An artist can go mad using only one means of expression all of the time. We paint with oils, then charcoal. We scream with electronic distortion then need the acoustic guitar to stir the soul. . They are all tools of expression.  Video, although now digital, still is not film... nor should it be. But Video has its place, and a strong place in the scheme of things. We use each as “tools” or means of expression to evoke the moods we wish to present.  As video matures, high definition in one form or another is our current goal, and it’s “look” is far better than anything electronically before it. Amazing projects are yet to be done in any of these formats, in fact,  some of our very talented cinematographers have currently lensed great films with lesser formats..  but remember....         It’s not just the technology but how you use it!        That said…..    
It was time for me to own a new video camera. I’ve shot with most of them... some with great frustration. My choice, the Sony PDW-XDCAM530 stood head and shoulders above anything else out there in the $60K area (body and lens). Sony markets the XDCAM system with its emphasis on the XDCAM optical “work flow” capabilities and its family of products. I love having the ability to have Thumbnails and Instant access to any shot in the field... and no tape problems... no head clogs or head wear for that matter.... no  .,..in real time...digitizing for editing!!!   But the front end of this camera is where my real interest lies, and this one holds many favorable surprises. To look under the hood of the XDCAM 530 along with my New York ICG brothers and sisters, and with the help of Sol Negrin,ASC, our tireless leader of the ICG Education Committee, we held a seminar using my XDCAM 530 up at the Local 600 office on Jan. 29 of 2005 to take a better look.

Sony sent over their XDCAM camera expert Bob Mozcan to walk us through the XDCAM’s many menu driven features, way too many to list here. Bob fielded many questions, showed us sample tests shot on the XDCAM530 and viewed on a Sony VM20L2 20” color monitor using the SDI encoder and the DWV1 optical disk player,  here is a sampling of what he said…
 “The XDCAM is designed to live in both the Broadcast World and the Cinema World.  For instance, the XDCAM has the same LSI chip used for processing as in our high end HD cameras, and is extremely flexible. All video formats use some form of compression scheme, HDV uses alot of compression. To understand the XDCAM hi-resolution image;  remember that resolution is measured horizontally and vertically. Both the CiniAlta and the XDCAM are 900 lines horizontally, although the HD doubles the vertical lines, the IMX 50Mbps compression is a very efficient compression engine. 50Mbps recorded with the Sony XDCAM has very little degradation, and since the XDCAM is native 16:9, it “up converts” to HD beautifully. Our Sony 50Mbps decks have a card built in that spits out HD from 50Mbps and you would never know the difference. The picture is beautiful. .  I won’t even talk about the BetaSP.. it’s much older technology and analogue at that..  but the older DigiBeta camera has a contrast ratio of about 9 stops… the XDCAM  is about 11…  this has the 24P card, 24-frame capture in CCD, along with its standard switchable 30P / 60i capture. The menu is extremely extensive, for instance, the Gamma curve is more adjustable than ever before to closely assimilate those of film, including several pre- sets. You can paint almost anything you can imagine. All savable on the Memory Stick. This has Picture Cache Recording where the camera records 10 seconds before you even push the button, the Slow Shutter Mode feature allows shutter speeds slower than the frame rate, 1 to 16 frames,  in essence stacking frames on top of each other increasing sensitivity without adding video noise. It produces excellent stills in editing and can be used for creative, yet to be discovered,  uses. Thumbnail Search with adjustable Scene Selection.. in the field. Proxy AV Data recording, Metadata recording, its two LCD screens, Interval recording,  Ethernet connection allows you to E-mail MPEG4 and metadata anywhere in the world, instantly.   I-LINK (firewire) output from MPEG-IMX playback , SDI output for high resolution output to tape ( DigiBeta, BetaSP)  or SDI 16:9 monitor, 4 audio tracks…  XDCAM-530 supports stream conversion from MPEG IMX to  DVCAM stream over  i-LINK, which can allow you to keep high picture quality with MPEG for on-line quality while processing edit, scripting/logging work with DV infrastructure.(Hard Drive or DVCAM tape).
The XDCAM 530 even has built in functions the CineAlta doesn’t  have.  This is just a sampling of what this camera can do... you really have to use one to realize the difference..
  I will be including this seminar information within the next few weeks, along with some pictures on this website under “ICG Seminar XDCAM”.