Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/749700
FIELD REPORT www.postmagazine.com 36 POST NOVEMBER 2016 THE FULL SCOOP ON THE DVX200 4K CAMERA AND DP-V3010 4K STUDIO PRODUCTION REFERENCE MONITOR BY WILL HOLLOWAY P lease stop! I cannot be the only person in the film and video production industry who mutters this to the deaf ears of progress. One who wishes the pace of technological development would take a break from moving forward, for a few years, so that I can get through all of my current projects and amortize the gear I already have. To make some money, without having to spend money, and learn new techniques to keep up with my com- petition and the development of the next better widget! But it never stops. SHOOTING IN 4K Just as I have my company making moves into 4K; 8K and so on are looming just around the corner. But I have no clients asking for 8K. And I only have a handful who are interested in 4K…at least, right now. So, I will still produce mostly HD content. I have, however, begun to do acquisition in 4K. The ability to shoot 4K and shoot with the idea that I can do pan- and-scan camera moves within my frame and pull close-ups and digitally stabilized (in post) tracking shots, which were never possible before are very attractive options. Any camera operator who has tried tracking circling birds will know how frustrating that can be. A super high-res clip can be used to shoot a little wider, then in post the shot gets re-framed and tracked close up, as if the shooter knew every twitch the bird would make, smooth as glass. It is very cool. In some ways, for action or wildlife shooting, it may be the best reason to migrate to 4K. Additionally, 4K acquisition future-proofs today's foot- age, but also gives framing options for HD or even SD end products. You can pull the frame you want or just have a maximum sharp image in HD down-converted from UHD or 4K. There are lots of reasons to shoot bigger, even if you are not using the bigger images…yet. I began my foray into Ultra High Def this spring when Panasonic and Canon provided me with my first 4K camera and studio monitor. Here, while not a cir- cuit-by-circuit technical review, I hope to help others ease the transition into UHD and find out why the DVX200 is possibly the best entry-level camera to the pro 4K market to date. And while Canon's DP-V3010 studio production monitor is not an entry level priced unit for 4K pro- duction, it is a high-end, color accurate reference monitor which rivals anything I have ever seen. It was amazing to use. THE DVX200 IN THE FIELD I took the DVX200 (AG-DVX200PJY) on a 4,000 mile Southwest road trip, visiting parks and monuments, but mostly very