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

Lil' Buster In The Rain

Aug. 3, 2009
New Orleans, LA

As fortune would have it, Lil' Buster (the Panasonic HMC40 AVCHD camcorder) and I found ourselves in New Orleans. Great opportunity to shoot some amazing HD footage, I thought.
Well yes and no. It rained. I mean New Orleans style buckets of rain. So, this picture shows my rather ingenious rain hood for the camera. It is a one gallon zip lock bag. Naturally, I couldn't shoot with the camera in the bag, but it did keep Lil' Buster dry. I wish I had a zip lock bag for me. I got soaked three times walking around the French Quarter.
However, during the brief spells of sunshine, I marveled again at the versatility of this great camera. You can imagine how hot and humid New Orleans got once the rain stopped and I pulled Lil' Buster out of the baggie. Well, since there are no moving parts, I didn't have to worry about head clogs, and could start shooting immediately. No dew sensor came on and told me to wait. Ah, you gotta love solid state recording.



Haven't had a chance to edit the footage yet, but I am looking forward to it.

This week, I am on the road again. Tomorrow night at the GA Professional Videographers Meeting. For information please see: http://app.talkfusion.com/fusion2/view.asp?NDU3Mjgx_2814712
Wed, I fly out to LA for an event at EVS. For further info, please see: http://www.evsonline.com/contact_us/index.shtml
On Thurs, I will be making a presentation at Birns & Sawyer that is entitled: Shoot Cheap - Load Fast - Think Panasonic
When: Thursday, August 13th
Where: Birns & Sawyer Camera Division
6381 De Longpre, LA 90028
RSVP: info@birnsandsawyer.com

If you are in Atlanta or LA, please stop by.

More to come,
The Road Warrior

New Jersey Final Cut User Group Meeting

July 28, 2009
Panasonic Corp Offices, Secaucus, NJ

Last evening, I brought Lil'Buster (the HMC40) home to Panasonic Corporate offices for meeting of the NJ Final Cut Pro User Group.
We had around 30 people in the audience. I had presented to this group a number of months ago, to introduce Ole Bestsy (the HMC150) and the concept of AVCCAM products. Last nite, was Lil' Buster's coming out party. Besides an incredible price, the crowd reacted to a number of the camera's key features; 10.6 megapixel still images, pre-record, time lapse recording, dynamic range stretch and the very light weight of the camera.
Also, the fact that Apple has now announced new support in Final Cut Pro for AVCCAM editing (including proxies) certainly had the crowd buzzing. I haven't yet got the new FCP but when I do, I will post reactions here.
More to come,
The Road Warrior