Panasonic DVCPRo50s Capture MTV Reality Drama

Panasonic AJ-SDX900 DVCPro50 camcorders capture the teen drama as it unfolds on "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County," a reality series on MTV that follows wealthy Laguna Beach High School seniors on spring break.

Hisham Abed, the show's director of photography said he selected the camera for its cinematic feel. He wanted to the show to be set apart from other reality shows by making it appear scripted. Abed also likes the cameras because of their versatility in different shooting environments, as well as having been used to shoot from ATVs, on the water and on snowboard runs.

The AJ-SDX900 offers 4:2:2 sampled DVCPro50 or 4:1:1 sampled DVCPro recording, with support for native 16:9 wide-screen. In addition the camcorder offers 24 fps progressive scan acquisition, 30 fps and 60 fields-per-second interlace scan capture.

"Laguna Beach" is edited on an Avid system and color corrected by da Vinci gear at West Post Digital.