainstream film practice. Astruc writes the future of cinema will revolve around the director as auteur, which was an important idea behind the French New Wave. Fast forwarding to the present, personal documentaries–for example, Sink or Swim (Su Friedrich, 1990), Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette, 2003), and Sherman’s March (Ross McElwee, 1986)–demonstrate how cinema might very well have surpassed the novel as the dominant narrative form of a new generation.

Astruc’s idea of film as a language independent of literature provides a theoretical and historical tie-in to what is happening today, as cinema is becoming more personal, a form of visual writing, perhaps (dare I say) even eclipsing the novel, as our current generation seems to be returning to a new form of visual orality, and possibly, eventually, abandoning (perhaps too strong a word) the written word. I shudder as I write this, for I love to read and value the written word, there are reasons this blog post is in the form of words, not a visual essay, I strive for a balance between written/verbal and visual communication, for they represent two modes of knowing, each with unique strengths and weaknesses (is a topic best covered in a book or a movie?), however, I observe with anxiety the decline in reading, and I wonder if it is inevitable, as our modes of communication become more visual, perhaps it is evolution and not decline I’m not sure, but Astruc’s essay helps to assuage my anxiety. For better or worse, we are rapidly moving into an age of visuality.

Photo from The New Wave (Edited by Peter Graham, Doubleday & Company, 1968, p. 17).

The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era

Mitchell suggests that after believing for over a hundred years in the notion of objective truth in photography (read film), its hegemony as a reliable witness has come to an end with digital imaging (read digital video). Since the ontology of documentary film (shot on film) is closely tied to that of photography, the effect of digital video on documentary is very similar to that of digital imaging on photography, except that maybe the house of cards has fallen in a different manner, since cinema is “truth at 24 frames per second” as Jean-Luc Godard once said, compared to a picture being worth a thousand words.

True to Marshall McLuhan’s maxim, the content of every new medium is the previous medium. Digital video, when compared to motion picture film, is no different. To suggest that digital imaging contains film is not to suggest that there aren’t several significant philosophical differences in their respective underpinnings. Cinematography is based on photography and digital cinema imaging is based on digital imaging. As Mitchell writes,

…digital imaging technology represents a new “configuration of intention [and] focuses a powerful (though frequently ambivalent and resisted) desire to dismantle the rigidities of photographic seeing and to extend visual discourse beyond the depictive conventions and presumed certitudes of the photographic record. (p. 59)

Without the reliable “indexical” reference of photography, it becomes difficult to claim “I was there” or “this really happened” or “this is evidence of an event,” and documentary, which was already on shaky ground in terms of truth claims, is now thrown into a full fledge ontological crisis. A large number of journalists, scientists, and documentary filmmakers find the malleability of the photographic image disturbing.

We are still in the process of developing a comprehensive theoretical framework to deal with the malleability of images. Mitchell ends Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era with,

…the emergence of digital imaging has irrevocably subverted [...] certainties [of recorded facts], forcing us to adopt a far more wary and more vigilant interpretive stance [...] and confronted us with the inherent instabilities and indeterminacies of [...] meaning. (p. 225)

and continues,

…as we enter the post-photographic era, we must face once again the ineradicable fragility of our ontological distinctions between the imaginary and the real, and the tragic elusiveness of the Cartesian dream. (p. 225)

and thus the possibility of documentary truth comes to an end. Or does it? Truth, whatever we make of it in documentary, is a notion that has never relied exclusively on the photographic image. Rumors of the death of the possibility of truth claims in documentary have been greatly exaggerated. How “truth” is constructed is a complex process that has always involved more than just a dependency on the photographic image, which was never such a reliable witness in the first place.

In his article “From Real to Reel: Entangled in Non-Fiction Film” in Theorizing the Moving Image (Cambridge University Press, 1996), Noël Carroll argues that,

In any given field of research or argument, there are patterns of reasoning, routines for assessing evidence, means of weighing the comparative significance of different types of evidence, and standards for observations, experimentation and for the use of primary and secondary sources that are shared by practitioners in that field. Abiding by these established practices is, at any given time, is believed to be the best method for getting at the truth.

Thus, since photographic evidence is only part of the system of evidence that filmmakers can provide in their documentary, order can be preserved and the ontological crisis is averted, at least for now.

Any given documentary should be analyzed in terms of standards essentially determined by non-photographic evidence, and that “film truth” based on a photographic record never had much substance or validity to start with. Even before digital trickery, documentary filmmakers have used clever editing or inappropriate B-Roll to lie with their images, Michael Moore’s Roger and Me providing a canonical example. It’s always been the rhetorical skill of the filmmaker that most effectively determines veracity of documentary in contrast to fiction. I think many (but certainly not all) documentary filmmakers would agree with Werner Herzog that it is the “ecstasy of truth” we’re after, not some Platonic truth, as if there were such a thing in the first place.

Bill Mitchell died this summer. He was a brilliant scholar and teacher. I never had a chance to take a class from him while I was at MIT, but I did have the pleasure one day of walking with him through the Stata Center as he spoke about the architectural program of the building. It was one of the most informative and delightful tours I’ve ever experienced. Wit, wisdom, and a love of architecture brought the ideas that drove the design of the building alive in my mind.

There’s something for everyone: Get your feet wet with Documentary Video Boot Camp, hone your camera skills with The Documentary Camera, learn the ins and outs of producing with Producing the Documentary, study the art of editing with Editing the Documentary, make a complete short film from concept to fine cut (with a public screening in the Fall) in Documentary Project Studio, or take your editing skills to the next level in Advanced Editing with Final Cut Pro. Each of these classes provides a special opportunity to learn from practicing filmmakers who not only have a breadth and depth of professional experience, but are also passionate teachers who will challenge and inspire you to learn and grow in ways not easily done on your own.

MPFV230 The Documentary Camera
Instructor: Steve Maing
Meets: Jun 28 to Jul 2, M-Tr,9a-5:30p
1.5 cr. $614 Info/Register
Have you already taken Introduction to Video Production, Documentary Video Boot Camp, or the equivalent? Now take your camerawork to the next level with this class! Learn how you shape your film through the camera, and how that shapes the message. The week will include daily hands-on exercises, viewing and critique, and a segment on on-location sound.

MPFV232 Editing the Documentary
Instructor: Bill Anderson
Meets: Jul 6-Jul 9, Tu-F, 9a-5p
1.5 credits, $449 Info/Register
This workshop uses exercises to cover all stages of post production for both documentary and dramatic film editing: capturing media; logging; first cut; revised cuts; sound (production, effects, and music); visual effect; color correction. Familiarity with Final Cut Pro is helpful but not required.

MPFV208 Producing the Documentary
Instructor: Maria Agui Carter
Meets: Jun 21-Jun 25, M-F, 9a-3:30p
1.5 Credits, $449 Info/Register
From defining the parameters of a producer’s responsibilities to learning how to maximize production dollars, this is an invaluable crash course in how to take a film from idea and proposal to reality.

MPFV217 Documentary Projects Studio
Instructor: Yours truly
Meets: Jul 13-Aug 31, Tu, 6p-10p
3 Credits, $908 Info/Register
A studio course for students who want to produce their own short documentary and already have basic camera and editing skills. Through weekly milestone meetings you will be guided through the phases of research, planning, production, post-production, and distribution of a short documentary

MPFV218X Advanced Editing with Final Cut Pro
Instructor: Janet Gilmore
Meets: Jul 31-Aug 8, Sa & Su, 10a-4:30p
1.5 credits, $524 [Info/Register]
This course takes an in-depth look beyond the introductory level at the art of editing using Apple’s Final Cut Pro. Techniques will include motion effects, compositing, project management and finishing techniques.

MPFV225 Documentary Video Boot Camp
Instructor: Yours truly
Meets: Jun 14 to 18, M-F, 9a-4:30p, optional editing lab, Th, 4:30p 8:30p
1.5 credits, $614 [Course Full]
An immersive, hands-on experience for beginners who want to dive into learning the fundamentals of video documentary. Exercises, screenings, discussions, and critiques will expose you to a range of storytelling, aesthetic, and artistic issues. This class is currently full, however, it will be offered again during the January 2011 inter-session.

Check out additional Film/Video courses at MassArt this summer. What better way to spend one or more weeks this summer?

Vendors showing gear at the show include Panasonic, Canon, Sony Professional, JVC Professional, Aja Video Systems, Manfrotto, Sachtler, Sennheiser, Anton Bauer, Shure, GlideCam, and several others. In addition to the vendor booths, there are a variety of workshops (fee based) and vendors seminars (free) scheduled during the course of the two days. This year I’ll be doing three of the workshops, two are new, one is an update from last year bought back by popular demand:

The LED Lighting Revolution [NEW]
(Friday, March 12, 10:00 A.M. to 11:50 P.M.)
In spite of energy savings, reduced carbon footprint, and long life, LEDs continue to be under utilized in video production, primarily due to their high initial cost. We’ll take a look at recent advances in LED lighting by leading light manufacturers and demonstrate how you can incorporate innovative LED lighting in your production today and in the future. This session will consist of presentation, discussion, and demonstration of several LED lighting instruments currently available on the market. The session is designed for both beginners and intermediate videographers.

