On Sun, 06 Apr 2003 15:29:33 GMT, "Bill Farnsworth" <bill.farnsworth@verizon.CUTOUTnet> wrote:

>"Gregory Lee" <greglee@umich.edu> wrote

>> So, what would you recommend that is a level up from the PD-150 but

>> still compact in size?

>Beats me. Lets see what shakes out at NAB this year.

>

>I'd love to see this camera be configured for options, just like the

>professional and broadcast lines. Options that the user can easily purchase

>and modify for their particular style of and format of production. Things

>like..... a larger and higher res viewfinder. Interchangable small format

>professional lenses with standard features like a practical short focal

>length, (comparable to 8mm~8.5mm on 2/3 in. format lenses) one to one manual

>focus, back focus and a quality zoom rocker. And optional battery pack

>configurations.

On the last, why? The durn lil' thing will shoot fer

days on one lil' cheep NPF-960... On the rest, it looks

like you might like the JVC 500 or Panasonic 200

shoulder-mounts - they deliver more to the "manual"

folks, with lots of options, but with the greater

size/weight one might expect (not too bad, though...;-).

As I said before, try the 150 in full-auto (with

controls biased in the custom controls, and NOT using

1/30th second shutter speed;-), and you just might be

surprised by what it can do (especially if you trade

precision in image control during shooting for willingness

to adjust gamma and color balance/saturation in post).

It will not replace bigger gear for all things (or

HDTV, 35mm, or IMAX gear either ;-), but once you open

up to a different camera-control method, you may see things

the little cameras can do better than the large, while

still providing good image quality...

>As a Hi End consumer camera, the PD-150 is the top drawer as far as I'm

>concerned. All Sony has to do is make it modular like the XL1s.

>If they did that, then I'd be a happy guy.

Well, there is the DSR-300, et al., but....;-)

>> Or are the true professional cameras only shoulder cams?

>Absolutely not. They just happen to be configured that way. I'm sure that

>will change.

You might be right... Right now, there is the extension

of the "low-end" upward, with the PD150/VX2000, DVX100,

GL2, and JVC300 at the top end of this extension, with

auto-control and small size paramount - and an extension

of the "top-end" downward, with the Pan. 200 and JVC 500,

with manual-control and shoulder-mounting still paramount,

and size/weight reduced, but still a good way from the

3-pounders... There is room for a 5-pounder that offers

the options you want (and it just might be the XL-2, if

Canon gets its act together - but the XL-1 definitely has

NOT been the "answer" to this, given its relative image

and handling/control problems compared with several

others that are also cheaper and smaller/lighter...).