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__ Cameras __
Sony DVW-700WS digital Betacam
For about $1,500 per week, Wim Wenders rented this 15-pound camera to take concert footage in Cuba. It uses 40-minute tapes and 90- to 120-minute batteries, and has a 12-bit digital signal processor to accurately record skin tones, highlights, and a wide dynamic range.
__ DVW-700WS: approximately $51,000. Sony: www.sel.sony.com. __
Sony DCR-VX1000 three-chip miniDV
Famous throughout indie circles, the VX1000 has been used in Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club, Bennett Miller's The Cruise, Todd Verow's The Trouble With Perpetual Deja Vu, and Hal Hartley's The Book of Life. When an image enters the camera, a prism separates the light into three beams, then processes the red, green, and blue parts as separate components. The camera has a 10X optical zoom and can take audio inputs for high-quality sound.
__ DCR-VX1000: $3,699. Sony: www.sel.sony.com. __
Canon GL1 three-chip miniDV
This new offering from Canon looks to be a good alternative to the VX1000, with professional features at a more compact size and a lower price. It comes equipped with the L-Series Fluorite 20X Optical Zoom Lens and uses a three-chip sensor for great quality. The smaller brother of the Canon XL1 - a heftier rival to the VX1000 - this camera fits firmly in the hand.
__ GL1: $2,699. Canon: www.canon.com. __
Sony DCR-PC1 one-chip miniDV
During his Cuba trip, Wenders had a European version of the DCR-PC1, a single-CCD camera (meaning there is only one chip receiving color and light). Though the superior three-chip miniDV provides more bang for more bucks, you can't beat the compact size and weight of this walkman-sized cam.
__ DCR-PC1: $1,899. Sony: www.sel.sony.com. __
Panasonic AK-HC830 HDTV
High-definition DV cameras are the best kind available, but because of the price, few feature filmmakers use them. "There's an actor in LA who bought an HDTV camera outright and called us up the other day to see if we wanted to rent it from him for a very reasonable $10,000 per month," says Stolaroff. "But if you shot in high-def, you'd have to downconvert all your film to digital Beta or some other format. That would get expensive."
__ AK-HC830: $125,000. Panasonic: www.panasonic.com. __
__ Postproduction __
Avid Media Composer 9000
A complete online and offline editing package, Media Composer is still typically used for offline editing only. The system arrives with a CPU and a video subsystem; two monitors and a pair of speakers are also standard. Rental at film foundations and commercial facilities generally starts at $25 to $50 per hour.
__ Media Composer 9000:$40,000-65,000. Avid Technology: www.avid.com. __
Media 100 XR
What Avid is to film, the Media 100 is to video. Unlike Avid, it allows you to mix and match among third-party hardware manufacturers to tailor the system to your needs. The Blair Witch Project, shot on analog Hi-8 video and 16-mm film, was edited on a Media 100.
__ Media 100 XR: approximately $27,000. Media 100: www.media100.com. __
Accom Axial 3000
Accom's online editing system revolves around a two-computer chassis armed with Windows NT and VX Works software - just bring source tapes and the EDL on floppy disk. Axial controls video decks, disk drives, switchers, and effects and sound equipment in an editing suite. Rental generally runs $400 to $900 per hour.
__ Axial 3000: $30,000-150,000. Accom: www.accom.com. __
Apple Final Cut Pro
An online editing suite with all of Apple's interface elegance. Downside: It's Mac-only, doesn't support PAL, and takes longer to render than some PC packages.
__ Final Cut Pro: $999. Apple: www.apple.com. __
Digital Origin EditDV
Not quite as fun or good-looking as Final Cut Pro, EditDV, for both Mac and PC, comes with its own capture card, so you have a complete system from the get-go.
__ EditDV: $799. Digital Origin: www.digitalorigin.com. __
Adobe Premiere and After Effects
Premiere, once the only software available for editing video on a home computer, has fallen out of favor; After Effects, however, is still the standard compositing and effects software used by video makers and even a few ILM f/x gurus.
__ Premiere: $699; After Effects: $899. Adobe: www.adobe.com. __
Apple PowerBook G3
With a copy of Final Cut Pro onboard, you can edit full digital video anywhere.
__ PowerBook G3: $2,499. Apple: www.apple.com. __
Sony PCG-F280 Vaio
The top-of-the-line PCG-F280 Vaio is the only laptop on the PC side that has a FireWire-like i.Link and drivers for capturing full-stream digital video.
__ PCG-F280 Vaio: $3,500. Sony: www.sony.com. __