Seven Habits of Highly Successful Interviewers
(Friday, March 12, 1:00 P.M. to 2:50 P.M.)
The interview is a fundamental element of many documentary films, podcasts, and corporate videos. Through examples and discussion this session will cover practical strategies and techniques including how and why to use interviews, how to choose the right interview style (e.g. walk-and-talk vs. formal sit-down), how to choose a form of address (e.g. first-person vs. third person), tips for preparing for an interview, suggestions for putting subjects at ease, and most importantly, the seven habits of highly successful interviewers. The session is designed for both beginning and intermediate videographers and documentary filmmakers.

The Hatchback Production Kit [NEW]
(Saturday, March 13th, 1:00 P.M. to 2:50 P.M.)
I will discuss my compact video production kit, which is designed to fit completely in the hatchback of a compact car. It has been optimized for air-travel, and can be transported by a single person in a pinch. I will demonstrate and discuss the tradeoffs that went into selecting each item in the kit, as well as range of viable alternatives to accommodate your own set of requirements or preferences. The complete kit includes camera, lighting, grip, sound, camera support, and even make-up! If you’re a videographer trying to achieve the highest production values with a modest amount of gear, this session will provide you with the strategies, guidelines, and recommendations that will help you achieve that goal.

If you’re planning to attend the show, I look forward to seeing you there!

Now with larger camcorders that have XLR inputs I simply run the wireless into one channel and the second microphone into the other channel, but what about when you’re using a wireless that has a 3.5mm mini-jack output and you’re plugging into a camcorder with a 3.5mm mini-jack stereo input?

For this situation I took a Y headphone adapter cable I had laying around and rewired it so that I could run two separate mics into the 3.5mm stereo input, one routed to channel 1 (left) and the other to channel 2 (right). If you are not inclined to cut, solder, and heat-shrink your own concoction, you can purchase a ready made cable, for example, the Cables Unlimited AUD-3010 8-Inch 3.5mm Stereo M to Dual 3.5mm Mono F Splitter is available from Amazon.com.

For use with the wireless microphone as a second microphone in the vicinity of the camera, I purchased an inexpensive plug-in powered omnidirectional microphone from Giant Squid Audio Lab. They can provide you a microphone with custom cable lengths, the one I’m using is one foot long to avoid having to dress cables. Unfortunately a foam wind screen can’t be purchased along with the microphone, so I had to order a Pearstone 1/4″ foam wind screen from B&H photo video, it fits the microphone perfectly. I also use a Rycote Lavalier Windjammer on my lavaliers on windy days.

Below is is a video I put together quickly that demonstrates capturing the audio from both the wireless microphone and the small omnidirectional microphone attached to the wireless receiver cable on top of the camera.

 Play Video Clip

Some things to notice in this recording, there’s two parts, Demo 1 and Demo 2. For Demo 1 I cross faded between the wireless microphone and the wired microphone, note the difference in background sound between the two mics. For Demo 2 I mixed the wireless microphone and the wired microphone, the overall noise level is higher. Whenever you have two different microphones, you’re going to get different background ambient sound. In this case, the fact that the wireless is clipped onto the subject’s shirt provides a very different sound perspective than a wired onmi attached to the camera. The mic on the camera is getting reverberation from the hard walls all around. The wireless mic, given the placement on the subject’s body, is only recording reverberant sound from 1/2 of the room, the close proximity to the body and the soft shirt is really cutting down on the overall ambience, and, give the close proximity to the voice, it also has the gain at a lower setting, so you are getting more signal and less noise. You are also picking up the speaker with both the wireless and camera mic, so now you have two perspectives of that voice in Demo 2. Nonetheless, a second microphone close to a second sound source that you want to record will result in a better recording that simply depending on a single wireless microphone. Again, each mic was recorded to a discrete channel. This offers more versatility in post. The editing and audio mixing was done with Final Cut Pro.

An audio quality note: the video embedded in this page has been compressed to Flash with not the best audio compression settings, if you want to better hear the difference between the microphone positions and the ambient noise differences, go to the blip.tv page (UsingBothChannels859.m4v) to listen to the original QuickTime file that was uploaded to blip.tv.

This splitter cable is also handy if you’re running two wireless microphones into the camera and want to run one into channel 1 and the other into channel 2. In order to mount two Senneheiser Evolution G2 wireless receivers on a single cold shoe adapter, the Rycote Hot Shoe Extension comes in handy, I keep one in my sound kit.

Whenever possible, make full use of both audio channels! You will truly appreciate it when you’re editing your piece, and this is one of many techniques for making good use of of both channels.

If you wire your own adapter, the tip of the mini-connector corresponds to the left channel, the ring corresponds to the right channel, and the sleeve is ground. It’s always a good idea to double check your wiring with a continuity tester. If you’re cobbling an existing cable with molded plugs, usually the wires are color coded with white corresponding to the left channel, red to the right channel, and black to ground. But you never know, still a good idea to double check with a continuity tester.

Special thanks to Kyle Brock who graciously allowed me to videotape him for this and the original purpose of the video. Sennheiser Evolution G2 wireless microphone system generously provided by Professional and Continuing Education at MassArt.

Over the past couple of years I’ve had a chance to use or take a close look at various LED lighting instruments available in the marketplace. Today you will find lots of inexpensive lights suitable for on-camera use available for anywhere from $50 to $500 from a variety of vendors. And while these little lights are certainly interesting, they are usually not bright enough nor versatile enough for demanding professional users.

Enter the next tier of professional LED lighting in the $500 to $1,000 range. This particular horse race has heated up with the addition of new lights from Sony and Lowel which join Zylight and Litepanels who have been around for a while. Things are sure to get even more interesting as LED price/performance continues to improve and designers incorporate new generations of LED technology into new and updated instrument design.

Based on my experiences shooting run & gun with the LitePanels MiniPlus at the North American International Auto Show last year as well as using it on my previous documentary project, using the Zylight Z90 during a lighting workshop I taught at the Pro Video Show and carrying it with me for several weeks on my current documentary production, messing around with the Sony HVL-LBP at Boston Media Makers, and taking a development prototype of the Lowel Blender out for a spin on a couple of interviews, I’ve come to some conclusions on the strengths and weaknesses of each design. Below is a comparison of the four units I’ve has a chance to work with along with my brief editorial on each. What is most appealing about LED lighting is being able to light using batteries as your power source for run & gun shooting with simplified battery management (using the same batteries for camcorder and light via sleds or D-taps) and the ability to dial in the color you need (using one of the more sophisticated designs) without fumbling with gels.

I will be following up this post with detailed reviews of the Zylight Z90 and Lowel Blender, which are the two units that stand out from the pack at this time. Stay tuned.

