Camera for 4K

dxdy wrote on 2/24/2023, 3:25 PM

I am a longtime user of Vegas. For the last 5 or 6 years I have used a Canon XF300 which makes beautiful Canon MXF 1080p files at 50Mb/s. It's time to join the 4k world. I primarily shoot events at the local high school and some large church auditoriums. I like 20x optical zoom and 2 xlr mic inputs.

I would love to hear suggestions for a 4K camera that is decent in low light. I am asking here because there was a time when Vegas struggled with .mov files. My MXF files are real easy on Vegas - rendering to Voukoder I can peg my AMD 12 core processor at 100%.

My budget is up to (coincidentally) $4k.

What cameras are you all using?

Comments

Wiew wrote on 2/24/2023, 3:30 PM

My main camera is the Panasonic HC-X1

My B-roll camera is the Panasonic FZ2000 (FZ2500) combined with a feiyutech AK2000 gimbal

I also use a mini 3 pro drone

set wrote on 2/24/2023, 3:50 PM

Had a similar question few weeks ago:

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/your-camera-camcorder-suggestions-in-2023--139809/

set wrote on 2/24/2023, 4:22 PM

You have higher budget target. Do you need to run multiple VEGAS Pro instances (run more than 1 VP application) ? If you focus on just one, then Sony latest XDCAM line can be a good choice.

For Sony camcorders, you can try look at Sony PXW-Z190 (1/3" 3CMOS Sensor) or PXW-Z150 (1" CMOS sensor) - recording to XAVC-L codec, wrapped in MXF file, decoded in Vegas using mxfxavc.dll.

(my experience so far is using PXW-X70 , still 1080p, same codec - and still acceptable workflow as long as you can go with 1 instance of VP)

For Panasonic series, so far I see, you can up to Panasonic HC-X2 (1" MOS Sensor), recording to H.264 codec or H.265 (HEVC codec), wrapped in MOV file (or MP4). Any H.264 codec is read in Vegas using so4compoundplug.dll. Latest VP versions has getting better on reading h.264 using so4compoundplug.dll.

Interchangeable camera series? Well - more choices and more complex.

Howard-Vigorita wrote on 2/24/2023, 4:45 PM

Used an xf305 for over a decade. Now it's my c-cam. Behind a Canon xf605.

The xf605 is very similar to the xf300 series and has options for 4:2:0 which the xf305 does not... enabling easier editing of it's 4k footage in Vegas than the xf305's 1080p 4:2:2 footage. What it does not have is a triple sensor-array capable of 4:4:4 capture down-sampled to 4:2:2 like the xf305. That scheme has pretty much disappeared in recent years. The xf605 can record to 4:2:2 media but it is up-sampled from a 4:2:0 sensor like most other camcorders made today.

fr0sty wrote on 2/24/2023, 10:11 PM

If you do not need a servo (motorized) zoom lens, a Panasonic S1H is going to give you absolutely stunning image quality, and its low light performance is amazing as well. If the S1H with a lens exceeds your budget, the S1 is nearly just as good (it just can't do 6K and has a 15 minute record limit on 4k at 60fps, due to overheating), so check it out instead.

Both of the above can shoot ProRes RAW if you need extremely high quality (like for a film or something) if you hook them up to a Atomos Ninja V recorder, and both of them meet Netflix's quality requirements.

If you'd like to save a little more $, and still want excellent low light performance, a GH6 does great too.

If you want a camera with a fixed, non-interchangeable lens and a motorized servo zoom, I'll let some of the other users chime in on that, as I don't use those anymore... the image quality just isn't as good usually, ditto for low light performance, and I love being able to swap lenses.

Wolfgang S. wrote on 2/25/2023, 2:20 AM

It really depends.

I would think more about the upcoming Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II X.

The sensor stabilization in the S5 II is great, all what you miss is the XLR section (that can be added) but also the ND-filters (it needs a good vario ND).

The X version is important - since it adds both v-log but also All-I shooting.

The color science if the S5II is superior, similar good to then the color science of Blackmagic. And it can be graded in Vegas in a great way.