Why I shoot with compact HDV Camcorders

In December of 2007, I finally made the switch from my beloved SONY TRV950′s to a pair of SONY HC7 camcorders.

Having shot with them intermittently since that time, I’ve come to appreciate, even love, shooting with them.

The size of the HC7 isn’t intimidating – either to the subject, or to my body when carrying them around. I have two cameras, 4 batteries, an Azden SMX10 shotgun mic, a Samson Airline Micro Lavaliere mic, a Century Optics .55 wide angle lens and a Cavision 3×3 Rubber Matte Box – which all fits into a Tenba P263 Photo backpack that also carries my Dell D620 laptop running Xp Pro with 4GB of RAM loaded with SONY’s Vegas Pro 8, Sound Forge 9, Acid Pro 4, Cinescore 1.0 and DVD Architect 4 accessing two external firewire laptop drives for editing while traveling. Other cameras such as the Canon HV20/30 provide similar size and capabilities.

Solo Video Journalist equipment

When walking around locally, I opt for a single HC7, the wide angle lens and SMX-10 mic with the mattebox and a couple of tapes which all fits in a small shoulder bag.

The ability to shoot HDV content in a diminutive package really makes for being agile at all times. In addition it also makes sense when shooting in the unobtrusive reportage style – the size of the camera doesn’t call attention to what it’s capable of producing image wise. Add to it the compact size of the mic and you have a solid acquisition system for shooting video for web distribution as well as potential broadcast.

Some would say the small size is a disadvantage due to camera shake. Access to many of the cameras control functions requires accessing them via the flip out touch screen – a pain if you haven’t set up your camera in advance . This is understandable and a trade off I and other like minded solo video journalists are willing to accept in place of being able to move about more freely without the cumbersome size of larger size camcorders and the associated larger sized gear needed to work with them.

The HC7′s I work with still utilize tape, which has its pros and cons but they are a cost effective tool to work with and I don’t mind logging tapes at this time – the technology of tapeless recording and archiving is still working itself out and I would rather have tape archives for the time being. Who knows, NLE’s may finally resolve the AVCHD file format for editing the native file format. At NAB, VASST announced their upcoming AVCUpshift application that will convert the highly compressed AVCHD format to a more manageable m2t format at up to 60mbps. This announcement at NAB will allow for editing of AVCHD in a way that increases performance, especially in Vegas Pro 8, at the expense of slightly longer acquisition times in post due to converting the files. A trade off worth the expected $49.00 that is said the application will cost when released.

Bottom line is – working with this size camera gives Solo VJ’s the ability to be nimble HD content creators at a cost effective entry price.