Manufacturer	Zylight	LitePanels	Sony	Lowel
Model	Z90	MiniPlus	HVL-LBP	Blender
Editorial	My favorite among the four lights. A versatile creative tool with unique special features. Offers a bright source, creative color control, and a smooth, wide, even beam that can be controlled with barn doors. Excellent build quality, state-of-the art color-changing HD-LED technology from Color Kinetics. One downside is the edge of the beam exhibits color fringing. The ability to set to any color (in addition to daylight and tungsten) and save user presets for instant recall make this a versatile performer and creative tool. The key question: is it worth the cost? From my experience it is, especially when you compare it side by side with the other three lights.	A solid performer, but not my favorite, , trails behind other contenders in terms of versatility. The MiniPlus was among the first on-camera LED lights to gain traction in the marketplace, and it helped prove the viability of LED technology in run-and gun shooting scenarios, however, it’s starting to look pretty long in the tooth compared to the Zylight and Blender lights, both of which run circles around the Litepanels in terms of versatility and build quality. Awkward design in terms of how the battery pack attaches to the back of the light, the way gels attach, and the lack of a locking power connector when using outboard power contribute to a lower rating compared to the Blender and Zylight.	My least favorite of these four lights, trails far behind other contenders in terms of versatility. Designed as a companion for Sony camcorder owners that use L-Series batteries. Typical Sony move to make a product that is designed to work only with their proprietary batteries. It’s a limited product in many respects. On the other hand, Sony owners who want "Sony Style" will like how it integrates into their existing Sony camcorder infrastructure. With the introduction of the Blender, there is no compelling reason to purchase the HVL-LBP. Look to the Blender or Zylight for a better LED light with more versatile powering options.	A close-runner up favorite among the four lights. A versatile and cost effective creative tool. The ability to dial in any balance of daylight and tungsten light on the fly makes this a strong contender for a camera light or versatile problem solving light you can always carry with your camera kit. If you don’t need the flexibility of generating the full spectrum of color, this might be the perfect light for you. Good build quality. Soon to be released and worth the wait. A well thought out design that comes directly out of designer Tom Robotham’s experience as a cinematographer. Information supplied is based on use of a prototype unit, features and specifications may vary from the final production units.
Overall rating
Beam quality	Smooth and even beam with gradual fall-off at the edges. Slight color fringing on the edge of a cut.	Daylight models available in spot or flood, tungsten models flood only. Relatively even spread, but not completely	Very spotty, but a diffuser and spot filter is included	Spotty, but comes with interchangeable diffusers that provides a choice of beams. Cracked ice looks nice.
Beam shape	Round and very even.	Rectangular, available in either Flood or Spot models (daylight) or Flood (tungsten). Diffuson gels available to smooth out beam.	Round, built-in condenser filter intensifies beam for spot use, built-in diffuser smooths out the bean.	Slightly rectangular, somewhat irregular. A set of diffuson materials are available to smooth out or break up the beam.
Cutability(how smooth is the edge when you "cut" the light with a barn door or other solid?)	Clean cut, barn doors work very well with this light (you can attach optional Arri 150W Fresnel barn doors via optional 3" Accessory Adapter)	Barn doors (if you fashion them) don’t work well, I would not bother trying to barndoor this light.	The side barn doors are not very effective.	Barn doors (if you fashion them) work somewhat better than the MiniPlus but I would not bother barndooring this light.
Dimmable	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Color	Three color modes: 1: white (3200K or 5600K); 2: color (can be set to any color and saturation); 3: gel (adjustable along tungsten-daylight and/or green-magenta dimensions)	Available in either 5600K (flood or spot) or 3200K (flood) models (gels must be attached to change color)	5500K (gels must be attached to change color)	5600K, or 3200K, or a variable mix of the two (via dials)
Mounting options	1/4"-20 thread on top and bottom (a variety of mounting accessories are available)	1/4"-20 thread on bottom (a variety of mounting accessories are available)	Aattaches to cold shoe, 1/4"-20 thread on bottom of shoe	1/4"-20 thread on bottom, production unit will probably come with a 5/8" baby reciever (a variety of mounting accessories are available)
Special features	Can be set to produce any color without gels, easy to match other sources Wireless control: optional Zylink controller can control up to ten units or groups of units Barndoors actually work, easily fited with 3" accessory adapter	Optional remote dimming module	Indicator with remaining battery strength.	Daylight/tungsten color changes without gels, easy to match other sources with a turn of a dial.
Power options	Can accept DC power from an external battery, D-Tap (Anton Bauer Style), or AC adapter. Threaded power connector for secure attachment of ourboard power connector.	Snap-on NiMH battery or power via optional snap-on battery sled that holds two camcorder batteries. Can accept DC power from an external battery, D-Tap (Anton Bauer Style), or AC adapter. Power connector for attachment of outboard power is not threaded.	Designed to work only with Sony’s L-series Lithium-Ion batteries (NP-F770, F970, can’t use NP-F500/300 batteries or third-party batteries) Battery attaches directly to unit or can be stored outboard using the included battery adapter cable.	Can accept DC power from an external battery, D-Tap (Anton Bauer Style), or AC adapter. Threaded power connector for secure attachment of outboard power connector.
Power consumption	30W (2-1/2A @ 12VDC); works with 9-24VDC	8.4W (0.7amps @ 12V); works with 10-30VDC	16W (2.23A @ 7.2 VDC)	13W (1.8A @ 7.2VDC); works with 7.2 to 15VDC
Photometrics(as stated by vendors) See note below on footcandles required for proper exposure. 1 footcandle = 10.76 lux	53fc @ 3.3ft. 13fc @ 6.6ft.	97fc @ 2ft. 24fc @ 4ft. 9.2fc @ 6ft. (flood)	55fc @ 3 ft. 6fc @ 9 ft. (with lens)	45fc @ 3.3ft. (single array) 90fc @ 3.3ft. (both daylight and tungsten arrays)
Lighting accessories	Optional accessory adapter allows you to attach standard 3-inch [76mm] softbox or barn doors (which are actually useful on this instrument)	Holder for gels, other accesories are difficult to mount (but really not needed since barn doors don’t do much with this design)	A diffuser and spot filter is included and attaches to the light.	Slide in diffusers, gels can be slid in along with diffuser if color correction is needed that can’t be handled in the daylight-tungsten dimension.
Size	5.3" x 3.0" x 2.0" [135mm x 76mm x 51mm]	6.83" x 2.30" x 1.18" [173mm x 60mm x 30mm]	4 3/8" x 6" x 5-1/8" [108mm x 129mm x 150mm]	4" x 3" x 3" [102mm x 76mm x 76mm]
Weight(without cables or power source)	16 oz. [454g]	9.6oz [360g]	14.9oz [420g]	14 oz. [397g]
Availability	Now	Now	Now	Fall, 2009 (estimated)
Street price(single unit, without power options)	$985	$640	$540	$650 (includes AC adapter)
Kit prices	Kits range from$1,180 (ENG kit with mounting hardware and battery tap) to $1,550 (with NP battery power option) (add $50 for barn doors, add $475 for Zylink wireless controller)	Kits range from $750 (camera mounting harware and battery sled) to $1,150 (kit with mounting hardware, gels, and snap-on NiMH battery)	$640 with NP-F970 Lithium-Ion battery	$740 for kit with battery sled (Sony or Panasonic or Canon), three front diffusers, handle & stud (estimated)
Product page links	Zylight Z90	LitePanels MiniPlus	Sony HVL-LBP	Lowel Blender

How much light do we need? All these photometric specifications are great, but in order to make sense of them, we need to know how much light we need for a decent exposure with our particular camera. You can determine this for your camera using a light meter and a white card as a 95 IRE reference or an 18% grey card as a 50 IRE refenence. Based on my own testing, you need about 40 footcandles for an exposure at f/2.8 without gain using a Panasonic HPX170 camcorder. (Note: if your light meter does not provide direct reading of lux or footcandles, you can convert it’s reading to foot candles using the technique described here). This is based on doing a conservative flat-disk light meter reading and setting the exposure so a white card is at 90 IRE (not at 100, you always want a little bit of headroom in the highlights). It’s easy to do these kinds of tests using the Zebra in most video cameras or the spot meter in some of the Pansonic cameras. Of course, if you’re willing to crank the gain, you will need far less footcandles for a good exposure, at the cost of added video noise.

What about cost of LED lighting? One of the issues that constantly comes up in discussons of LED lighting for video production, is it worth the cost? Certainly you can put 40fc on a subject using a 60W soft white household bulb (or a close to daylight GE Reveal bulb) in a white reflector fixture several feet away. This would cost a hell of a lot less than the equivalent LED light. So LED lighting is not about cost. It’s about versatility, control, smaller footprint, and lower power consumption. A professional on-camera LED light is going to use half to one fourth the power of a comparable incandescent lamp, thus providing longer running times when working off a battery. It’s a tradeoff between versatility, form-factor, cool operation, and consumption. In the middle of the mix you will also find flourescent fixtures that have their own unique set of advantages. Another thing to consider is only purchase what you need to use today, as LED production increases and new designs are introduced, you can expect the brightness to go up and the cost to drop over time, since LED technology follows the semiconductor technology curve and increasing demand for LED technology is driving down costs and driving innovation.

Putting the light output, cost, and size in perspective. So how does the output of these LED lights compare to other lights you are using? A Kino Flo Diva-Lite 200 provides daylight or tungsten light with an intensity of 120fc at 3.3′ or 32fc at 6.6′. A tungsten Rifa eX55 (with an EHC 500W bulb) provides a respectable 72fc at 5′ so it provides more than enough light for interviews. This is why a Rifa or Diva lights makes such a good key in a compact inteview kit, you can place either of them at a comfortable distance away from a subject and have plenty of light for a good solid exposure. And because the Diva is fluorescent, it runs cool, however, the Rifa is more compact due to the use of a small tungsten lamp and collapsible umbrella. The Diva is about the same price as the LED lights listed here, the Rifa is somewhat less. On the other hand, these more traditional key lights are much larger, heavier, and they require access to mains power, and they do not fit into your camera bag the way a Z90 or Blender does.

Each technology provides different affordances. Each technology has it’s strengths and weaknesses. When I want the quality of crisp sunlight, I’d use an incandescent Arri Fresnel, when I want something small and versatile for run & gun shooting, I’d use an LED light like the Z90 or Blender, when I want gorgeous soft light, I’d use something along the lines of a Lowel Rifa light or Kino-Flo Diva-Lite, of course, when the subject, location, and my favorite gaffer (mother nature) are all cooperative and in alignment, there’s nothing more beautiful than using skylight though a window as the key light. And in this situation, a little LED light can add that perfect twinkle in someone’s eyes. So an LED light in your camera bag can be there to help solve problems on the spot, with mininal fuss. A versatile LED light like th Z90 or Blender is a lights you will want to have in your bag of tricks in order to pull out when there’s no time to light and to carry with you when there is no space to carry lighting gear.

Did you find anything inaccurate in this comparison chart? Is there something I should include that’s not here? Please contact me and I’ll probably correct it. The information in this table is as accurate as I could determine at the time of writing. Some of the information was provided by vendors rather than determined empirically. The opinions in this table are my own and do not necessarily resemble reality. Your mileage may vary.

