VX1000: The Story of Skateboarding's Most Iconic Camera
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- čas přidán 14. 06. 2023
- In this episode of Pushing Forward, we explore the enduring connection between Sony's iconic VX1000 video camera and skateboarding.
The VX1000, with its perfect handle, lightweight design, and exceptional microphone, changed the game in the late 90s and early 2000s. But what has allowed this nearly 30 year old piece of technology to endure in the hearts and minds of skateboarders?
We sat down with some of the most influential filmmakers and skateboarders to get their take on skateboarding's most iconic camera.
Featuring: Tony Hawk, Kareem Campbell, Ty Evans, Ryan Decenzo, Jaime Owens, Buster O'Shea, Hunter O'Shea, Ryan Schorman, Bill Turner, Aaron Homoki, Ricki Bedenbaugh, Matt Eversole, Greg Hunt, Chase Gabor, Dan Wolfe, Chris Ray, Beagle, and Jamie Foy.
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Thank you Red Bull!
You guys rule. 🫶
@@RedBullSkateboarding what’s up with pushing your poison drink in kids?
@smelltheglove2038 i dont think they push anything into kids... that's illegal
My homie who was a filmer and photographer passed away on Monday. He would have loved this. I'll miss listening to him talk about his passion for capturing the moment. This one goes out to him. Love you Matt.
sorry to hear that mate :( This one definitely goes out to him!
RIP to the homies that left too soon, May they always stay with us and inspire us until its our time to link up again 🤘
Skate in peace One Love
RIP MATT
Sorry for your loss cobba R.I.P Matty.................
The fact that this video was made to focus solely on this camera and fisheye lens due to its history in skateboarding, is just plain super-cool. Period.
I can really appreciate the way beagle touches and talks about his baby, the vx1000
It's the thing that allowed him to work in an industry he truly loves, to work with his friends, to travel, to afford a house and a wife- holding it in his hands and thinking about what the VX means to him must be pretty profound
the Fabrizio "dude!" clip always gets me
What's interesting is that it's not just about skating, the look influenced music videos / general media and culture.
As a filmer who shots everything in 4K nowadays for my business and cliental, I will ALWAYS have a huge respect for filmers who shoot VX skating and keep that quality going. 🙏
Beagles pimped out Shake Junt Vx1000 ! Sick af
Still the best camera for skateboarding. 4:3 is the correct aspect ratio for a skater and the spot they’re skating. 16:9 has too much empty space on the sides. I just wish they weren’t so hard to find and fix. We need a HD version of this camera with the same handle and MK1 compatible
There’s adapters for the MK1 to HD, and a lot of dslr 4:3 options that look as close as you can get which is sick.
@@slappy__gilmore Lets be clear. Sony NEEDS to put this back into the market with very little changes. Its just as necessary to skateboarding as the wheel.
@@versecontro4898 I’m with you. I film both VX and HD. However, I don’t miss tapes. So if Sony could incorporate the same technology but into an SD card, then we’re talking.
@@slappy__gilmore I did have that thought lol. especially after watching Bams Epicly laterd
those modern/HD cameras exist, they just don't have the nostalgic look and feel of the vx1, and perhaps the most important thing - the crisp, imperfectly perfect audio. it's the iconic combo that makes it what it is.
bringing a VX to the sesh was like bringing a homie that was so fun he kept the group together longer than necessary
For anyone out there that still wants to achieve the VX look but higher quality, panasonic GH5 and GH6 offer the 4:3 aspect ratio with the canon 8-15mm and it's essentially a 4K quality VX. Super fun to film with but also crystal clear footage at the same time. The width of the fisheye is very very close to what the Century MK 1 was.
And RB Umali put out a png overlay of the vx vig you can throw on top of the footage to make the vig exact same 😁
@@FellaFilms yeah or you can zoom out just a tad more with lens hood removed and get that natural vignette
(Note to self - camera)
If you like this you'll love the Jenkem Mag documentary. Less high profile interviews but insane production quality
red bull is so fake
Appreciate seeing a Mike Maldonado clip!
I remember I wanted a VX so bad. I used to film on a Panasonic GS300 and baby death lens. Though, the DVX100b always has a special place in my heart. I miss filming skating so much lol
Laban and I shot a lot of American Misfits episodes on the DVX100B ... loved that camera.
