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 Equipment from Panavision has contributed to a number of exciting TV series this year, including ‘Packed to the Rafters’, ‘Spirited’, ‘Underbelly II - A Tale of Two Cities’, ‘Rush Series II’, ‘Underbelly III - A Golden Mile’, ‘East West 101 Series II’, ‘Sea Patrol’ and ‘Rescue – Special Ops’. The Directors of Photography on these projects have useful comments regarding the on-set performance of the lenscamera packages and service from Panavision.
Cinematographer Bruce Young said he and his crew used three Sony 900Rs for both Underbelly Series II and Rush Series II. “Having three cameras on ‘Underbelly II’ meant we were able to get the Steadicam ready to go without losing time, and weren’t locked in to having to do a shot with the Steadicam simply because there was not enough time to change back to production mode. Anything you can do to save time between set ups will help you get more and better shots, and give the director more time with the actors to work out a scene.
 “All three of our cameras matched almost perfectly and if we ever had problems, we got great back up support, which is essential when you are shooting on HD. The fact that Panavision delivers the camera and lenses packages, and provide the kind of tech support that they do, means better production value on screen.” The Sony 900Rs were chosen because of the picture quality. Bruce can select a number of different gamma curves that function well in situations that are not always predictable. “The Hyper Gamma settings are particularly good for day exteriors”, Bruce says.
“The workflow is very straightforward shooting on HDCAM. We rarely had problems with time code, and the grading, which for me is the most important part, was good. There is enough latitude to get the look you are after, although I did find the Hyper Gamma curves didn’t handle low light situations that well.”
Bruce believes there are many advantages in shooting HD rather than film. He does most of the lighting in the viewfinder, and uses it to expose the shots.“It means I can react to situations very quickly, and because the director has a monitor, it gives them greater confidence that they are getting what they want. Shooting ratios are no longer a problem. Rush would be a very different show if it were not shot on HD. Otherwise, there is no way we would be able to get the coverage we do.
“Panavision has delivered - and they give you free hats with your show’s name on it, too!”
DOP Lou Irving, ACS is currently using two Sony F900R HD cameras from Panavision on ‘Spirited’ as he did on ‘Rafters’ - with an important difference. This time he has a lens converter and a compliment of 35mm primes, rather than two cine style zooms.
“The difference in images is considerable,” said Lou. “The P+S Technik lens converter softens the pictures and smoothes the colour range, much closer to the way film does. Lighting becomes a pleasure and less likely to fall into damage control, particularly with faces that can sometimes read too sharp with HD.
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