I recently taught a class at MassArt, Documentary Video Boot Camp, and one of my students, Adam Weiss, used his new Canon VIXIA HG20 camcorder in the class. As a result of seeing the video Adam shot for his assignments, I think I have to say that the Canon HG20 AVCHD Hard Drive camcorder (street price around $600) has to join my list of favorite video cameras under $10,000, which has at the top of the list the Panasonic HPX170 DVCPRO HD P2 camcorder (street price around $4,930) The HPX170 is similar to the HVX200 which has been a favorite for quite some time since I first used it and wrote the article, “First Look: Panasonic AG-HVX200 DVCPro HD Camcorder back in 2006. This Canon is the first small camcorder that has caught my attention in a serious manner. Last time I was in the market for one was quite some time ago and I ended up buying a Sony HVR-A1 HDV camcorder. The fact that it is tape based has tainted my impression of it, and I’ve often said, “this is the last tape-based camcorder I will ever buy,” but at the time, hard drive recording of HD was a different story than it is today. It has become viable due to the availability of more efficient codecs, the ability to pack more computing power into little cameras, smaller and cheaper hard drives, and SD card prices following suite.

Panasonic HPX170

The interesting thing to note is that the image quality difference between the consumer-priced HG20 and the pro-sumer priced HPX170 cameras is nowhere near in proportion to the cost difference between the two. Much of it has to do with supply and demand. Professionals make up a smaller market segment and thus must pay a premium for professional features. Clearly the overall quality of the image, true 24p, variable frame rates, the many professional features, and the ergonomics of the HPX170 make it a better camera, however, I can think of a lot of situations where multiple HG20 cameras might provide better coverage of an event than a single HPX170. On the other hand, for a formal interview or narrative shooting, the HPX170 wins hands down. But what if your camera budget is in the hundreds, not thousands, of dollars? The HG20 is a compelling option.

The Canon HG20 AVCHD hard disk camcorder is a delightfully small and light camera with stunning image quality considering its size and price. It records video in the AVCHD format to an internal hard drive or SD memory card. It has a 1920 x 1080 1/3.2″ 3.3Mp CMOS chip providing gorgeous high-definition images. You can record quite a lot of video on the internal 60GB hard drive at either high quality (24Mbps) or standard quality (17Mbps). The camera also captures 2.76Mp still to the SD card or from video stored on the hard drive.

Other features include 24p Cinema mode and 30p Progressive mode (both are recorded at 60i). The camera does not sport a viewfinder, so in bright light situations you will need some kind of hood for the LCD display. And unlike many tiny cameras today, the HG20 provides an external microphone input. This is an essential feature for anyone serious about good audio recording. This allows you to use professional audio gear via a BeachTek adapter or use microphones that are designed to be used with 3.5mm minijack inputs. The camera has an odd Mini “S” Accessory Shoe for attaching Canon accessories like microphones or lights, but the standard microphone input is the the way to go for connecting quality microphones. Cameras come and go, but audio gear is a long term investment. A wireless remote to control rounds out the features so you can stop and start the camera from a distance.

Gone are videotapes. And not a moment too soon. No more timecode break headaches. No more capture headaches and dropped frames. But, like any technological improvement, we gain something, and we lose something. You now have to keep a good archive copy of your digital media, for there is no tape on the shelf. This is a huge topic for another blog post.

Canon offers a less expensive model with the same imaging chip called the HF-100 (Street price around $530). The major differences are that the HF-100 does not have an internal hard drive (which makes it a lighter), the menu system is a little different, and it records AVCHD video at the 17Mbps data rate only.

And what about editing? When you capture media from this camcorder to Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro, you will experience large file sizes upon capture (compared to the smaller AVCHD files created by the camera). This is because in the case of Final Cut Express, footage is transcoded to the Apple Intermediate Codec and in the case of Final Cut Pro, you have a choice of transcoding to Apple’s ProRes 422 codec or the Apple Intermediate Codec. Although MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 is a nice compact file format for recording and delivery, it is not good for editing because it requires too much computing horsepower to decode and recode individual frames. Editing will go more smoothy, and image quality preserved, when editing is done using an intermediate codec designed for editing like the Apple Intermediate Codec or Apple’s ProRes 422 codec.

Here are some support documents on Apple’s web site you should consult if you’re editing AVCHD with Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro:

• Final Cut Pro 6.0.1: About transferring AVCHD footage
• Final Cut Express: Ingesting AVCHD clips may not work from the Log and Transfer window
• Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express: Unexpected quit during AVCHD ingest
• See also Working with AVCHD Footage in the Final Cut Express 4 User Manual.

HG20 Specifications

• Power: Proprietary Lithium-ion battery or AC adapter
• Weight: 13.4 oz
• Street price: around $600
• Sensor: 1/3.2″ 1920 x 1080 3.3Mp CMOS
• Video format: AVCHD (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264) video at 24Mbps or 17Mbps
• Audio format: Dolby Digital 2 channel (AC-3 2 channel) audio
• Still capture: 2.76 Mp JPEG stills
• Lens: 12x zoom, 4.8mm-57mm, f/1.8-f/3.0
• Optical Image Stabilization
• LCD Display: 2.7″ Widescreen
• Viewfinder: None
• Recording Media: built in 60GB Hard Disk or SDHC Memory Card
• Stereo microphone input (3.5mm stereo minijack)
• Stereo headphone output (menu selectable via 3.5mm A/V minijack)
• Video outputs: HDMI (mini, Type C); Component out; A/V out (3.5mm minijack)
• Data interface: USB 2.0 (mini-B)
• Controls: Auto mode or manual control of White Balance, Focus, Exposure
• Power: Proprietary Lithium-ion battery or AC adapter
• Weight: 13.4 oz
• Street price: around $600

In summary, given the price, the HG20 is a compelling contender if you’re looking for a small HD camcorder under $1,000 and are ready to say goodbye once and for all to ye-olde video tape technology. Curious how my other favorite camcorder, the HPX170, is the successor to the camera that introduced semiconductor memory recording in the under $10,000 camcorder category. From P2 cards to SD cards, the speed and convenience of solid-state or hard-drive storage for recording video is hard to beat.

David: You’ve been a working cinematographer for a long time, what lead you to the development of the Blender LED light?

Tom: A couple of things came to a confluence. One was that I had been working on variable color temperature lights for a number of years. The reason I was doing that is because when I was doing narrative work every once in a while I would need something as a fill, as a special, as an edge, not as my primary light, because I’m usually color balancing to whatever is my key light sources, I wanted something and I wanted to be able to finesse it a little bit this, a little bit that, and be able to do it on the fly and by eye. So I had been playing with that notion. That’s one stream of information. The second one, and the primary reason for this is I started doing more non-narrative work, and in particular, I was in a situation where I was working in a very busy hospital, a very sensitive situation because of the patient care and it being pediatrics, and we were having some filming and some interviews that were near windows, and then we were going into a hallway, and interviewing doctors and nurses in a hallway on the fly and once they got beeped they had to leave, so we had to work fast. And then we’d be in an interior office and be able to have a formal interview and there might be incandescents as well as office fluorescents, so it was always a mixed light situation, it was always in a hurry, I very much wanted light that could be slightly off to the side, so it wasn’t a direct on-camera fill, I wanted something to be able to hold out to the side and have a sense of directionality. I played with, used, rented, LED lights and it was never quite easy enough, fast enough, to get what I was looking for to appear natural. And my source was always sort of insistent and visible. And I wanted it to just blend in and augment the available light. I did not want it to be calling tremendous attention it itself. So I grafted these two ideas together: the variable color temperature and the availability of high power white light LEDs that can be obtained on a black body locus. I worked through all of the technological issues to make it both something that was unique in the technology sense and easy to use.

David: For our readers who are not cinematographers, could you explain what you mean by “LEDs that can be obtained on a black body locus”?

Tom: In the 1930s people decided in France that there would be this large commission that would decide how much available light there is and what are all the colors. This is the CIE Chromaticity chart. Inside that is a line that tracks what we perceive to be white light. White light is what we’re primarily concerned with for film/video imaging, because that’s what we’re used to from the sun, approximately from fluorescents, from movie lights, from all of the different sources we’re usually using white light. And that white light is something that is tracked within this CIE Chromaticity chart.

David: But all white light is not the same, is it?

Tom: No, and especially when you go to most modern sources, and I’m not going to claim all, I’m a cinematographer, not a spectrophotometry expert, but you’ll see a lot of light sources that are both discontinuous spectrum and you’ll see a lot of light sources that don’t provide all of the available wavelengths and things like that, but they are close to the black body locus that white light Planckian locus, that curve that our mind says, “oh, it’s white light” “it’s not too green, it’s not too magenta, it’s not too amber, it’s not too blue. Now it is possible to obtain high power LEDs.

I have custom orders that allow me to select things that are on the black body locus. And that’s one of the functions that I want because I don’t really want to be messing around with a lot of plus-green or minus-green gels if I don’t have to. I want to eliminate all of that and be able to work by eye. So it was essential for me to land on a spot that corresponds to the world and how we perceive white light and what’s photographically acceptable as white light as a starting point.

David: A lot of LED lights come as either tungsten balance (3200K) or daylight balance (5500K) and you have to use gels with the lights if you want to change their color temperature. Now there’s something really different about the Blender, I can adjust between the two with knobs. Tell me more about that.

