Sony HVR A1E - Any Views?

[pflower]

It has been years since I have looked at video seriously and am completely out of the loop as to what HD formats there are, what cameras there are etc.  In fact the last time I actually made videos HD was not in the loop at all.

I have an old Panasonic AG DVX100 but hardly ever even look at it due to size and laziness. Lately I have been thinking about making some videos and want something smaller.  I have seen a Sony HVR A1E at a pretty good price (£750) and which seems to be in good condition.  However I know nothing about it.  Reviews suggest that even though it is a single chip camera the picture quality is good.  Does anyone have any experience with these?  I don't intend to go out and try and make a feature film for worldwide distribution  but would like good quality video for web use and for distribution on DVD.

I have an old copy of Final Cut Pro which I can upgrade to the most recent version at a reasonable cost, but will the latest version of FCP be able to deal with the footage. Or should I be looking at something completely different?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Christopher Sanderson]

HeHe 

I just sold the LuLa camera this week - for a LOT less than 750 quid. It was the NTSC version though.

See here

The camera produces good 1080 HDV albeit interlaced. The strong points are size and IQ. The weak: user interface, manual control, viewfinder and focus hunting in low contrast situations.

FinalCut will have no problems with the footage and controlling the camera as a deck. Although my workflow more recently was to capture the video and transcode in real time to Apple ProRes 422.

Let me know of any other questions you need answered

Chris S

[fredjeang]

HeHe  

I just sold the LuLa camera this week - for a LOT less than 750 quid. It was the NTSC version though.

See here

The camera produces good 1080 HDV albeit interlaced. The strong points are size and IQ. The weak: user interface, manual control, viewfinder and focus hunting in low contrast situations.

FinalCut will have no problems with the footage and controlling the camera as a deck. Although my workflow more recently was to capture the video and transcode in real time to Apple ProRes 422.

Let me know of any other questions you need answered

Chris S

Chris, I really don't get why Final Cut is now the standart.
God! It's render, render and more render!

[Christopher Sanderson]

... It's render, render and more render!...
Am I missing something about final cut?

The render management in FCP is poor, I agree. But there are techniques to avoid having to render.

- Edit in a format that does not require render. Apple ProRes is the easiest. Convert to ProRes on Capture or Transfer.

- Make sure your Timeline settings match the video and audio settings of your master clips.

- If you have to render, make sure that you pay attention to the warnings about losing render files when turning track visibility on & off. 'Command-Z' (Undo) is the most powerful tool in this respect!

- if you are moving rendered clips around in the TimeLine, make sure that they stay on the same track and do not have other tracks above or below that are different in the new position. This way the render will slip or shift with the clip; but as soon as the surrounding tracks above or below change in the move, you will lose your render file as soon as you finger comes off the mouse  GRRRRR. Command-Z again!

[fredjeang]

- if you are moving rendered clips around in the TimeLine, make sure that they stay on the same track and do not have other tracks above or below that are different in the new position. This way the render will slip or shift with the clip; but as soon as the surrounding tracks above or below change in the move, you will lose your render file as soon as you finger comes off the mouse   GRRRRR. Command-Z again!

That's exactly what Happened today! and zzzz again! Well, this is a different design and philosophy than Premiere, I'm sure I'll end liking it once I get use to it.

The other thing I noticed is that F.C is a memory consummer. Same clip low res with the 5D on a powerfull Mac tower and with a little bit of adjustments+filters and you have to pull it behind.

Thanks for the tricks.

Cheers.