Decent viewfinders were once part and parcel of the camcorder experience, mainly black and white as they gave you the best contrast ratio to allow decent focusing.

Today life is a bitch when it comes to viewfinders and the lack of thought that manufacturers give to their use, position and resolution.

The classic example of a useless viewfinder lies with the Sony PMW-F3, a classic large sensor camera with the sole intention of capturing TV drama in full HD yet the supplied viewfinder is appalling.

If you can’t be bothered to produce a VF fit for purpose then make sure the DP can buy a Hi Res alternative that fits on the camera and has all the correct connections, alternative VFs like the Zacuto are good but still need powered up and you need a small bag of Canon batteries to make sure you get a days use out of them.

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This is the “look” we all associate with a Lada, a metal box on wheels, my sister had one of these cars and loved it, very basic but got you from “A” to “B”.

My friend Alexander is filming with his Canon C300 at the Moscow motor show, he finds the C300 excellent in low light conditions but a bit of a pain not having a servo zoom.

It’s the major downfall with most large sensor camcorders is the lack of a servo zoom making then very clumsy and limiting compared to an ENG camcorder, rigs like the Zacuto C300 Recoil help but lack of zoom control seriously limits your creativity. Sony are the only company to date to have addressed this issue putting a servo zoom on the PMW-F3 , NEX-FS700 and the new NEX-EA50, the 14x Sony zoom for the F3 the Sony SCL-Z18X140 (SCLZ18X140) 18-252mm / T3.8 is £7,680.

A lot of us are pinning our hopes on the Sony PMW-200 to fill this gaping hole, a camcorder that will be good in low light with it’s larger 1/2″ Exmor sensors and constant aperture 14x lens.

I hope to have my very own PMW-200 by the 14th of September where I will put it through it’s paces alongside the Canon C300, this will finally give me the best of both worlds.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Productions

The time has come when the big four need to supply their camcorder menus for iPhone/iPad download. Panasonic, Sony, JVC and Canon all use different menu systems and differing terms for the same thing, initialisation and formatting being one of them.

This is the Canon C300/XF305 menu system which is relatively easy to navigate.

This is the easiest of them all the Panasonic menu system especially the picture profile section which is double Dutch on Sony professional camcorders.

It’s simple, every so often I get a phone call from someone who needs some explanation on how to navigate their way through a menu system and it would be very easy if I could call up the “Sony” generic or specific menu system for the camcorder the person is talking about.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Productions