Don Smith is a Dallas-based freelancer with a long history in network news, starting as a cameraman, video editor and producer in 1982. “Working for the networks when the money was flowing was an adventure like no other,” he says. But industries change rapidly, and Smith says that freelance network assignments have largely dried up in the face of slashed budgets that put pressure on field operations. To supplement his network assignments, Smith has started working in the industrial market – the economics are similarly tight, but by spreading himself out among more clients, he can still make a living.

Adapting to the new realities of being a working cameraman means Smith needs to carry his own gear. So he recently set out to make his first new camera purchase since the days when Betacam was the only word a news shooter needed to know. After some experimentation with other solid-state solutions, Smith settled on the new JVC GY-HM700, which records MPEG-2 video at 35 Mbps to standard SDHC media, even going so far as to wrap the files in a QuickTime-ready .MOV wrapper for direct import into Final Cut Pro. (An optional SxS media recorder allows the use of SxS memory cards recording to .MP4 files.) HD Studio asked him to explain the decision he made, and to talk about his workflow with the camera.

How did you choose from the plethora of inexpensive professional HD cameras on the market?

I initially bought a Sony XDCAM EX3, which produced a gorgeous, beautiful, stunning picture. But I had trouble with its form factor. As much as I tried to shoot with it, it just didn’t fit me. Even though it rests against your shoulder, when I put my hand into the handstrap, the camera wanted to twist. After a few minutes it put a strain on my wrist. They made adapters for it to give it an over-the-shoulder form factor like a Betacam, but it didn’t help. Plus, the idea of very expensive memory cards just didn’t sit well with me. For many years, we worked with Betacam tapes that are inexpensive enough that you can hand them off and forget about them or later just charge the client $20 for the tape. So it was the form factor and the memory cards that caused me to sell the EX3 despite the fact that it had some incredible features.

I shot with a Panasonic P2 camera owned by a client, and the pictures were gorgeous but with the cost of P2 cards, I was in constant fear of losing the media. It was not my idea of a camera. All this time I had an idea of what I wanted, but it didn’t exist at the time. I wanted a Betacam-style, over-the-shoulder camera with solid-state recording and inexpensive media. That was my wish list.

And that eventually led you to the JVC GY-HM700. How are the ergonomics?

Here was an over-the-shoulder camera with basic Betacam-style controls in the right place. In a run-and-gun situation I could put my hands on the lens, zoom focus and expose manually and produce much better video than a camera set to automatic. I could operate it just like the Betacams of the 80s and 90s, with my pinky controlling focus and my index finger and thumb rolling the exposure. Combined with the low-cost solid-state media, the planets had aligned with all the features I had wanted. And the street price of $7000 included the lens. Even though the lens is not the quality of the $18,000 lenses I used to buy, it’s very good. It produced a picture much better than the SD Betacams I owned with an investment of $40,000 to $50,000.

Do you notice artifacts in the picture?

Sony’s EX3 has a CMOS image device and this camera has CCDs, so they both have different artifacts. CMOS has a rolling-shutter effect that becomes apparent in fast motion. The sports photgrapher would notice it most. The CCD does not have a rolling shutter effect. It does have vertical blur on extremely bright points of light. So there are eplusses and minuses to each system. I prefer the CCD in the JVC because when there is a vertical smear on a light, it is not objectionable. It’s hair-thin. Once I got a broader smear and it looked artistic – like you put a star filter on it. And it really takes a bright point of light to induce that vertical smear. It’s not like you see it daily. And if I had to have an artifact, I’d rather have that than the rolling-shutter artifact.

What’s your deliverable format/media?

Most often I burn the video to a dual-layered DVD as a data file, but the delivery format is different depending on the client. Back in the Betacam days, there was no discussion of the format. But there’s such a proliferation [of formats] that there has to be a discussion of delivery before I start to shoot. Some people want HD, other people want 16×9 – which actually means SD anamorphic. You have to learn a whole new language.

Do you worry about reliability issues with the SDHC cards?

I worry, but I’ve never had a problem. Pelican has come out with a little card case that I keep mine in. It costs $20-$30 and holds 8 cards. Being a technical guy, I handle them properly at all time and so far I’ve not had a problem. You must be sure to buy the class 6 cards, and there’s some discussion that some brands work better. I’m using Transcend cards that I order from Amazon.com. They have been tested in the EX3, and you get each card with a USB card reader – it looks like a small thumb drive with a slot on its side. Put the card in that and you can plug it into the USB port of any computer.

So I can conform to any workflow a producer wants. If they want to drag copy off to a hard disk and hand the card back to me, they can. If they want to take the card, they can. I’m not sweating bullets about losing an $800 card. Do they need a card reader? Here, I’ve got a bag full of them. It takes me back to my Betacam days, when I handed everyone a Betacam tape and didn’t worry about getting the file off. People don’t realize what a boon to their workflow this camera is until I make them stop for a minute and look at it. Then they’re sold.