Lil' Buster in Park City, UT for Slamdance Film Festival

Sunday January 24, 2010
Finally the sun came out! It has been snowing, cold and white-out conditions here since Friday am. The Slamdance Film Festival (see www.slamdance.com) is in full swing and the weather can't dampen the spirits here.

Yesterday, I moderated a Fireside Chat session at Slamdance
where we invited filmmakers who all have films in this year's festival to speak. Each of these filmmakers shot their films on Panasonic cameras. Mainly the HVX200 P2 camera. They talked about their experience with the camera and the workflow. Then they showed clips of the films. Way cool!

I then asked them what they liked about shooting with Panasonic and their comments ranged from: "I like the look I get with Panasonic HD cameras", "The camera is so light weight it allowed me to get shots in positions not otherwise possible", and "The workflow from camera to edit is so fast".

I also asked them if there was anything that they didn't like, and there really wasn't. How bout that?

Thanks to the filmmakers for sharing their stories and talent with us.
You can check them out on the links below:
Nico Sabenorio "Bout That Bout" see: www.boutthatbout.com
John Carluccio "Cease & Desist" see: johncarluccio.blogspot.com
Chuck Gomez "Poinciana Sunrise" see: slamdance.bside.com/2010/films/poincianasunrise_chuckgomezdirector_slamdance2010

After the session we all gathered out in the hallway, where TV Specialists, the Panasonic dealer in Salt Lake City, had set up a table and had a number of the Panasonic cameras on display for the filmmakers to play with. See: www.tvspecialists.com

Most were familiar with the P2 cameras but the AVCCAM cameras (particularly Lil' Buster, the HMC40 camera) that record on standard SDHC cards, blew them away. I am pretty confident we will see films next year shot with Lil' Buster.
It was a great day.

Tomorrow, I am giving another Fireside Chat at Slamdance, this one is "Codecs to Cameras" and I will discuss the benefits of the various codecs, the limitations of MPEG 2, and show the Panasonic P2 and AVCCAM cameras.

I will try to get some more pix tomorrow and post them.

The Road Warrior

FTC Disclosure
In compliance with the FTC rulings, I state that I am the Panasonic AVCHD Evangelist. As such, I am a paid consultant to Panasonic, and I get free use of the AVCCAM products.

Lil' Buster at Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival

-
Sept. 28- Oct. 2, 2009
Every 2 years amid the fall splendor of The Grand Tetons, the world's best wildlife cinematographers gather for the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. This is an amazing event. Incredibly talented people and amazing scenery. For more information, check out: www.jhfestival.org/

These cinematographers are the type that think nothing of living in the wild for over a year, shooting with the world's best cameras to create award winning nature films. These film makers use Panasonic high-end Varicams every day. But, I have to tell you Lil' Buster (The HMC40) made quite a debut.

First and foremost, for this crowd, it comes down to image quality. Secondly, it is all about the robustness and weight of the camera. We are talking some pretty tough locations. And third, they are looking for cool features. In all these areas, Lil' Buster answered all questions.

Image Quality. Recording on SDHC cards, the media costs are almost non-existent and the picture quality blew everyone's mind. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "I can't believe a camera this inexpensive, can make pictures this good." Now, I am not saying they will stop using Varicams, but I did hear this comment almost daily. "Wow, this would be a perfect second unit camera."

Robustness and Weight. Ok, so we haven't yet had it out in the wild for a year at a time, but everyone was knocked out by how light weight it is. "I could hand carry it. Wouldn't need a bulky case."
And as you can see from this pix, it is small enough that you can even mount it on a fence.




Cool Features. Pre-record and time lapse really speaks to this crowd. To be able to get the dolphin jumping every time, or clouds sweeping isn't just cool, it's critical. I have posted examples of time-lapse with this camera here before, but I couldn't resist shooting the mountains.





As I say, Lil' Buster was a hit. However, the newest members of the AVCCAM family created the most buzz at this event. But, that is for another post.

More to come,
The Road Warrior



FTC Disclosure
In compliance with the FTC rulings, I state that I am the Panasonic AVCHD Evangelist. As such, I am a paid consultant to Panasonic, and I get free use of the AVCCAM products.

Lil' Buster Shoots Disney Wedding

FTC Disclosure
In compliance with the FTC rulings, I state that I am the Panasonic AVCHD Evangelist. As such, I am a paid consultant to Panasonic, and I get free use of the AVCCAM products.

September 10, 2009
Walt Disney World

Today, Lil' Buster (The Panasonic HMC40 camcorder) got all dressed up and made his working debut at a fantastic Disney wedding.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I teamed up once again with my friends at Bruno White Entertainment, the pros who shoot Disney Weddings. Last year, when Ole Besty (The Panasonic HMC150) first came out, they did a fantastic job of shooting a couple of weddings for us, so I was very curious as to their reactions to Lil' Buster.

I was able to provide them with two HMC40's for the event and I actually documented them shooting the event with my Lil' Buster. I hope to post some videos later.
The wedding and the venue were spectacular. We shot pre-ceremony shots in the lobby of the Grand Floridan Hotel. Then the bride and her father climbed into Cinderella's coach (really!) and rode to the Disney Wedding Pavilion. This pix of the castle at the top of this post was taking thru the window of the pavilion by Lil' Buster. Yes, remember in addition to great HD footage, this camera also shoots 10.6 megapixel stills.

The crew at Bruno White did their usual amazing work and are delivering a Blu-ray disc for us to play in the Panasonic booth this week at WEVA (Wedding and Event Videographers Association) here in Orlando.

