Benjamin Eckstein

I feel somewhat fortunate that I entered this business in 2000 when the cost of entry, as far as professional level equipment, was considerably lower than ever before.  The DV (digital video) format had emerged in the 1990s and was seen as a viable professional acquisition format.  Sony was at the forefront of creating small  “prosumer” cameras (notably the VX1000)  with the miniDV format and, for that time, were able to produce quite lovely pictures that certainly looked better than would be expected from a camera that was only a few thousand dollars.  Certainly large Betacam and DigiBeta cameras (costing tens of thousands of dollars) were still the go-to for broadcast work but a major shift was occurring.  I bought my first DV camera in 2000, the JVC DV500, which was a full-size shoulder mount camera with a removable Fujinon lens and a 3CCD 1/2″ sensor.  It cost about five thousand dollars, and was really a fantastic camera with a very pro image.  In 2005, the company that I was working for, which made use of my JVC along with a Canon XL1 that they owned, was looking towards the newer HDV cameras and bought a few Sony Z1Us, so I sold my JVC while there was still some market left for DV cameras.

JVC DV500

When I went freelance in 2007 I made a decision not to buy another camera for awhile.  I owned a lot of other gear, like an Arri lighting kit, Sachtler tripod, full audio-package…basically all the gear I would typically take on normal shoots, minus the camera.  I looked at what was out on the market then and was not overly impressed with any one camera, plus I was getting hired by my old employer fairly frequently and would shoot with their Z1Us, so I didn’t want to buy a camera and not get paid to use it.  In fact, I found it quite frequent in the 6 months of being freelance that I was hired to shoot for production companies with their own gear, whether it was full size HD cameras for a reality show, or Canon or Sony HDV cameras for a corporate shoot.  Plus, there are some really fabulous rental houses in Boston (Rule Broadcast is my first go-to place, with very large inventory and great staff) so renting was a breeze when I had shoots for my own clients.

In the fall of 2007, I was hired to shoot all the field stories and b-roll for a show called “What’s the Alternative” that was being produced out of National Boston.  This was a studio-based talk show about alternative health and medicine, but many of the episodes had field stories that we shot on location.  The studio portion of the show was being shot on Canon XLH1s, and the producers wanted all the field stories shot on the same camera, so I rented for the first shoot.  Then I realized that I had at least fifteen shoot days booked for this job, so buying a camera for this job was a no-brainer.  Especially because Canon had just released the XH-A1, which had the same imaging chip as it’s big brother (the XLH1), but cost about half as much (around $3500), and I would have easily spent more than that on rentals for this job.  So I bought my first camera as a freelancer, and fortunately it was, in my opinion, one of the best HDV cameras available at the time (and possibly still).

Cano XLH1

A few months later, Sony introduced the XDCAM EX-1.  This was also around the time that I started trolling around on DVInfo, an online forum for sharing ideas, tips, and questions on cameras and other gear (highly geeky stuff).  Early adopters of this new Sony camera were posting videos they shot and it was pretty clear this was a game changing camera.  I had rented the full size XDCAM HD camera a few times earlier that year and also saw the benefits of a tapeless format.  So even though I had just purchased my Canon a few months prior, I broke my usual rule of buying gear when their is a specific need or when I see it making me more money, I spent the most I had spent on a single equipment purchase and bought the EX-1.  As it turns out, I was right and this WAS a game-changer.  Not to sound like a Sony ad, but the camera was so fun to use that it made me a better shooter, and clients definitely were wowed by the quality that I was getting out of it.  I also found that through some local people I met through DVinfo, and some of the folks at Rule who knew I was pretty on top of the camera and its workflow, I was actually getting work because of owning (and understanding) a specific piece of gear.

Sony EX-1 (with Letus Extreme adapter)

I still love my Sony and use it for most shoots, but am always looking at what else is out there.  I have been keeping my eye on a new trend this year towards DSLR video, which is professional digital still cameras that shoot video.  There are several models out there that are able to shoot HD video with outstanding clarity and color, and I have just been blown away by the videos I have seen coming from these relatively inexpensive cameras.  I feel that I have waited through some of the growing pains with a few of the earlier models, and Canon has just released a new model, the 7D, which I am going to buy when it becomes available at the end of this month.  Again, maybe I am breaking my purchasing rule a little bit, but I think this camera offers a different look and a different set of functionality that will help expand my toolkit.  Plus it is a relatively small investment and I think there is going to be a trend towards people certain productions asking for these cameras, so being an earlier adopter should pay off.

Canon 7D

I will continue to keep my eye on what’s new and look for opportunities to work with the new technology, and (hopefully) purchase when it makes financial sense and helps to create a better looking product for my clients.

Tags: cameras, equipment, EX-1

Posted Monday, September 14th, 2009 and filed under Blog. Both comments and pings are currently closed.