@@tednewsome oh nice! It really had a good look to it
I had the same setup! baby death went like a ripper ay
I still have some dvx100s. They are a solid unit , better than the vx1000 in many aspects
Something nobody talks about is how the sun flares in such a friendly way when the VX pans up to it. Look at 7:25
Love to all the filmers and editors, then and now. You made skateboarding what it is today.
That's the CCD sensor producing a "blooming/vertical streaking" phenomenon when exposed to a bright/contrasty light source. Any CCD-based sensor will do that, some are more prone to blooming than others depending on if you're using a point n' shoot camera, or dedicated camcorder. CMOS sensors don't really do this (except the really, really cheapie older ones that process the most barbarian of images).
@@brigganthewolf1461 Interesting. I don't know cameras, but VX always looks really warm, especially all the Cali footage. Add that sun bloom and it reminds me of being a grom in about 1997 laying about half stoned at the skate park XD
I'm with Tony on this one. The VX is a gem and was perfect for the time, with all of the videos I grew up on being filmed with it. But it comes with so many hangups and limitations, like the miniDV format or the expensiveness, that there are cheaper better alternatives out there.
I think if an SLR company were to simply make a camera with the same form as the VX, but with interchangeable lens mounts, they'd make bank.
iam still filming vx .. since i have the tapeless mrc1 method it became so easy and cheap... i think a vx is still the cheapest and best looking camera you can get . the most people hating the vx are born after 2005 or something ... go and watch youre 4k stuff and plz dont try to comprehend. people dont get how amazing the colors and look of the vx still is .
@@mHHHNOT The CCD sensor is responsible for that rich color. It's had somewhat of a resurgence among some photographers. Love those sensors, it's really the sensor that was made during the transition from film to digital so it has the almost film-like colors but with digital sensibilities.
You can find much better quality CCD sensor cameras or camcorders but obviously the VX just has it's own unique audio and of course, the handle.
@@itdies2dayyo just learn how to properly edit photos or videos. modern cameras have a ton of latitude and information in their sensors and files. you're only missing the CCD "magic" because you don't want to take advantage of modern gear
@@chickenpasta7359 Thanks for the tip but i know how to edit photos and both of my digital cameras have CMOS sensors.
I'm saying if want that early 1990's-early 2000's look then you will need a CCD sensor camera, which does have its own unique color properties.
Modern cameras are quite a bit smaller than the VX, so a 3D printed shell that mimics the form-factor for a modern camera is not inconcieveable. The extra space can be filled with more reliable and redundant memory than MicroSDs.
VX for LIFE
awesome little doc! vx1000 still going strong after all these years. surprised no mention of trv900 or canon gl1. those were both commonly used as well.
If we had two hours, we could talk about other cameras! We have some much VX talk that hit the floor, and yes both the cameras you mentioned are in a couple of interviews.
Canon gl1 looked like ass in my opinion I just thought it was dope because of how small it was
They didn't even mention the VX2000 or VX2100. I get why so many preferred the VX1000, but in low light the 2100 was much better.
I had a VX2000 and it was big upgrade over VX1000
I think an additional segment about the current tapeless solutions people are using to keep this camera alive, would have been a great piece to emphasize the passion around this camera. A spot on video nonetheless!
Damn they got Strickland for this. I haven't seen him in forever! Hijinx!!
Awesome to see this as a videographer. I shoot sports, but have always fantasized of filming professional skating. It's on my bucket list. Cool to see icons recognizing the video culture.
Love this. The VX is iconic. I’m happy I got to get a part filmed with a VX. I’ll treasure it forever
This was soooooo good!
I dabbled with skating as a teen and wasn't any good, so I moved onto other things - but I've always loved the culture and this is such a HUGE piece of it! What an amazing video!
I also love that everyone in the video is just gushing over this camera and then there's Tony Hawk completely shitting all over it...
To be fair I agree with everything he said. Its a fun camera something for the boys on a random night out. I would much rather get a 16:9 iPhone shot of a banger then a VX shot :(
VX for life ♥🤍💛 I do wish they talked more about how Tapeless VX's have changed the life span of the VX and as well as how the MK1 still is used on HD cams now. Part 2?
for real, tony hawk is a hater lol
My first thought as an audio guy is whether or not someone has recorded a vx1000 impulse response so we could just make everything sound like it's running through a VX. My other thought was, "is there a similar technology to convolution reverb but for video?" Which I guess would just be running a tape with a purely black or white image and then using the blending modes in your video editing software to mask out the colour and leave just the artifacting that the VX produces.
