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Filed under: Cameras •Hardware •NAB 2010 •NAB 2010 Production •Production •

NAB Pix: Cameras

Ikegami HDS-V10 GFCAM tapeless 2/3” 3-CCD camcorder.

In between the DSLRs and the 3D rigs, there were a few “traditional” broadcast cameras (like the Ikegami V10 shown above), small-format camcorders, and digital cinema cameras to be seen. Here are some of them.

“Traditional” Cameras

Canon XF300 1/3” 3-CMOS camcorder showing its flip-way-out LCD.

I previously mentioned the new Canons—1/3” CMOS handhelds with a new 50 Mbit/sec 4:2:2 MPEG-2 codec recording on CF cards. They’re clearly descendants of the HDV-format XH A1 and XH G1 camcorders, but just as clearly they show a number of improvements beyond those models. In the image above, the oversized LCD (which can be swung out on either side of the camera as well as folding 45 degrees farther back than normal) shows a focusing display; the “grass” among the bottom of the picture grows taller as fine detail within the image sharpens up.

Canon CXF300 waveform monitor display.

The new Canons offer both waveform monitor and vectorscope overlays on their LCDs. The EVF remains unaffected by these overlays, so you can leave the WFM displayed if you want and just use the EVF for composition.

Canon VX300 lens and controls.

The lens offers hard-stopped manual focus as well as full auto focus. The lens collar behind the focusing ring, with the focus window cut into it, rotates between a “manual” and an “auto” position to make the selection. When you turn it to the “auto” position, the focusing scale cleverly slides back, disappearing behind/beneath the collar—you’ll never glance at the auto-focusing lens and mistakenly think a manual focus point has been selected.

JVC GY-HM790 1/3” 3-CCD camcorder, the HM700’s more capable brother.

We saw this HM790 before, too, but I wanted to show some of its details.

I/O connectors and SDHD card slots on the 790.

The 790 builds on the earlier 700 mostly by building out connectivity and controllability: the 790 can handle genlocked multicamera shoots, ASI, analog pool feeds, triax and fiber cabling, and remote controls with greater ease than last year’s 700. Yes, the 700 can do all that, too, but the 700 requires a studio-style “sled” for may things that the 790 can handle unencumbered (though the 790 can also be sled-mounted, of course).

The JVC’s big, detailed flip-out LCD.

The 790, like the Canons, has a gratifyingly large and detailed LCD, which makes finding focus a lot less painful.

Panasonic AG-HMC80 1/4” 3-CMOS AVCCAM… with DV recording, too.

The HMC80 is a shoulder-mount companion to the small, handheld HMC40. Aside from its obvious differences, it adds standard-def recording using AVI-wrapped DV files.

This is a Big Deal: DV files are universally editable these days, and can be cut quickly and easily on any Mac or PC from the past decade. Many competing AVCHD camcorders offer SD recording—if they offer it at all—using a more cumbersome, DVD-derived MPEG-2 codec. Their SD files may be more space efficient but they are more difficult to edit, requiring more powerful computers and a more limited selection of compliant NLEs.

The HMC80 ships in September and will list for about $2900.

The HDAVS booth at NAB.

HDAVS is a mainland Chinese company exhibiting at NAB for the first time, though they’ve been shipping video products in China for five years. Their E2 system uses hard disk and flash memory “DataCam” packs.

HDAVS HDC-680 2/3” 3-CCD HD camcorder.

The 680 camcorder has a dual-slot design allowing both mirrored and ping-pong recording modes. The camera records I-frame-only 4:2:2 MPEG-2 at 100 Mbit/sec or long-GOP 4:2:0 MPEG-2 at 50-80 Mbit/sec.

Operator’s side of HDAVS HDC-680 camcorder.

Most controls are in their familiar places despite the occasional Chinese character. I was told that the CCDs are from Panasonic and the hard drives are from Hitachi.

HDAVS DDC-280 2/3” 3-CCD SD camcorder.

There’s also a standard-def version, the 280. It also uses the E2 DataCam packs.

Next: Digital Cinema Cameras…

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