Tom: By having banks of these. For years I had used things like Kino Flos and other fluorescents that allow you to mix and match daylight and tungsten units, and boy it sure is nice to have half and half sometimes, or one daylight unit mixed with the tungsten, it will be just a little bit cooler, but to have two banks of what are nominally daylight and tungsten white balanced lights, I could dial-in all of my variable situation where I could be one sixteenth more warm, slightly more cool, and I could do by eye what I have always liked to be able to do, which is do something like have a back light be slightly cooler, or have my key light be slightly warmer than the ambient, so I don’t change my white balance, or anything, I can just dial in without having to use any gels, working by the monitor and my eye is trained so by my eye as well, what are warm and cool values that match the natural world and then have the artistic leeway to slightly warmer or slightly cooler, if I choose to.

David: So this light has two banks of lights, and it has two knobs and one switch. So it’s pretty simple to use.

Tom: It’s very straightforward, I’ve had students use it, and once they use it they see immediately what happens.

David: So tell me about some Blender usage scenarios.

Tom: I’ve used these in situations where I’ve had subjects near windows, and I’ve wanted to do what you would call carry the light from the outside. And I’ll bring this on the opposite side of the camera closer to the window and have that cool light from the window wrap more around the face of my subject which it doesn’t do on its own. And then have a second light, perhaps slightly warmer, coming from the inside, indicating the interior light. So I get a fully rounded form that matches my daylight, it can be close enough and bright enough that I can actually expose for the outside world and I have a sense of the presence of the world.

David: Can you share another scenario?

Tom: We were in a building with office fluorescents with a number of people doing a series of interviews. And one thing that was particularly interesting is that we were using the Blender light as a backlight, these were standard office fluorescents, they were somewhere between 3800K and 4200K approximately in terms of correlated color temperature, so they are in between value already. We had actually, for the first subject, used a fluorescent light that had 1/2 daylight and 1/2 tungsten bulbs in it that we were using to match the office fluorescents. Well, the second subject came in and their shirt was much brighter and we didn’t have flags, so here we had approximately a 15 lb. rig lighting as our key light, and we substituted it with one of my Blender lights. We brought it a foot closer, it’s a very bright light, but not too aggressive and not too intimidating for a subject. And just by tilting it up and taping a piece of office paper on it, because it doesn’t get hot [like an incandescent] we were able to flag the guys shirt, it cut perfectly with movie fluorescent we used [in the previous shot], and our backlight was slightly cooler. We were in an office environment and we were able to use it as a key and a kicker.

David: How bout one more?

Tom: Shooting run and gun hand-held in a hallway with fluorescents, with windows, with all sorts of wacky stuff, hand-held with a wooden handle off to the side. I was doing the interview, someone else was shooting. I could have a little bit of directionality. I just did it by eye, and we could roll in thirty seconds, cause we had the light out and plugged in to a battery.

David: Sounds like you might want to have a special pistol grip with the Blender light and a microphone on it.

Tom: That actually is not a bad idea, because sometimes it means asking the sound guy, “hey, you’re booming, can you hold this off to the side so it does not have to be on camera?”

David: That brings me to the thought, the miniaturization of these video cameras has really changed the way we shoot. The cameras are getting smaller, it changes what we shoot, how we shoot, what we can shoot. Well, now we’ve got LED technology that’s getting brighter and cheaper, and it’s changing how we light. How do you think these smaller LED lights like your Blender are going to change how we shoot, and what we shoot?

Tom: I think there’s a couple of things. One, they have sufficiently low power usage, it’s nice that they are more environmentally sound, but for us as shooters that’s way down the list, in terms of what it is that we need to shoot professionally, but it’s nice that you can run them off batteries, that you can run for an hour, you can run for two hours, and you’re OK to go. You can’t really do that a lot of the sun guns and tungsten types because they really drain power a lot more. So suddenly we’ve become a lot more portable. A secondary thing, and something that really surprised me with the Blender light, you end up lighting a bit differently than you would normally. Now I was going towards this myself, so I was not aware of it, until I put it into the hands of other shooters, and have them say, “Aha! I’m doing this now,” I was really surprised, because suddenly, instead of creating a light that is sort of obvious, and it becomes your key light, and it’s clear that you have lit the situation, which is what you see in a lot of interviews, you can actually dial this down, raise your subject to a level where you can control attention, but it’s not obvious. So it’s a naturalistic light in way almost like bounce sheets are. I don’t know about you but there are some times when I would rather have nothing plugged in, I’d rather have like a silver bounce here, and a white bounce there, or negative fill over there, and be done, because it can be very naturalistic, and embed your subject in their environment. As long as you can control attention, and you’re not busy looking at the background, you can actually focus on the subject, you’re good to go. Well, these work, because you can blend them almost like bounce sources that have intensity. And so you can approach it in a much more naturalistic way, and you might find yourself placing the light in a different place than you would normally, because it reads as if it was part of the environment, you might find yourself putting it someplace and dialing it very warm or very cool and saying, I wouldn’t necessarily go that far with another light source, but it feels like it’s the light from that other room, so I can get away with something that’s a little more tasty or more interesting.

David: I imagine the Blender will be popular not only with professionals but with newcomers as well.

Tom: For the people who are not coming into this by being technically savvy, they are coming in because they want to make images, they want to make motion pictures, they want to make narrative, non-narrative, whatever it is they are trying to do, they are not coming from a trained background, they are coming from a place, “these tools let me do stuff, I just want to do stuff,” well, here’s a light that allows them to just set it on auto white balance, or they just white balance to the available light, they can now dial in, look at their monitor, and they don’t have to consider what are the correlated color temperatures of those fluorescents, what’s coming in that window, is it sky?, is it day?, is it sun?, what’s coming from that desk lamp?, is it halogen?, is it incandescent?, you can work in a more intuitive way by eye, and I think that’s a huge difference in terms of making motion pictures imaging function the way us professionals are used to in terms of control, and putting that level of lighting control into the hands of people who can now use cameras, because there are now so many nice aids and assistance to making a nice picture with a camera, now there’s that level of assistance to making a nice picture through the aid of controlling your lighting, controlling attention to the subject.

David: I’ve put together a minimalist on-the-go documentary kit in which everything has to fit into a carry-on size hard case: camera, microphones, cables, batteries, accessories, maybe I’ve got room in here for a Blender. How do I attach the light to a stand or my camera?

Tom: I provide a swivel mount, it’s a 1/4″-20 thread on the bottom, I also have a wood handle, which is actually adapted from a file handle, with a 1/4″-20 stud on it.

David: Does that come with the light?

Tom: It’s an optional accessory. The people who want it, who want the light off to the side, immediately say, give me the handle, because they are running and gunning it. The people who say I don’t care about that, well, why bother loading them down with it.

David: What about powering options?

Tom: There are a couple. One, if you’re using a 2/3″ professional video camcorder, and you have a power-tap, D-tap it’s called, all you need is a 2.5mm center-positive connector on the Blender end and you can run this light. And at 14.4 volts you’ll be getting hours and hours of running time.

David: What if I’m using a smaller camcorder like the Sony HVR-V1U here?

Tom: Optional sleds. What I have are battery sleds that come in many different flavors to fit Panasonic, Canons, Sonys, and what I do then is custom wire them so you can use your existing camcorder batteries and not have to invest in a new battery system.

David: That’s handy, since I don’t have a lot of room left in this case for a whole new set of batteries. I’d love to be able to use the same batteries, the same battery charger, as I use with the camcorder.

Tom: I do not like extra battery systems, I don’t like going into a hotel and making sure every different charger is plugged in (laughter) I just want one battery system, so I knew that this would function that way.

David: With one of the camcorder batteries I have here, how long can I run the Blender?

Tom: They look like 2,800 mA batteries, or something like that, so it will last about an hour and a half, that’s what I’ve tested it, from an hour and thirty to an hour and forty minutes. Now there are two things that are worth noting, as it drains, it does not change the light output, what will happen, is this will simply blink off when it’s done. It does not change the light output as the battery drains. The electronics raise the voltage to the base level needed for the LEDs. It’s meant to accommodate [a range of sources] and it will simply blink off [when the voltage falls below a threshold].

David: Do you have plans for larger units?

Tom: Yes, this light, what you might call “pint-size,” is only the first in the line. The design is scalable and we will be making larger units in the future.

David: How can people purchase a Blender?

Tom: Blenders are currently being manufactured here in the United States. They can be ordered from my web site at blenderlights.com.

David: Good luck with the light, Tom, it’s a great idea.

Tom: Thanks so much, I appreciate you taking the time.

Update: Since I spoke with Tom, he has entered into an exclusive manufacturing and distribution agreement with Lowel who will be manufacturing and selling the Blender light. LED lighting will continue to make serious inroads into professional production, especially in run and gun documentary and ENG production.

