(Secaucus, New Jersey--June 1, 2009) Element Consulting, an Atlanta-based civil engineering consulting and video production firm, services its clients with a unique approach to engineering assessments and reporting. The firm uses its Panasonic AG-HMC150 professional handheld AVCCAM camcorder to record high-tech video engineering reports in pristine high-quality AVCHD.
Founded in 1997, Element Consulting serves the commercial retail, residential and industrial sectors by offering specialized due diligence investigations, assessments of distressed commercial assets, permitting, and environmental due diligence. By offering these assessments in video, the firm gives clients a turnkey assessment solution that can also be utilized for additional initiatives.
“Communicating engineering assessment information through the use of high quality video reporting gives us a competitive advantage over firms that only produce written reports,” said Jerry Johnson, Element Consulting’s Vice President of Development. “Not only is it a more engaging form of reporting, but it provides a turnkey solution the clients can then incorporate into their own corporate initiatives. In looking for a camera, we wanted a ‘tried and true’ technology that we knew we could depend on to produce great looking HD video in a variety of environments.”
After testing a number of professional HD cameras, Johnson and his team were immediately impressed with the HMC150 professional design and features. “Its rugged, lightweight design can deal with the environmental challenges we often face during production, which vary from shooting on construction sites, in environmentally hazardous locations, or under very low light conditions. Oftentimes, we don’t have the luxury of setting up tripods, video monitors, sound equipment, and other production equipment and then posing the shot. We have to be able to ‘shoot on the fly,’ and the design of this camera allows us to do that.”
“The HMC150’s intuitive layout and location of key controls make it easy for us to manage the recording parameters in the dynamic conditions under which we shoot,” Johnson continued. “Features such as image stabilization, focus assist, and waveform monitoring help us achieve professional results by allowing us to know what we’re shooting while we’re shooting, and to know how good it looks before we’re into postproduction. We have the option to go fully manual or fully auto with the flick of a switch, and to take advantage of preset filters and white balance. The range of the lens works well for our type of work. It’s a perfect fit for our production requirements at Element Consulting.”
Johnson records with 16GB SDHC memory cards. “We were also impressed with the extended recording times possible and the fact that we could use affordable and readily available SDHC cards. Best of all, the camera has no moving parts that might break down on on location as tape does.”
After discussing specific assessment needs with the client and determining the production scope, Johnson said the team follows “a standard video production workflow, from generating a pre-production shot list to postproduction editing in Final Cut Pro.”
“The HMC150’s ability to record in a wide range of high definition formats allows us to provide clients with precisely what they need, whether the content is used for the web, as a marketing tool, or for distribution to their development team as reference material,” Johnson added.
Johnson described their workflow. “Typically, we mobilize to a location and capture the standard shots we know we’ll need; then, we begin an intensive inspection of the site. This dynamic process requires moving to many locations around a site to capture the pertinent information our client needs.”
“Once we feel we’ve shot everything of importance, we’re able to quickly transfer our raw video into Final Cut Pro while we’re on site from the SDHC memory cards,” explained Johnson. “We can actually story board our video while we’re still on location and, if we see that something needs to be added, we can shoot it right then.”
“Being able to quickly log and transfer the raw AVCHD video we shoot saves us a tremendous time in post,” Johnson added. “We were also impressed with the ease of editing the AVCHD format in postproduction.”
“The quality of our final product is nothing short of Hollywood thanks to the HMC150,” said Johnson. “The image quality from AVCHD is simply fantastic! From low light to backlit to bright outdoor shots, it handles all the various lighting conditions very nicely.”
“I would say to anyone looking to get into the HD video production business, or someone simply looking for a great personal camera, that the HMC150 is the clear choice,” Johnson said. “Its features are comparable to cameras priced much higher, and its ability to produce top quality HD video is outstanding. In the video world, there is no better name than Panasonic, and this camera is a great example of why that’s the case.”
About the AG-HMC150
Based on the proven design and advanced functionality of the highly popular DVX100, the HMC150 professional handheld AVCCAM camcorder provides professionals and enthusiasts alike the flexibility of high-quality 1080/720 AVCHD recording at bit rates up to 24Mbps and a simple, solid-state SD memory card workflow. AVCHD, the industry’s new MPEG-4 / AVC Hi Profile compression format, provides a near doubling of bandwidth efficiency with improved video performance over the older MPEG-2 compression used in HDV formats. The handheld incorporates three 1/3-inch progressive CCD imagers to produce stunning 1920x1080-resolution picture quality. It is equipped with a high-performance wide-angle Leica Dicomar™ 13x zoom lens and 24- and 30-frame progressive capture in a full range of HD formats, making it well suited for all types of projects. For more information on the HMC150, visit http://www.panasonic.com/broadcast.
About Panasonic Broadcast
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast and professional video products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a Unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC) and the hub of Panasonic’s U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. For more information on Panasonic Broadcast products, visit http://www.panasonic.com/broadcast.
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