That's a really interesting idea!
Yeah they use this sort of technology in film all the time, for example for matching VFX to the distortion a lens creates. Audio wise DV cams especially Sonys sounded GREAT back in the day largely due to the preamps and mics. Surely there was processing like compression going on as well.
I believe one of the skaters mention using an audio library for a similar effect like halfway thru this vid!
Thank you for making this!🤘
Best production ive seen in a minute!! That was high level vibe right there
This was a great watch, on point and also shows how small of a world skateboarding is.
We used to have a proper VX and lens for our local shop (three of us learned and knew every bit of that camera), and as for the small world aspect... I'm just a random middle age skater in Louisiana, and J Strickland and Jaime Owens are both pals of mine that I've skated and talked shop with. Super great guys.
I gotta say, I've always been more along with Tony's thinking... when we were running the VX, it was great (and truly did look better on our old CRT screens), but when HD and high speed solid state memory became affordable, that was what got me hyped (though nothing will ever beat the OG VX form factor).
Great little mini doc on a real asset to skateboard culture.
The audio from the VX1000 is exactly what skating sounds like in my head.
Got to love Tony Hawk, among all these nostalgia hipsters he is keeping it real. "Yeah, that was great but newer is better".
I love this so much, by far my favorite video ever made documenting the history of the VX1000. I could go on and on about how this is the best camera for filming skateboarding, but this video has already said all of it and more. Thanks for putting this together, was surprised and honored to even have a couple of clips of myself in there! ❤️
Right on Jason! Thanks for being part of the magic.
Jenkem did a great piece on the VX a couple years back called 'the history of skateboarding's favorite camera'.
So beast
That dude disassemble his camera from scratch, I can't even disassemble my bread in two without failing
Brindle always coming with the bangers!
So well done! Loved learning about this niche
I love how everyone is waxing poetic over this camera and the king of skateboarding is like "naw, shit sucks." lol
hes also a vert skater the vx is much better for filming street so he definitely doesn't have the same love for it as street skaters
this was great, thanks for doing this guys
I almost cry with this, so many experiences with that camera
The VX1000 Nike SB dunks are one of my favorite pairs of shoes. Iconic. If anyone hasn't seen those, look em up.. they're sick af.
i remember some éS scuba steve vx1000 edition really cool
just looked them up, those are cool!
Me and the boys watching flip sorry on a square tv not much bigger than a laptop over and over again. Than heading out to skate all over town is some memory I’ll never forget. I also will never forget Fred!
Awesome video Red Bull! I had this back in the day, shot skate, then later used it as my backup news cam as a pro. We used it as our "Go Pro", lol. I still have it and my Century MKI.
The sheer passion is infections. Amazing stuff
Thanks for memories. Such a great camera, glad we progressed past it though. The resolution matches my memory of the time. Tons of nostalgia.
i just got my vx 5 days ago and i am so happy!
I wanted one of these so bad when I was in highschool, soooo many great skate vids and memories surrounding this thing.
Loved it. and all those tricks are 🔥💣
Red bull really killing it with trollhaugen snowboard rail session and now VX1000!
This is amazing, thank you Red Bull for this. Never thought I’d be saying that, 😂
Amazing content!!! Wish there was a mention of the 2000 and 2100 tho!
That's what I was thinking, too! 2100 was my go to.. per Chris Ray's advice I eventually added the mk1 adapted lens.. it was nice having the LCD and great for low light.
Nobody mentions this but i believe one thing that still lives is seeing skateboarding filmed in 60i and in newer cameras to keep it at 60p. 60i and 60p aren't exactly the same thing but it is the closest thing in modern cameras. You feel it when doing ramped slomos and things like that. Skate slomos need to be a bit "laggy".
Edit: Ok that was some weird explanation but whatever, if you get it, you get it.
I remember seeing a VX in person for the first time some where around 1996. I road BMX and was in Boston riding when a guy was filming and it blew me away. He let me hold it and try it out. It was so amazing to see in person back then. We were use to these big cameras and the was 10000 times better and half the size.
The VX's legacy will live on. You will never find a more legendary camera than the VX.
