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I have to start out by saying, if you wanted to go to this year's NAB show but didn't make it, you should be very sad. Even though the attendance was a bit lighter than previous years, there was room to move around. I had a chance to visit a lot of booths throughout the week, while taking pictures for VIDEOGRAPHY. Here's a look at some of the cool new acquisition gear I had an opportunity to see.
Cameras, cameras, cameras. Okay I'll admit it. I love cameras. I suppose that's why I'm VIDEOGRAPHY'S primary camera Hands-On reviewer. This year, I was excited to get to Vegas to see what new toys (that I now want to own) the major camera manufacturers brought to the show floor. Among the exhibitors, JVC, Sony, and Panasonic showed some of the most interesting new additions to the video market, so I'll begin there.
Last year, JVC made a stir in the industry with a little sister camcorder-the GY-DV500. The 500 was JVC's entrance to mid-range digital video, meant to compete with the Canon XL1. Although / felt it was lacking in image quality, this camera had proven to be a strong market product. This year, however, JVC took care of that by introducing the GY-DV700WU. The 700 is a switchable aspect-ratio camera, with the big 2/3-inch CCD block that the topof-the-line D-9 camcorder uses. That means higher resolution, better color, virtually no vertical smear or light/color aberrations, and all this on the economical and lightweight compact DV-sized cassettes. (Actually, JVC introduced the camera at last year's show, but it has only now come to the market.)
Sony, as usual, had a ton of new and really cool gear. The CineAlta HDCam still continues to make waves and draw crowds. George Lucas is, of course, well-known for his Star Wars movies. Some of his models for the upcoming second episode in the saga were at Sony's booth with a Panavision-equipped CineAlta rig, like the ones Lucas is using to produce the new epic movie.
Crowds of people gathered around to get...