Keywords: Light, Lights, Blender, Lowel, Interview, Tom Robotham, Lighting, Video, LED

Practical Sound Recording and Editing Techniques For Better Video
Friday, March 20th, 3:00pm to 5:00pm, Poolside Room, Fee: $25.00
(REGISTER NOW)
Sound is half the picture, yet most often it receives only casual attention. Viewers can’t articulate what’s wrong, but quite often it’s the soundtrack that either engages or distances them. This session will present practical techniques and a guide to the tools for recording and editing sound for video that will improve your work whether you are a beginning or intermediate video maker. Real-world problems in a range of shooting situations and their solutions will be presented. Discussion topics include microphone selection and placement, recording strategies for noisy locations, improving intelligibility of dialog, mixing in music without interfering with dialog, making sure your video sounds good on a wide range of devices, and doing it all in a manner that flows nicely with video editing. Special attention will be paid to working on a tight budget and getting the most out of modest gear.

Lighting Techniques for Better Documentary Interviews
Saturday, March 21st, 3:00pm to 5:00pm, Room TBA, Fee: $25.00
(REGISTER NOW)
This session will present through discussion, examples, and demonstration a practical approach to lighting documentary interviews ranging from low-budget existing light and one light techniques to classic three-point lighting and beyond using professional lighting instruments. The first half of the session will cover lighting fundamentals, a survey of popular lighting fixtures, screening of examples with a discussion of aesthetic and technical tradeoffs, and suggestions for putting together a kit based on your specific needs. The second half of the session will consist of demonstration using a variety of lighting gear so participants can gain some practical experience with the topics discussed during the first half of the session.

If you live in the Boston area and are interested in video production or post-production, this is the place to be on March 20th and 21st, 2009. A schedule of workshops (for fee) and free seminars is available at the Camera Company web site in the near future.

Kodak Zi9 is small enough to take with you everywhere you go, it’s simple enough you can hand it to anyone to shoot, and it’s cheap enough you don’t have to worry if it gets lost, stolen, or suffers damage when used in a risky situation. And the 720p image quality (encoded as H.264) is pretty good given the price. As the quality of camera sensors goes up, and the price of camera sensors and flash memory goes down, expect to see small cameras get better and better. They could soon rival the traditional camcorder, the only issue is over time how much are the camera manufacturers willing to cannibalize their traditional camcorder market. It’s a fun little camera, I hope to get a chance to do more shooting with it.

Click to play

This test was not about how pretty the video can look, it’s about how does the camera do in a common documentary situation. Here are the basic specs on the Kodak Zi9 camera:

Camera Type: Point and Shoot Camcorder
Resolution/Sensor Size/Type: 1.6 megapixels 1/4.5″ CMOS
Lens: 4.1mm – F/2.8 (fixed focus) with 2x optical zoom
Minimum Focus: 27.6″ (macro focus: 2″)
Display: 2.4″ TFT active matrix LCD (no viewfinder, no flip-over display)
Video Format: 16×9 H.264 (MOV, AAC, LC) 720p @ 30fps or 60fps
White Balance/Exposure: Automatic
Sound In: Built-in Microphone (mono)
Sound Out: Built-in speaker (mono) and audio on composite video output
Computer Interface: USB 2.0
Video Output: Composite video and Component video
Digital Still Features: also shoots digital stills in JPEG format and has a built-in flash w/ close-up and normal modes, and red-eye reduction
Internal Storage: 30 MB Flash Memory (built-in, specs do say 128M, however, only 30 can be used for image storage)
Storage Slot: SD Memory Card, Kodak recommends use of SDHC High-Speed Card
Additional Features: YouTube capture mode
Power: Uses 2 AA NiMH rechargeable batteries (included along with a charger) or 2 AA Alkaline batteries (nice not to have to deal with a built-in LiIon battery like some other devices)
Accessories: carrying pouch, cables, manual
Warranty: one year
Weight: 3.8 oz.

In this demo and presentation at the Boston Final Cut Pro Users Group meeting on Thursday, July 24, 2008, I discussed the features and benefits of the camera and demonstrated the simplicity of XDCAM EX workflow with Final Cut Studio 2. I wrote about my first impressions in a earlier post.

Dowload PDF of Presentation Slides(from SlideShare)

View Presentation Slides Online (at SlideShare)

In terms of first impressions shooting with the camera goes, the first thing I noticed is that while the camera is a bit on the heavy side for hand-holding in “handycam” mode, the adjustable handle with the ergonomics of a pro 2/3″ zoom lens handle made it easier to use as a handheld camera. Of course, on a tripod the camera is right at home. A camera’s handholdability is all relative, I’ve grown used to shooting with my HVR-A1 and a friend’s Sony HVR-V1 over the past year, so I find the EX1 to be a big change in terms of weight. But the extra weight is worth it, for the image quality is absolutely spectacular. Goodbye HDV (and good riddance to videotape), hello XDCAM EX!

The PVM-EX1 features a 14x zoom with pro-style controls
and real focus and iris rings. More photos available on Flickr

There’s lots of serious glass in this camera, as the 1/2″ sensor requires a larger lens than 1/3″ chip cameras like the Panasonic AG-HVX200 (still an excellent performer). And while it’s still not providing the 2/3″ image sensor look of a professional camcorder, the 1/2″ sensors are a big improvement over 1/3″ sensors in most prosumer cameras. It’s easier to get separation between the foreground and background. I’d like to see Sony come out with an APS-sized single sensor camera (like a documentary form-factor Red) someday, but I digress. The EX1 is clearly not in the middle of the pro-sumer price range, it straddles between pro-sumer and low-end professional gear in terms of price. While the camera alone sells for $6,500.00, by the time you add a couple of 16G memory cards and extra batteries (which you’ll need), a wide-angle adapter, and a few other gismos, you’re looking at something hovering around a $9,000.00 purchase. That’s a serious chunk of change when you compare it to the HVR-Z1 HDV camcorder, but if you look at it another way, this camera does most of what the Sony PDW-F350 XDCAM HD camcorder does for much less dough. So it’s either a very expensive pro-sumer camera or an amazing price/performance breakthrough in professional level cameras.

Not all things are rosy, however. Audio was clearly a second-thought with this camera, with digital recording there is no reason why Sony can’t support four channels, but it only supports two. One of the features I’ve really enjoyed with the Panasonic HVX200 is recording camera mic audio on channels 3 and 4 while running audio from my mixer into channels 1 and 2. Having the ambient sound is a nice plus, as well as it often makes it easier to hear a director’s questions in an interview. Battery life is short, so you’ll have to buy one or two additional high-capacity batteries with this camera. In addition, for folks who shoot with a 35mm lens adapter, you’ll not be pleased with the camera’s inability to invert the viewfinder image. There is no ability to shoot in standard definition, so for those quick and dirty jobs that require standard definition deliverables, your stuck converting in post. But no camera can be all things to all people, and this camera seems to have most of the bells and whistles most people want.

Since I’m Macintosh and Final Cut Pro user, I found this camera integrated seamlessly with my Final Cut Pro workflow. I have previously worked with XDCAM HD and I found the workflow to be pretty much identical, except there is no need for a camera or deck. If you’ve got a MacBook Pro you’re all set, you simply slide the SxS card into the ExpressBus/34 slot. Otherwise, you can use the camera to transfer media via USB2 to your computer or use an external USB2 SxS card reader available from Sony. For all of this to work, you’ll need to download two pieces of software, the SxS card driver (from here) and the XDCAM Transfer Utility (from here). It was a snap to ingest footage, rename the clips, and bring them into Final Cut Pro. The much fast transfer time of the SxS cards was a welcome change from having to do HDV captures in real-time. And the footage shot in the HQ mode looks spectacular. Ahh, the beauty of real high definition progressive scan images, simply breathtaking. Some sample images and images of the camera can be found in my Sony PMW-EX1 Flickr set.

Minor revisions were made to this post on 22-Feb-09.

Detailed session descriptions follow:

Web Video 2.0: Delivering Your Video Online
Friday, March 07, 1:00PM – 3:00PM, $25.00
Video on the web is hotter than ever and the excitement is moving beyond YouTube and into corporate web video, web-based episodics, delivery of films directly to viewers, and new applications of video never before possible. Through examples, demonstrations, and discussion, you will learn how you can make web video work for you. A practical how-to approach will provide you with an understanding of delivery options (e.g. progressive download vs. streaming), compression and format tips (codec and player choices), video sharing and streaming services, and monitization strategies. This session will be of interest to producers, directors, videographers, editors, and site designers who want to deliver video online and/or integrate video into their web site. Back by popular demand, this follow-up to last-years sold-out session has been updated with new material and examples to reflect the latest tools, techniques, and trends.

Art of the Interview: Strategies and Techniques for Better Video Interviews
Saturday, March 08, 9:00AM – 11:00AM, $25.00
The interview is a fundamental element of most documentary films, many video blogs, and event coverage. Through video examples and interactive discussion this session will provide you with practical strategies and techniques you can apply to your work and includes coverage of how and why to use interviews. You will learn how to: choose the right interview style (e.g. walk-and-talk vs. formal sit-down), choose a form of address (e.g. first-person vs. third person), prepare for an interview, put your subjects at ease, conduct an interview, and more. A discussion of how technical components (camera, sound, lighting, environment) influence the results is included. Designed for both beginning and intermediate documentary filmmakers, videobloggers, and event videographers. For an in-depth exploration of lighting for interviews, consider attending the “Interview Lighting” session that follows later in the day.