THIS IS DEFINITELY A GEM
SHOUT OUT TO KERRY @ VIDEO ELECTRONICS FOR ALL THE REPAIRS OVER THE YEARS!! Sold my VX long ago as I got into cinematic production vs skating, but I'll love that camera till the end of time. The ~4 or so years I had it I felt like a pro filmer even in a small town with friends. Could never afford the MK1 but I had the "baby death" lens that suited my needs very well. I love that Century put out the anniversary version, much love to them. Still have my VX1000 case though, big metal box that is also iconic. Great video!
precisamos de mais conteudo assim, dont stop redbull skateboard!!!❤💚💛
Great doc. Thanks
My first real job after high school was shooting stuff for a local public access news network using one of these. Always loved the build of it and my current camera setup is laid out similar
what strikes me of that era, is the sound capured how it sounded. The impact of the wheels on the asphalt. the low fi quality.
great documentary
11:03 That Bolex cam though
This is great, thanks for putting it out.
Also fyi there's a pop frame around 6:10:00 you ought to have a look at possibly.
These are some SICK moves.
i really love this camera and all the skate videos filmed with it. if it had just a little higher resolution, i'd buy one today
I was just talking to some folks the other day about the rise of "The Edit" and how it's moved from skateboarding into other activities/sports, and this camera made that all possible
freakin awesome mini doc!
such a kickass vid. long live the lens!
they need to make an hd camera, same exact mic as vx1, the sound is one of the best parts of the camera, but the handle, and mk1 the camera is just too good. Sony needs to make a Sony Vx1000 HD, that would be so sick.
i would say you wouldnt get the same sound if you just build the same mic in it. The sound being recorded on tape give it a special sound quality and audio compression. Thats why a lot of contemporary music producers still use tape recorders or reel-to-reel machines
@@bitumenboyy I see, they have mini dv hd tapes i think? lol you could just strap an hd camera on the vx record on the hd and vx and just merge the audio from the vx footage to the hd. you would just look like a little weird lol.
@@gangstuff4206 or just use some tape effect when editing digitally. Or do it like they said in the video, using stock VX skate sounds for editing
no
i grew up skating in the golden era. like so many others, i worshipped those videos and that time will forever be unmatched. however, now i want my skateboarding in 4k 60. lets step it up.
Dropping $1000 on my century optics fisheye for my VX2000 after my highschool graduation was a big moment in my life. As much as I loved the 2000 it was definitely not as cool as the VX1000
I did appreciate the flip out screen on the vx2000 though.
French Fred is the goat! 🐐📹
we who "grew up" skating and watching videos filmed on this will always love this feel
I'm surprised skaters/filmers have not started a open source camera project with the Aesthetics of the VX1000 but without having to use tapes.
Sony sell camera sensors by themselves BTW.
exactly, this would be great.
dude wake up ..there is a lot of tapeless recorders
@@mHHHNOT I am awake. I own 2 SD card rca recorders. My post is about skaters D.I.Y. technological culture to create something from the ground up.
Thanks for this doc we didn’t knew that we need but we appreciate now it’s here. VX 4 ever ahah.
legendary stuff here 🥺
Redbull keep doing your thing. Cheers
As a lover of skateboarding growing up skating in the 90s, this makes me want to learn to repair the circuit boards to help keep them going!
We had both Sony VX1000 and VX2000 models growing up...I knew they were great, but I didn't realize then that I was using what would be come such an iconic camera!
This is awesome
A happy medium guys finally getting their due!!
Happy to shine a light on those cats!!!!
yo endless shoutout to Carrie on skateperception who was the goto dude in texas who repaired these cameras for years. shoutout schorman, love to my arizona boys blowing up these last few years, well deserved
Awesome camera. I saved up all my money from working a summer job when I was 16 to buy one of these. One of the best purchases I ever made.
I never got why more people don’t shoot on HD/4K cameras in 4:3. There are plenty of cameras where you can get more of the full sensor. With traditional lenses, you’ll never be able to get as wide in 16:9 without chopping the head off the skater because a lens is a circle and a circle is closer in size to a square than a rectangle. 16:9 is essentially chopping the top and bottom off of that square. There may be some way to do it with a fisheye anamorphic lens, which I’d love to see.
um a lot of people are shooting like that now with mk1 on hpx/hvx etc... I see your point tho a lot of people shoot on 16.9 with 8-15 canon and it looks good but still not vx1 mk1..fisheye anamorphic lens would be AMAZING
sick docu
2:06 is one of the cleanest tricks i have seen!!!
mine still sits under my monitor as a decoration! Shot many a skate videos with that thing in its day!
