Consumer Camcorders

GrizzlyIke wrote on 4/8/2016, 11:32 AM

I am looking at the Canon VIXIA HF G40 camcorder which appears to be an upgrade of the G30. Does anyone have any knowledge/experience with the G40 they would be willing to share? Does Sony make a similar camcorder? I like the idea of recoding to disk rather than tape as I do now.

Comments

OldSmoke wrote on 4/8/2016, 11:51 AM

I had the G30 before and sold it off. The small sensor just doesn't do it. If you are not into 4K, Sony's HDR-CX900 is a much better choice. If you want to give 4K a try, The FDR-AX100 is the same as the CX900 but does 4K too.

Eagle Six wrote on 4/8/2016, 12:31 PM

Hi Grizzly,

Out of curiosity, what camcorder are you using now that records to tape? You may be able to add a digital recorder, if you are happy with your current camera.

Best Regards......George

OldSmoke wrote on 4/8/2016, 1:11 PM

If the OP is still using tape than it's at best HDV and that is old technology. it would not make sense to add a rather expensive external recorder to it, I tried that with my FX7 years ago. The image quality just didn't improve and the files where bigger and more difficult to work with in Vegas. There is only so much you can get from an image sensor of those days.

Jillian wrote on 4/8/2016, 1:55 PM

If you're really talking about a new 4K consumer camcorder for about $1000 I'd look at the:

Panasonic HC-WXF991, or
Sony FDR-AX33 or AX53.

These are reasonable size, reasonable price, reasonable weight to actually use at the upper consumer/travel level. They have viewfinders which are now extremely rare on consumer cams.

The lower level cams are being replaced by smartphones, which people already have and carry.... I suppose the thinking is why purchase a separate camcorder that's left at home on a shelf when you have a smartphone?

Remember that the Panasonic and Sony menu systems are different from that of Canon, so you sometimes have to look for common settings in strange places under strange names.