Interview Lighting: Professional Results On A Tight Budget
Saturday, March 08, 1:00PM – 3:00PM, $25.00
A demonstration and discussion of several approaches to lighting interviews ranging from low-budget existing light and one light techniques to classic three-point lighting using professional fixtures. Session covers: review of lighting fundamentals, survey of popular lighting fixtures and kits, screening and discussion of practical examples covering aesthetic issues and technical trade-offs, and suggestions for putting together a kit based on your specific needs. This session provides an excellent follow-on to “The Art of the Interview” earlier in the day. Prior attendance to “Art of the Interview” is helpful but not required.

I hope to see you there.

Download Slidshow (PDF, 8 MB), also check out my Reference Pages index.

Here’s a quick comparison I did of recording dialog with an MKH60 Shotgun Microphone mounted on a camera vs. mounted on a boom.

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OK, so the big question is, what’s the tiny Canon TX1 like as a video camera? To answer the question, I made a short video this weekend. I’m not much for testing with charts and side by side comparisons these days, image quality is only part of the camera equation, so instead I do some shooting and from the results, I ask the question, is the image quality reasonable given all the other aspects of the camera that come into play when making the decision of what camera to purchase or use, for example, handling, form-factor, weight, cost, features, image processing, media formats, lens, ease-of use, etc.?

If you go to the movie page on blip.tv, under the “Play video in alternate format:” pop-up, you’ll have access to the following formats: 1. Large iPod Video (1:52, 21.2MB, 640 x 360 H.264, Stereo, default QuickTime Pro Export settings), 2. AppleTV Video (1:52, 50.3MB, 960 x 540, H.264, Stereo, default QuickTime Pro Export settings), 3. Flash version (transcoded by blip.tv, not sure of the exact settings, audio is 64 kbit/sec mono). I’ve also posted to Flickr a set of frame grabs from the original Motion JPEG frames so you can see the quality of the image prior to compression for web delivery.

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All the video and audio was left “as is” with the TX1, no color correction or post-production processing on the audio or video, the only thing I did was import the video clips into Final Cut Pro and edit them on a DVCPRO HD timeline. Some horizontal resolution is lost going into the DVCPRO HD format, however, it’s pretty minor.

This test was designed to show the camera in real-world conditions, not in the best light, so there’s some shooting under relatively low light conditions. Most of the shots exhibit the noise that comes part and parcel with shooting in situations with less than optimum lighting.

Since the conversion to iPod movies and Flash for web viewing (which is what’s available on the blip.tv page) adds additional artifacts to the original image, and since the conversion from the Motion JPEG original to DVCPRO HD for editing also adds some additional artifacts, I’ve posted a series of frame grabs from the original video files so you can see the quality of the original Motion JPEG frames.

Video that is noisy does not compress as well as video that is clean to start with, so starting with an HDV or H.264 original would yield better compressed video than the Motion JPEG implementation in the TX1. In most shooting situations you’re going to see lots of noise in the image with this camera unless you’re shooting outdoors during the day.

Shots were made using auto white balance, 720p 30fps mode, auto focus (face tracking turned off).

I’ve been shooting with a Canon S100 Digital Elph since 2000, and after seven years the camera was looking very long in the tooth, with dead pixels and starting to fall apart, it was time for an equally tiny replacement. For serious still shooting I’ve got a Canon 10D w/ an EF 24mm-70mm f/2.8 lens, and for video, a Sony HVR-A1U HDV camcorder, and even though the images from both of these puppies are spectacular, I don’t always want to deal with the weight and bulk of these cameras. I like having a small digital camera I can take with me wherever I go, that I can wear on my belt and forget it’s there. But I also would like to shoot short movie segments, so I’ve been waiting for something with at least 1280 x 720 (720p) video capability in the Digital Elph form factor. Finally Canon introduced the TX1 that fits the bill, so after years waiting and considering, yet not purchasing, many alternatives, I settled on the TX1.

In a subsequent post I’ll Post and discuss some of the movie clips I I’ve shot with the camera, as far as stills go, check out the May 6, 2007 Boston Media Makers Meeting Photo Set I recently posted to Flickr, all of these images in the set were shot with the TX1. I’m not going to go over the features and specifications of this camera in great detail, that information is readily available in Digital Photography Review’s review of the camera. In this post I’m going to focus on my qualitative experience of the camera and summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the camera.

The camera is small and easy to handle after a short aclimation period. The LCD viewfinder is bright and crisp, and shows grid lines to make it east to keep your photos aligned nicely.

I was pleased with the overall quality of the still images I shot under good lighting conditions or using flash. Photos taken with the flash were sometimes over-exposed, and I got the occational red-eye (even through red-eye reduction was set on) more often than I expected. When you shoot without Flash, if you set the ISO on auto or to 800 and above, the images are really noisy, as you would expect. I still prefer to use my Canon 10D w/ 24-70mm f/2.8 lens for hand-hend phtography in low-light, often with a monopod, not only are the high ISO results better, but the auto focus is much better. It’s not fair to compare a $1,500 D-SLR and a little $500 point and shoot, but someday I hope it is. Some of the TX1 photos in the above set were shot with a monopod to offset the effect of camera shake so I could shoot at a lower ISO rating.

The camera uses a 7.1 megapixel CCD imager with a 6.5-65mm f/3.5-5.6 (35mm equivalent 39–390mm) 10x optical zoom lens, but that’s the price you pay for such a tiny lens. My gripe is that the wide is not as wide as I would have liked, I do lots of close-in shooting. The OIS (optical image stabilization) worked reasonably, and Canon claims the camera uses their Digic III image processor. The camera is capable of shooting in very low light if you don’t mind lonts of noise in the image, with an ISO rating of up to 1600.

Video quality is reasonable for such a tiny camera, however, even though video can be recorded at a resolution as high as 1280 x 720 at 30fps, it’s not anywhere near as good as video shot with an HDV (MPEG-2) or AVCHD (MPEG-4/H.264) camcorder. The TX1 uses Motion-JPEG, an older format with a much higher bit rate for the quality compared to H.264 or MPEG-2. The only real advantage of Motion-JPEG is low processor overhead, and in such a tiny camera, it’s an issue. I suspect, over time, we’ll see the move towards using better codecs in this form factor. The 1280 x 720 movies look much better when reduced to half-size 640 x 360, but I’ve not been shooting the smaller size movies because starting with the larger image gives you some flexibility in terms of zooming if you need it.

My greatest disappointment with the camera is that even though I found the face-detect auto focus worked reasonably well, the problem for me is that the camera does not offer an easy way to quickly switch between face-detect auto focus and standard auto focus. Sometimes the face-detect auto focus works well, but when it’s not working, you want to be able to turn it off in an instant, and turn it back on when you think it’s going to work well and then back off when the situation changes, and so on and so forth. Instead the mode switch has to be done by going into the menu. The camera offers one assignable button and this switching should be assignable to that button, but it is not. Although the camera automatically switches to AF mode when it can’t detect a face, the problem is when it detects the wrong face or you want something other than a face focused upon. The 9-point auto-focus is only available in single shot mode, in continuous mode it’s based on a center point. There is also no maunal focus. This would be nice, but I don’t exect it in a camera like this.

In a nutshell, the strengths of this camera lie in the small form-factor, and ability to shoot both stills and video, the use of high capacity and high performance SD memory cards, and reasonably good image stabalization.

Weaknesses include the widest lens setting is not very wide, there is no quick on/off face-recognition auto-focus button (you can’t quickly turn it on and off), long shutter lag, lack of manual focus, and very noisy low-light results.

Great camera if you want something small and need both stills and video. I suspect as memory prices continue to drop and tiny embedded processors get faster and faster, we’re going to see a growing number of hybrid camera/camcorders on the market, I think the TX1 is just the beginning of a whole new wave of tiny HD cameras.

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Beth Kanter also blogged about, the meeting, and her post also includes a video she made.

If you’re interested in exploring this topic further and you live in the Boston area, I’m doing a session called “Champagne Production Values on a Beer Budget” at the 17th Annual Pro Video show on Saturday, March 10th at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. More info is available in my previous post about the show and the two sessions I’m doing there.

Colophon: I made this video from video fragments shot with a Canon PowerShot S410, digital photos shot with the Canon 10D, and audio recorded with an M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 and a pair of Conference Grabber boundary microphones. The video was edited in Final Cut Pro 5.1.x on a laptop on the train down to New York. I also grabbed some images from Flickr when I had a hole and no material to fill it. I recorded continuous audio, but only shot short video segments. In editing I had to sync up the video shot with the S410 with the audio track. Becuase the S410 records audio, it was easy to sync things up, using he S410’s audio as a reference. It’s a pain, but since the boundary microphones were closer to the speakers (one at each end of the table) and are also better mics than what the S410 offers, the better audio made it worthwhile to do what is called in the industry, “double system sound,” recording image and sound in separate devices.

