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| Sony HDV A1E on eBay |
I say "the" camera because this is the one on which I shot key sections of the Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown series.
It's the perfect size to whip out of a dry deck bag and use from the cockpit of a kayak.
Almost all the journey in Volume 1, along the wild west coast of Skye was shot on this baby. I bought the five extra batteries precisely for this shoot.
It was the second camera on Volume 2, travelling with us to St Kilda to shoot the key pieces to camera on the water by Gordon.
In Volume 3 we used it extensively in the Navigation film for Gordon's coaching on the water and during the night navigation sequence as it has excellent 'night shot' capability.
You can see how it performs by looking at the videos on any of those pages. It has been lovingly cared for and serviced by Sony.
There are a large number of pro-level extras included.
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| Rain cover, charger, batteries & wide angle included |
- A Sony professional wide conversion lens x0.7 VCL-HG0737C which makes all the difference to the shots.
- Rycote Softie wind baffle for gun mic
- PortaBrace professional rain/dust cover for A1E
- Sony professional AC adaptor / charger AC-SQ950 which is a fast, professional stand-alone charger, not the bundled charge-thru-the-camera weedy thing.
- A fast, professional stand-alone battery charger (not the weedy one which comes with the camera);
- Six original Sony batteries - two of which are massive.
I last used this camera for BBC-2 when filming Cameron McNeish on a via ferrata in Spain. I had my big camera in my backpack but had this one dangling on a clip from my rucksack strap.
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| Aquapak case |
If that sounds like a lot of use, it's not. I never used it to capture footage.
When you look at the drum time which records usage, it's a very modest 11x10hr.
Well, I haven't used it for a while. Broadcast companies, for who I mainly work, are moving away from HDV even as second cameras.
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| Camera not included |
Plus I have yet another new camera for which I'd like to buy some new lenses, so I need the cash.
An ideal pairing for the camera would be the Aquapak underwater case which I bought but never used.
The reason I never used it was I had the chance to
buy an even better waterproof rig.