You might have noticed the new link on the home page of our two sites WhiteCap Video & PC Sailing.  This gives a convenient way to visit both sites.  With so many clients using services from both businesses we decided to start linking the sites.  Our blog will now have post from both businesses.  This should be entertaining for the sailing crowd, to read about the technical aspects of our production business, as well as the video production gang learning more about my real life long passion. So lets start off with a basic video I did last year for…

Summer, what a great time of year in New England offers lots of time to play in one of the best playgrounds, Narragansett Bay.  Having been in the sailing industry all my life Narragansett Bay is home.   It is perfect for water sports, which are my passion, along with mountain biking and of course filming all of it for clients who demand the best. Recently a client hired me to shoot the Bermuda Race start 18 June.  They did not want to pay for helicopter footage so I rented a very long lens for my Sony F800 from Rule/Boston Camera…

First a quick note on my experience with the XDCAM PDW-F800 after a month of using the camera. I am so impressed with this camera.  The image quality is much better then the PMW-350 and the optical disk is a huge time saver.  I have one client who I shoot for monthly and we shoot 5 hrs in the helicopter.  With the EX1 and 350 I used the Nano Flash which is a great recorder but very cumbersome when it comes to delivery and archive.  Still the best choice if you only have 4.2.0. color spacing and lower bit rates. …

Wow it has been a while since my last post.  I have been flat out editing and shooting which is great.  I have made  a few gear changes in the last month and the big one is moving up to a F800. First off I sold my Sony PMW-350.  Yes I know after raving about the camera and having such a great first impression I have moved on.  There is nothing wrong with the PMW-350 except it did not have the latitude I expected in a 2/3″ camera.   It is a nice nice step up from the EX1/3 but…

The Sony XDCAM PMW-350 is worked OK it had latitude problems on this shoot.  So after this shoot I realized I needed to move up to the Sony F800.  I was surprised how long the learning curve on the 350 from the EX1 has been which has mostly been scene files.  Last week my Fujinon ZA 17X7.6B lens arrived which is excellent.   I purchased the focus control which now gives me Focus, zoom, and VTR at my finger tips.  I will post  a full review on the lens options I tried and why I decided on the ZA 17x. …

I would like to pass along some information on my tripod systems of choice for my 2/3” XDCAM PMW-350 camera. First off I need a tripod that is very stiff and as light as possible.  There are times when I have to walk miles with my gear to get the shot.  So lightweight is very important.  And of course stiffness and stability is also very important so yes I want everything.  Well I came close. The PMW-350 is a light camera with stock lens and battery it weights 14.8lbs.  Loaded with my studio gear comes it comes in at a…

Convergent Design Nano w/camera mounting options Wow, am I happy with my PMW-350 camera.  A large part of that is the ability to use my Convergent Design Nano to up the recording bit rate and color spacing.  Without the Nano I would not own this camera I would have purchased the F800. The Nano is a small Compact Flash card recorder (4 7/8” x 3 ¾” x 1 3/8”) and light 0.85 pounds.  But packs a punch when it comes to delivering exactly what CD states, and the results I have found over the last 5 months more then prove…

Sony EX350 First Impressions I received my Sony XDCAM PMW-350 2/3” HD Broadcast camera last week Dec 23 2009. It turned out to be an early Christmas gift for my company since I was expecting the camera mid Jan 2010. Sony has two 350 cameras so from this point forward I will call this camera the EX350. It is the big brother to the EX1, EX1R (new), EX3, which are all great. I have been using the EX1 in my business for two years with excellent results. I pre-ordered my EX350 after it was announced by Sony in October. The…