If you live in the Boston area you will not want to miss the 17th Annual Pro Video Show sponsored by The Camera Company to be held Friday and Saturday, March 9-10, 2007 at Stonehill College, in Easton, Massachussetts (Exit 17B off Route 24). This annual event provides local media makers with the opportunity to check out new equipment, talk with fellow media makers, and attend a wide range of workshops and seminars. Yours truly will be presenting two of the seminars, “Delivering Video on the Web” and “Champagne Production Values on a Beer Production Budget.”

Here’s a description of my seminars:

Delivering Video on the Web
Learn how to make video available on the web, earn money with it, take a look at how it can be delivered to devices and web browsers, and examine the opportunities and challenges it presents. The launch of the video iPod, availability of video on iTunes, the explosion of viral video, Google’s purchase of YouTube, and the amazing quality of shows on blip.tv are all part of a tectonic shift in the media distribution landscape. Television producers, independent filmmakers, communications specialists, advertising executives and entrepreneurs will all learn how to benefit from the tremendous opportunities made possible by delivering their video on the web. Cost: $25. Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 12:00 NOON to 2:00 p.m.

Champagne Production Values on a Beer Production Budget
Video production budgets are tighter than ever, and the increasingly saturated media environment demands that your video must stand out from the rest. In this seminar, you will learn about the strategies, creative elements, and production tools that together deliver what viewers and clients often describe as “high production values.” Practical discussion and examples help you apply cost effective methods right away, resulting in champagne production values on a beer production budget. Cost: $25. Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Other workshops and seminars scheduled at this time (subject to change) include:

• Audio for Video (Sennheiser, David Missal)
• Planning a Production (Teja Arboleda)
• Editing Aesthetics (Eric Scott Latek)
• Apple Final Cut Studio, a Complete Workflow, (Alex Kaloostian)
• A Practical Comparison of DV, HDV & DVCPRO HD for FCP Editors (Alex Kaloostian)
• Docudrama (Eric Scott Latek)
• Final Cut Pro—The Next Step (Ed Krasnow)
• Lighting For Video Film Style (Tom Musto)
• Making History! Profiting from Biography and Same Day Edit Presentations (Hal Slifer)
• P2/Apple Work Flow (Bill Kennedy and Raj Lad, Panasonic Broadcast)
• Meeting of The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE)
• HD Outdoors (Trevor Gowdy)
• Digital & HD 101 (AJA Systems)
• Adobe Premiere Pro Basics “Crash” Course (Eric Scott Latek)
• Digital Asset Management & Workflow (Focus Enhancements)
• Reflecmedia (Bogen Imaging)

Please keep in mind that all workshop attendees must check in at the Sally Blair Ames Sports Complex (main exhibit location) at least 15 minutes prior to class.

For more information call 781.769.7810 or visit The Camera Company web site. Seminar listing subject to change.

The New England Chapter of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) held its Annual Digital Production Showcase (which has become a mid-winter tradition) on Wednesday, January 17th at WCVB-TV’s studio in Needham, Massachusetts. My photos from the event are available on Flickr. In addition to being fed sandwiches and piping hot New England clam chowder (very appropriate given the cold snap) attendees had a chance to experience hands-on demos of the latest digital production tools in a collegial atmosphere. I thank SMPTE/New England for hosting such a delightful event in which I can catch up with what’s happening in the realm of digital production.

While vendors had lots to show, the really interesting conversations were on the show floor, abuzz with speculation of what vendors might be unveiling at NAB in Las Vegas this year. This year the show had more exhibits than ever before, and while the emphasis of the show is video post production and non-linear editing, I took delight in checking out several new cameras.

Marty Feldman from The Camera Company showed me the new HVR-V1U, Sony’s first entry into an affordable entry-level progressive scan HDV camera, it sports three 1/4″ CMOS chips. Also in the Camera Company Booth were two other popular HDV camcorders, the Canon XH-A1 and the JVC GY-HD250. The HD250 is a much needed upgrade to their ProHD line-up featuring 720/60p recording, HD SDI and component out, and a decent battery connector for Anton-Bauer batteries. The cheesy add-on connector that’s available for the earlier GY-HD100 was very fragile to put it politely. With the 250 the camera line has grown up

Vendors know that many sophisticated people will be kicking the tires at this event, so they send out some of their more knowledgeable representatives for this show, it was a good evening for getting answers to tough camera and post-production questions.

There was also talk among some Final Cut Pro editors that they are tired of rendering hell and are ready to switch to some of the real-time alternatives now available on “the other platform.” As editors mix different media types on the timeline these days, the time wasted rendering is becoming a serious productivity issue. More than one editor I spoke with expressed their disappointment that Apple has yet to address this issue and is apparently more concerned with iPods and iPhones than creative production.

1 Beyond was at the show pleased to offer Final Cut Pro editors an alternatives with the Matrox Axio running on their HD Octoflex eight processor workstation running Windows XP. When it comes to HD editing, and you start to compare prices and performance, the Axio solution is in the same ballpark as Final Cut Pro on a Mac Pro with a Kona 3 card but offers better real-time performance.

Why has it taken Apple so long to deliver a true real-time solution? There were no significant announcements at NAB from Apple last year regarding Final Cut Pro. Will Apple at NAB this year finally unveil the long-rumored next version of Final Cut Pro? Will it finally address the problems of real-time performance, color correction, and media management? Apple’s acquisition of Silicon Color and Art Box leads me to speculate that Apple may have something interesting to show. In the meantime, with deadlines looming, some editors tell me they are at the point where they would rather switch that wait. Personally, I’m going to wait.

In addition to their line of P2 cameras and decks, Panasonic had on hand their amazing BT-LH2600W 26″ LCD and BT-LH1700W 17″ LCD monitors. Although the blacks are still not as good as you will find with professional CRT monitors, these LCDs come very close and do a good job of simulating the color response of SMPTE phosphors. These monitors have a useful function that will superimposed a Waveform monitor display over the image. They also provide dual-rate SDI HD or SD inputs, component input (Y, Pb, Pr) as well as a PC RGB input. Most critical viewers will prefer to use a Sony BVM or PVM series glass CRT, but since CRTs have been phased out and sell on eBay for more than their original selling price, these LCD monitors from Panasonic are really looking good as a flatter, more environmentally friendly alternative.

With digital production comes the need to manage lots of storage, with high performance and reliability. I saw two RAID storage solutions that meet the needs of small to medium sized-facilities. 1 Beyond was showing off their Intelliraid C-XPR providing fiber channel performance designed specifically for video that allows you to work with 30fps, uncompressed, 1080i video without skipping a beat. Another storage option is the Terrablock from Facilis Technology. Francis Albert, president, founder, and former Avid guy, described it as a high-performance fibre channel storage soulution that can be shared between Linux, Windows XP and Mac OS X clients running a range of NLE applications. Their 12D model can support 10 clients over 4Gbit fibre and in terms of real-time performance is cpable of serving two clients at a time playing 24P 10-bit 1080 video, or a single client running 2K DPX at 24fps.

In comparison to the many new storage offerings like the two above, Apple’s XServe RAID is looking mighty long in the tooth. Why does Apple do that? They introduce an amazing product, market the hell out of it, sell a bunch, and then forgets about it for sometimes years? Sometimes I think Apple is like an ADD teenager that gets very excited about something and and then moves on to the next crush.

Tom Talbot of Rule Broadcast Systems showed me Anycast with Sony’s new add-on board that allows it to switch high definition, as well as mix HD and SD sources. Anycast provides cost effective switching of multiple cameras for covering live events and now with the ability to bring HD cameras into the mix, is an even more compelling offering for people who need to switch multiple cameras but are working on a very tight budget. Also in the Rule both was Sony’s F350 XDXAM HD camera, which I’ve had the pleasure of shooting with and I’m very impressed with the amazing image quality, in spite of 1/2″ chips and the MPEG-2 recording. With excellent image quality, variable frame rates, progressive scan, Blu-Ray disk recording, ENG form-factor, and the ability to put good glass on it, the F350 offers a compelling middle ground in-between the crowd of low-end camcorders with the fragile and problematic HDV recording format and the higher-end 2/3″ professional camcorders. I have to say I really like the XDXCAM HD disk format in lieu of tape idea.

David Talamas had the amazing little Zylight in his booth (which I raved about in my NAB 2006 post), along with the elegant Sound Devices 744T digital audio recorder and the JVC GY-HD250 which he’s very pleased with. The JVC has done well for them, and customers are constantly amazed with the picture quality, as long as you take the time to create a look for the camera. JVC has not yet figured out that they really need to tweak their default look. One of the reasons filmmakers are so happy with the DVX100 and HVX200 from Panasonic is that right out of the box they look great. The JVC can also look very good (I shoot with one now and then) but you have to tweak the settings.

WCVB-TV was a gracious host and in addition to providing a spacious location for this event, was taking attendees on tours of their facility. There was much more to see, including the latest offerings from Autodesk, Grass Valley’s portable news room, Panasonic’s DVCPRO HD cameras, decks, and P2 players, Avid’s product line, Harris-Leitch, Quantel, Telestream, and more.