The Salt River Project (SRP), one of Arizona's largest and oldest electricity and water suppliers, has converted its photo/audiovisual department to HD production with the addition of Panasonic DVCPRO HD cameras.
Pairing the AJ-HDC27 VariCam HD Cinema camera with new AJ-HDX900 multiformat DVCPRO HD camcorders, the 15-person department undertakes a variety of communication needs for the company ranging from capturing breathtaking aerial and scenic materials in HD for official broadcast use to internal corporate communications and community-based projects.
SRP's video production has been DVCPRO 50-based for most of the past decade, but the utility's centennial celebration in 2003 spurred an investment in HD. The A/V department purchased the VariCam then, and in October 2006, ordered an AJ-HDX900 multiformat DVCPRO HD camcorder. The HDX900 has quickly become the department's workhorse camera — a second HDX900 is already on order — with the VariCam reserved for multicamera, large-crew projects and/or those requiring off-speed effects. SRP also deploys a Panasonic BT-LH2600W 26in HD production-quality LCD monitor for on-set monitoring.
HDX900 assignments have ranged from shooting aerial work of the Phoenix landscape and architecture to producing employee communication seminars, 20-minute video newsletters that are presented to all SRP employees quarterly. Shortly after acquiring the HDX900, the department put it to use updating its extensive library of aerial footage from SD to HD.
For more information, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast and www.srpnet.com.
