Category — Pro Camcorders

I can see the opening scene now: Phelps shoveling down his 12,000-calorie breakfast, ending with those chocolate chip pancakes. There must be tons of footage available already thanks to all of those digital camcorders and video cameras that have been following him around.

I haven’t thought about swimming much since I was a kid, but watching Michael Phelps at the Olympics made me notice that something is missing from my life: the opportunity to eat whatever I want and not have it show.

Thinking of Phelps and all of the technology-assisted broken records as the subject of a film made me think of how Hollywood has looked at sports over the years. Here is a short list of my personal favorites:

1. Bang the Drum Slowly
2. The Natural
3. Hoosiers
4. Field of Dreams
5. Chariots of Fire

Rocky just rates an honorable message in my book.

Yesterday, while watching Michael Phelps win some gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I wondered to myself what camcorders were being used to broadcast the event.

Turns out Sony tricked out NBC’s crew with its new XDCAM system, which included 30 PDW-700 camcorders and 170 PDW-HD1500 recording decks.

“It’s rewarding to be an integral part of one of the major HD television sports events in the world,” said Alec Shapiro, senior vice president for sales and marketing, Sony Electronics’ Broadcast and Production Systems Division. “The broadcast requirements for the Games continually increase in scope and complexity, and are a perfect showcase for our HD production technology. This year, Sony’s new 2/3-inch XDCAM HD system, as well as all our proven HD equipment, will play a major role in the coverage of the Games, bringing viewers at home an unforgettable experience.”

That’s quite a professional feat to be the major sponsor of the Olympic games! The image and sound were flawless. It’s like the entire event is one big commercial for Sony professional camcorders. Panasonic, Canon, and JVC have comparable hd systems for broadcasting, but having the Olympics as part of your company reel certainly must give Sony a leg up over its competitors.

Source: Market Watch

Flavorpill and Urban Experiment partnered together to create a new web series. They held a contest to find interesting urban city dwellers who would be tracked by a film crew as they explored small cities.

To my surprise, BWE’s Michelle Collins was the city gal having adventures in the Everglades, Florida. She went to an alligator farm, got snakes thrown onto her shoulders, and discovered the “nightlife”. Michelle is always entertaining as a blogger, but it was a treat to see her on-camera cracking the jokes.

Not sure what type of digital camcorder they employed for this series, but the camera work was quite nice. They captured the action of the speedboat navigating the everglades with pretty high resolution.

I’d guess that FP definitely sprung for professional camcorders.

Now if my parents had tons of money lying around, I would have asked for a pro camcorder. I’m talking serious money, at least 3k.
It’s like the bottom level of professional camcorders. Not the pansy cameras for school plays. Serious capabilities.

And it’s still relatively easy to use. Here are some specs:
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