Adding/Replacing Camera infrastructure

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Adding/Replacing Camera infrastructure

Heritage1

Hello ! Well I am an audio guy , needing to gather some info on a camera purchase. Currently we are running 3 AG-HPX370's on sticks with Fujinon XTx4.5BRM-K14 lenses and a HS410 switcher. We have been running at 720/59.94. It has looked fine, but we want to move to 1080. We did try to to switch to 1080, and I'm not sure if it was the camera/lens struggling with lower light, or incorrect settings, or both but it was pretty noisy and grainy. But we also want to potentially get into more of a cinematic look, potentially a variable frame rate where we shoot in 24 for worship and 30 for preaching.
What handhelds is everybody loving ? I was looking at the Sony FX6 or FS7 , or perhaps the Canon C200 or C300. From here I want to then get viable stationary cameras to replace the HPX370's above, and have them all play nice together !

joelwsmith

Heritage1

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the community!

The HPX370s were (and still can be) great cameras. I've purchased many of them and used them many times throughout the years. They are a native 720p sensor, so I have definitely seen less than ideal results by running them in 1080p/i modes. There could have been some settings that also were not helping your situation, though.

So, first and foremost, make sure you have more than adequate lighting. All cameras like light, and having good/adequate light will set you up for the best success no matter what camera you choose.

First Things First

Before choosing the camera/lens you want, it's good to determine what your expectations and budget are.

For example, you can get a "cinematic" look like you're describing (24p for worship and 30p or 60p for preaching) with both cinema and studio broadcast cameras. So is the desire just for the cinematic frame rate, or is there also a desire for more shallow depth of field that larger sensor cameras can only achieve?

Also, do you want things like CCU (or CCU-like) control of camera/lens settings like iris, shutter, white balance, etc.?

And what type of budget range are you looking to stay within?

And lastly, the HS410 switcher you have will only support SD or HD-SDI formats like 1080i59.94, 720p59.94, 1080PsF24, or 1080p23.98. It won't do formats like 1080p29.97 or anything higher. So I would also keep that in mind if you wish to keep the current switcher. Or plan on replacing the switcher as well if you want more/updated formats.

Heritage1

Hey Joel ! Thanks for the reply ! I think step one is to get two nice handhelds for close up, action shots for worship primarily that can stick around when we replace the switcher and other cameras and move to 1080. Our videographer who does a lot of depth of field shots on our midweek services and promos, uses a Sony A7RIII, and has 2 6400's and we tried one of those for a service, it did the job. We need volunteers to be able to run the handhelds, so I have been told camcorders are easier and the way to go, and any cinema cameras are hard to get decent at. Any feelings on the panasonic cx-350? I think for the cameras on sticks we will want CCU ability.

We do have low ceilings , but I am also trying to suss out whether we want a jib, a dactyl, or even a nice PTZ cam?
I know a film look/depth of field is all the rage in some churches, I personally don't see us going there , but I'm just the audio guy LOLOLOL. I would love to have you check out 5 mins of our service and get a vibe

Im not totally sure on budget , because video screens have become a must as well, and were getting a new PA ! I am fascinated by the work Church By The Glades is doing with their screens, and Im very curious what the are. They seem highly modular and potentially flexible. Theres a lot there and Im all over the place and just thought of 5 more questions , thank you for any input you may have !