OMG this is so great and inspiring
I agree with Tony Hawk. There is a certain nostalgia, but there are plenty of filters and options for post processing that make so much more sense. It kind of reminds me of the people that listen to cassette tapes for the saturation and tone limitations it has. There is a time and place for it, and nobody is denying that aesthetic, its just time for a new style now.
filters and post-processing don't capture the feeling of raw analog footage tho
HD is great but it's overly clean, it lacks all the character and qualities that make old skate footage great
Vx1000 is digital
NAH
This camera was a miracle…. I had two of them when they were new and even briefly considered having a tattoo made of the image of it on the front of the owners manual. THIS camera changed the whole filmmaking game. For the first time, the promise of “digital” was real and in the hands of the public. It was so godamned exciting. I saved about 10 grand to buy a couple of them (which may as well have been a million to me at the time) and shot my first doc with them. It’s sort of bittersweet because the phone I’m writing this on takes WaY better video. But damn… I loved these things. Seeing it for the first time was like seeing a celebrity. (And of course the first one I saw was in the hands of a dude in New Orleans filming the girls responding to “show me your tits”. Which, before the internet was a much bigger phenomenon in that town.
True Words
Craziest thing to me is that Sony or Panasonic haven’t teamed up with century since the HVX. Sony needs to get the sensor that’s in the A7S3 into a camcorder that is more bare bones that just works and is easy to use like the VX was and get Century to make a fisheye for it that’s under 4-5k for the whole kit, they would fly off the shelves because an FX6 and all the lenses you need to film skating is like 10k+, plus they are confusing to someone who’s not knowledgeable of high end cinema cameras. It’s obvious with the demand of the vx still 25 years later and that most people still prefer the HVX when it comes to HD that there is a massive demand for this style of platform but all the companies are pushing DSLR style platforms. Seems like a missed opportunity.
I agree, I'd love to see either a super 8 or super 16 camera body with digital sensor, I really want the form factor that super 8 cameras have but shoot digitally
Wow that Sheckler kickflip is still amazing
now I understand why my skateboarding friend bought this camera few years ago. sound part was interesting how even the mic had some special in it to the people.
Loved the vx1000 and the pd150 :) Thats where i started.
I just found my old vx1000 & mk1 setup 6 months ago after not using it for over 15 years. I thought it was lost or thrown out ages ago, but It was in my parents basement the whole time!
Hell yeah!
This camera looks insane in 24fps too, god I love this camera
Moderned camera are so complex to setup they can be joyless to operate. The grab and go aspect of the vx (i used to own one) was in hindsight liberating.
Awesome video
Amazing! I really got into the VX2000 back in the day when I was an aspiring filmer. Anyone here can share their story on the VX2000? Would love to see
I made a feature film with the VX2000. The movie was filmed with four of them plus PD150 same camera just the pro version. The movie is called Will Unplugged. This was back in 2005 and the camera was way ahead of its time. Originally we were going to shoot on film 16mm. We did a bunch of tests and I convinced the producers to go with the VX2000. The actor was filming with one also for almost every scene so it would be better look cut in the footage the actor shot with the same camera. As you know the vx2000 camera was silver and the producers hated the silver camera in the scenes. So I suggested using a PD150 as its dark grey and will look better and thats what we went with. The movie was written like play and mostly took place in one location. I had the cameras lying in wait all over the house and this filming in to cut down on the setup times. A lot of the movie was shot low light and the VX2000 preformed fantastic
When I look back on it now it was really insane to shoot a movie that’s was budgeted to be shot on film on Sony Camcorders. But the result turned out great and the producers used shot on Sony camcorder as part of the marketing of the film. The is movie launched the careers of several actors. It’s really had a wonderful aesthetic to it that would have been lost with 16MM film
Still watching on my standard def TV. CRT for life.
That is so baller seeing the century lens in a 25th anniversary edition🤘🏻🤘🏻
I beginning my professional work whit this camera and i made many hours of filming whit acrobatic teams of Air force Squadrons, its a game change against the Betacam cameras.
Ease to use, good results and many flat cables broken.
9:56 im so amused over the giant camera, and with the hand infront of lense to mark the "clip"
YO That custom painted VX had my jaw on the floor haha