In this pix, the HMC40 is equipped with the Pro Audio Rig, which gives 2 XLR inputs and an external microphone .

On the other HMC40 they were able to rig their Sennheiser wireless receiver.
Pretty ingenious.

Ok, so how did Lil' Buster and his brother and sister perform? Flawlessly. The Bruno White shooters were very familiar with the HMC150 and so they had to get acquainted with the HMC40 touch screen menu controls. However, they loved the light weight of the camera (only 2.2 lbs) and the flexibility it provided to them during the shoot.

And as you can see, I finally have proper camera support.
A great help, as you can tell from my rather innovative camera support stands for the time lapse in earlier posts. My friends at Libec have supplied me with a great light weight tripod, the H22DV. It arrived just in time to cover the wedding, thanks, Libec.

If you are in Orlando and coming to Weva, please stop by the Panasonic booth and say hi. If you will be at DV Expo in Pasadena next week, look us up again in the Panasonic booth.

More to come,
The Road Warrior

Lil' Buster at Disney World

Sept 9, 2009
Lake Buenva Vista, Fl

No, Lil' Buster and I are not on vacation, but as you can see even Mickey wanted to hold the camera.

We are in Florida to supply Lil' Buster's brother and sister (2 new Panasonic HMC40 cameras) to Bruno White Entertainment. Bruno White Entertainment is responsible for the high end video recording for weddings at Walt Disney World. More on this in a later post.

But, the wedding was a late afternoon date, and the Florida sunshine was beckoning, so Lil' Buster and I went to Disney World to see what we could shoot.

However, every where we went someone else wanted to hold Lil' Buster. It was certainly a crowd pleaser. This guy told me he loves it to his very bones.

One of the key features of this HMC40 is the ability to shoot time lapse.
So, go to the following link to see footage shot in the interval mode with 1 frame every 10 seconds. Disney Balloon Time Lapse
Pretty cool!
And here is a behind the scenes shot. Once again, notice the great camera support system. Hey, it worked.


More to come, including details on the Disney Wedding Shoot.
The Road Warrior

In The Morning, In The Evening, Lil' Buster Does Time Lapse

August 24, 2009
Bryce Canyon National Park
Sunset
Lil' Buster (The Panasonic HMC40 HD camcorder) and me at Bryce Canyon setting up to shoot the sunset in time lapse. Notice the way cool camera support.
(Photo by Erin Mitchell)

Ah, Bryce Canyon. Now, this is a magical site, especially at sunset and sunrise. I shot both.

If you want to see the result, click on the following link to YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ7HboBgZmQ

With Lil' Buster it is a snap to shoot time lapse. Just touch the LCD viewfinder menu button. Then pick Record Set Up and then Interval Record. Now you have to decide what effect you want. This is where you can choose to shoot one frame every 1 second, or every 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute or 2 minutes. Remember shooting time lapse requires good camera support and lots of patience. Just think of all the applications for this feature. Imagine shooting traffic, sunset on the beach, a concert load in/load out, or even a building being constructed. It would be awesome.

On one of my many airport waits, I was bored, so I pulled out Lil' Buster, sat him on a chair and recorded this time lapse footage.
Again, click on the following link to see this footage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1viUNSGk0I

I can't wait to shoot more time lapse with Lil' Buster, a most amazing camera. And I am happy to report that the HMC40 is shipping from Panasonic now! So, you can get your own!

More to come,
The Road Warrior

Burnin' Up Miami

Thursday August 20, 2009
Miami, Fl

Lil' Buster (The Panasonic HMC40) camcorder got introduced to the sun and fun of Miami this week. Reactions from dealers and shooters were all positive. They believe that Panasonic has a new "Big" star. With it's low price, light weight, time lapse, prerecord and the fact that it also shoots 10.6 megapixel stills, it is appealing to all types of folks. And it records on MPEG 4 instead of the old MPEG 2.

Naturally, the question of workflow pops up. It is amazing how many misconceptions are still out there. People believe that AVCHD footage is impossible to edit. Not true. I have edited on Final Cut, Final Cut Express, iMovie, Adobe Premier, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, ULead, Avid and Edius.
In fact, when Lil' Buster ships later this month, Panasonic is bundling a free copy of Edius Neo 2 which edits native AVCHD.

I have written a white paper on the Edius workflow which appears on www.panasonic.com/avccam. In additon, there are quite a few workflow papers on this site. Check them out.




Next week Lil' Buster and me will be in San Diego.
More to come,
The Road Warrior

Lil' Buster Boffo in Hollywood

August 13, 2009
Hollywood, CA

Tonight, Lil Buster (the Panasonic HMC40 camcorder) rocked Tinsel Town!
We had standing room only for a 2 hour love-fest at Birns and Sawyer in the heart of Hollywood. The enthralled crowd included not only production folks, but also educators, corporate videographers and web designers. And they loved Lil' Buster.
Why?
1. Price - under 2K (street price)
2. Light weight - just 2.2 pounds
3. Hi-def video and 10.6 megapixel still pix
4. Great low light performance
5. Scalable bandwidth (from 6 to 24 megabits per second). Great for web.
6. Pre-record. You will never miss a shot.
7. Time lapse record
...and the list goes on and on.
Great interest in using the HMC40 as a "B" camera on productions that are using the bigger brother HMC150 as an "A" camera.
Birns and Sawyer were so pleased with crowd of "new" customers that we have been invited back for a Christmas holiday presentation.
Hey, we can then wow 'em with the new HMR10 recorder/player and POVCAM. But that is another story.
More to come
The Road Warrior