My new Toy, the HDR-SR12E

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After talking to a friend about possible collaborations in the near future I decided not to invest too much money on a new camera so I bought the Sony HDR-SR12. It’s a small easy to carry video camera that records in AVCHD at a resolution of 1920 by 1080i.

The hard drive is 120 gigs for a total recording time of over 30hrs depending on what you want to shoot. I chose the highest quality setting and I still get 1780 minutes of recording time, more than enough for a day’s shooting. It’s a small camera, much easier to travel with and there are no moving parts and no need for tapes. I love that, it means I can start editing as soon as I get home. I’m tapeless at last, I’ve been waiting years for this moment.

It’s charging so I can’t play with it quite yet but I’ll keep you informed as to developments on this topic.

As a side note video capture is easy, just use log and transfer rather than log and capture in Finalcut Pro. It’s shift option 8.

IBC and Automated Camera Systems/Solutions

Byrichard 24 September 2008

One guy was going around IBC on a segway that was modified for steadycam work. Rising from the platform was a rest where you could put your legs to keep upright whilst to the side the steadycam mount was free to move for steady shots.

That’s just one of the contraptions. Simple automated camera heads could be found at Sony’s stand, JVC and other companies. Each one had a remote control which would allow you to select between up to 18 cameras depending on the cofiguration. One system in particular allowed you to preset shots before a shoot whilst providing a touch screen. Press the thumbnail and the camera head will go to that shot automatically. Press another shot and it reframes to that one. Adjust the speed and everything is automated.

There were some jibs automated of which the most impressive was a noiseless machine that could be programmed to within a millimeter of where you wanted the camera to be at different times. What made that one most impressive is that it’s plugged into a virtual studio. As the camera moves around it moves in accordance with the virtual elements so the presenter can use screens, props and more to illustrate the story. That’s not all though. If the camera turns beyond a certain point then you see nothing. The camera points right at the crowd but you see the virtual studio. It’s fun.

Pedestals are also remotely operated so there’s no need for more than one camera operator per studio. It’s all about reducing costs and making broadcast of a high quality more affordable. The positive side is that for less interesting and creative shoots you don’t need to tie up a camera operator as he stands around waiting for things to happen. Once it’s programmed the machine runs.

The question is what this means for the future. How will the remotes be improved to make controlling the cameras easier? Most of the remotes are not as easy to control as standing at the pedestal and operating the camera yourself. They require a level of experience and speed that is not there quite yet but it will come. Will this mean that camera men will have more fun assignments like documentary shoots, festivals and other types of events to cover? There’s the vision mixing to take into consideration but that’s another post topic.