DVX-100?

[Mat Nastos]

You guys shot the flick on the DVX100, right? What did you think of the quality of the footage? I've been amazed at the stuff I've seen even just right out of the camera without clean up. Of course, it's all about what you put into it, but the stuff looks fantastic when lit properly.

Anyway, how was your experience using the camera?

M
_________________
Mat Nastos
Nifty Comics
www.niftycomics.com

[Stacy Davidson]

Yes I did shoot Necro with the DVX100 w/ 16x9 adapter, and it was a totally amazing experience. Every shot looked like film straight out of the camera, the shutter controls and depth of field were amazing, the flip-out screen is great, even the readouts on the monitor were great. No more looking around all over the camera to check my audio levels or zoom/focus numbers, it's all right there on one screen.

Basically anyone can grab this camera at around $2,500 and shoot a film-quality movie for direct-to-video. Anyone who doesn't is throwing their money away. If you're wanting to go theatrical, you still are getting a lot of bang for the buck. Remember, 28 Days Later went theatrical and it was shot on a couple of Cannon XL1s. And it looked great to most people, only a real videophile would notice it hadn't been shot on film. It held up similar to 16mm.

However, if you are going theatrical and have a little extra dough and a hefty editing system or access to one, I would recommend bypassing the DVX and going straight to the HVX, Panasonic's new prosumer (under $6k) HD camcorder that features the same cinegamma look, the same 24p mode, but is also variable to all of the standard NTSC and HD resolutions and framerates, features native 16x9, and is Mini-DV, DVCAM, and DVCAM HD compatible. It also features two P2 slots for recording your video straight to cards, which can be loaded directly on your computer as files. No more tapes, no more dumping.

There have been a few other low cost HD camcorders from Sony and JVC, but I have found Sony's 24p mode to be useless (the algorithm is awful, very jerky), and based on my experience with the DVX and the quality of the cinegamma process and Panasonic's 24p algorithm, I'm planning to try out the HVX as soon as I can.

-s