The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, a civic organization serving nearly 6,000 businesses that service the city of Cincinnati’s 330,000+ residents, was able to affordably re-establish its video communications department with the purchase of Panasonic’s AG-HMC150 professional handheld AVCCAM camcorder.

The group’s diverse communications work ranges from coverage of member events, awards and other news for posting on its Web site and YouTube, to shooting promotional footage on behalf of several urban festivals, including the Taste of Cincinnati and the city’s Oktoberfest celebration, the nation’s largest. For the past several years the chamber had outsourced video projects in a cost-savings measure, but with the advent of the economical, full-featured AG-HMC150, the organization was able to gear up to once again handle its own video production.

Director of E-Media Bart Johnson, who has directed audio/visual work for the chamber for the past 25 years, explains that with the purchase of an HMC150 (from Industrial Video of Cincinnati), Lowel light kit, wireless audio package (a dual-channel Azden 325ULT kit with 35XT transmitter for handheld and press box use) and Libec tripod, he is now able to single-handedly cover a massive event such as the Taste of Cincinnati, providing material to local television stations for immediate on-air coverage and sourcing footage to production houses to prepare promo spots for the following year’s event. He routinely covers smaller-scale news events, such as the Canadian ambassador’s recent visit to the city, creating footage for online use that will also be integrated into a highlights reel shown to chamber members at their annual meeting.

“When I was researching camcorders, I was persuaded that AVCHD had a lot to offer as a format, and I was inclined to purchase Panasonic equipment,” Johnson explains. “I’ve worked extensively with Panasonic cameras in the past, from U-matic through DVCPRO; I trust the gear, which has always been bullet-proof for me.”

“I really like the open-standards SD media, readily available at commodity-level pricing,” he continues. “The HMC150 arrived set up, ready to work out of the box. I value its modern, compact form factor; it’s so portable and light [less than 6 lb.] that I can be out with the camcorder and a tripod working all day at a spread-out festival like the Taste of Cincinnati.”

Johnson says, “I shoot a lot of awards ceremonies and luncheons indoors with available light only. It’s amazing how much better the HMC150 performs in low light than previous cameras I’ve worked with. Given the camera’s dynamic range in tandem with our little Lowel kit, I’ve been able to put off any additional lighting gear purchase.”

“The camcorder has incredible audio,” he adds. “I can assign the XLR in to either or both channels, or mix with our wireless mic, which it performs beautifully with. The camcorder can even send phantom power to an external mic. The indicators are always up: it’s really first class.”

“I like to monitor the levels, and use the zebra patterns a lot,” Johnson added. “I use auto focus most of the time, which is very rarely fooled. The white balance and auto tracing are impressive, especially when moving from full sunlight to shadow.”

Johnson customarily shoots in 1080i in the camcorder’s HG mode on 16GB SDHC cards, which gives him up to 160 minutes of recording per card. To date, he has done simple editing for the Web with an AVS Video Editor, but he intends to invest in either an Grass Valley Edius Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro NLE package shortly. He delivers material to broadcast stations and post houses on portable LaCie drives.