The second season of “Seasons on the Fly,” a documentary-style fishing show that airs on FOX Sports Net (FSN) with Greg Heister, is being shot on Panasonic’s AG-HPX500 P2 HD camcorders.
With the HPX500 2/3in P2 HD shoulder-mounted camera as his primary camera for the series, Heister is also using the HVX200 P2 HD handheld camcorder for underwater work.
Heister was introduced to Panasonic’s P2 format through his 10-year affiliation with the Iditarod, for which he has served as overseer of video operations for the past three years. A vocal skeptic when the idea of using P2 at the Iditarod was first introduced, he saw every conceivable video format fail there in below zero-degree weather on a 24/7 schedule. When P2 became the race’s official recording format, Heister never saw a failure in two years of shooting.
Heister chose the P2 format because, he said, water is more challenging to shoot in than cold and snow. His crew consists of himself and one shooter traveling with the cameras, computer plus hard drive, tent and 1000W generator. Heister purchased eight P2 cards (four 32GB and four 16GB) and outfitted the HPX500 with a Fujinon HA23x7.6BE HD lens.
In the camp, Heister uses a generator to power his MacBook Pro laptop computer. He offloads P2 footage direct from the HPX500 via IEEE 1394 (FireWire) to the laptop and stores it on a WeiBetech hard drive. He edits in HD with Final Cut Pro 6.
For more information, visit http://www.panasonic.com/broadcast/.
