OT: What's a good camera for wedding videos?

Sticky Fingaz wrote on 10/7/2004, 7:48 AM
Hi!

I have been a novice videographer for about a year. We are using a Sony DSR250 which my boss bought, and we think it's OK. The picture quality is fantastic, but we get WAY too many dropouts with MiniDV. And the camera has been eating our tapes. Keep in mind this was bought brand new and I've never switched brands of tapes inside the camera. We use DVCAM sometimes but since we do some weddings as cheap as $300, it's not really worth it to spend $40 on a tape in those cases.

So my boss wants to turn me into a pro, and we were looking at the Canon XL2 because it can do 24p. We were wondering two things: Is this a good camera for weddings? Is it stupid or just a bad idea for some reason to shoot a wedding in 24p? And secondly, can Vegas edit 24p properly? Do I have to do any converting to make it 60i or something? Not really sure how that whole 24p thing works. And lastly, what's a good reputable place to purchase that camera, or whatever camera you recommend?

Thanks a ton in advance for your time.

Comments

cervama wrote on 10/7/2004, 8:05 AM
I also do Weddings, If you want to buy a good camera for the money of a canon xl2, don't spend that much buy a Sony VX2100 they're much cheaper and the quality is awesome, specially in low light situations. You don't have to shoot a wedding in 24p unless you want to do film look. The sony minidv is a lot cheaper than dvcam tapes.

BH photo in new york has excellent prices on prosumer cameras and pro cameras. They are very reputable and also sell lights, tripods, etc.

Vegas will edit awesome videos for weddings. God bless and I hope this helps.
Randy Brown wrote on 10/7/2004, 8:18 AM
I'd say if you have the budget for an XL2, by all means get it.
I have been very happy with my two XL1s' (shooting for TV and an occasional wedding) and the XL2 is much more versatile and supposedly has even higher resolution...and I'm almost certain that V4 will edit 24P.
Randy
Sticky Fingaz wrote on 10/7/2004, 8:23 AM
No offense to Sony but I wanted to stay away from them. We had a VX2000 that gave us heaps of drop out problems as well. We were using quality Sony tapes and never mixed brands or types.

Thank you for the kind words though.
Trichome wrote on 10/7/2004, 8:39 AM
I use a DVX100A from Panasonic. Fantastic image quality, and the dream like motion that 24P offers makes for a suitable choce for weddings.
I have experienced no problems editing and printing out 24P footage from Vegas. Limited lens options for this model might keep you looking at the Cannon XL2.
nickle wrote on 10/7/2004, 8:51 AM
Here is a discussion that should help. Or at least give you a couple of days of reading material.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?s=f8b60d8edfcf2727f29ca1177b561734&forumid=7
RafalK wrote on 10/7/2004, 9:25 AM
I have been using XL1s for everything from wedding to corporate to music videos. Canon has a way of beautifully capturing skin tones and it lends itself greatly to wedding videography.
XL2 add and improves on the xl1s with native 16:9 more, true progressive in 24 frame mode, etc. One lesson I learned, and you'll need to take it into consideration is that the lens that comes with the camera is great but not quite wide enough for doing indoor wedding shots so start thinking about the 3x lens in addition to the camera package. The camera you currently use can take large tapes which gives you more than just the 60 minutes on mini-DV, so you might want to consider something like the FS-4.
If the above proves to be to costly for your situation, by all means goes with Sony. Sony has a very good reputation for being the work horse.
Good Luck
Arks wrote on 10/7/2004, 9:45 AM
go with the ag-dvx100 or if you dont want 24p, the ag-dvc30 (both panasonic). The images from the dvx100 are amazing; although a camera isnt going to automatically make you a "pro" in any kind of videography.

John_Cline wrote on 10/7/2004, 10:59 AM
The Sony VX2100 or PD170 have amazing low-light capabilities. Not all weddings (or the receptions that follow) have great lighting. While the DVX100 is a fine camera, it is best under controlled lighting conditions. The VX2100 and PD170 are much more forgiving in less-than-ideal circumstances. The Sony VX2000/2100 and the PD150/PD170 probably account for the largest majority of camcorders used in wedding event videography.

John
arcorob wrote on 10/7/2004, 12:18 PM
Sorry to jump here but the problem was not the VX200, but the sony tapes. Don't know why, but SONY tapes are the only tapes I have ever had a drop-out problem with out of hundreds of videos. Ruined one wedding for me....UGGGG - Root cause, SONY Professional Tape. I switched to the tried and true TDK's and viiola, never had another drop-out
Sticky Fingaz wrote on 10/7/2004, 12:43 PM
Since we already have a very good Sony we are leaning towards the Canon XL2 or the Panasonic 24p model. I don't mind that the Canon only takes MiniDV.
corug7 wrote on 10/7/2004, 8:21 PM
DLL,

One thing you might want to consider is that a Sony camera might compliment your other Sony Camera. Try using a different tape in your first camera, and see if it helps (you might want to clean the heads first). I use a VX2000 also, and find that its ability to shoot lower shutter speeds can help a ton in wedding situations, from getting better color at 1/30, to getting a stuttered effect at 1/15, and an excellent blurred effect at 1/8. I know my Panasonic dv953 can't shoot below 1/60, except for its "magicpix" feature, which is WAY to slow. If you want to spend the extra money, I don't see how you could go wrong with either of the cameras you mentioned, however.
RalphM wrote on 10/8/2004, 5:02 AM
While I don't "do weddings", I have helped a friend do weddings as a second camera person. We both use Sony VX2000's.

Lighting is often a problem, especially at the receptions where there seems to be a need for a supper club atmosphere. The low light capabilities of the Sony's is invaluable in these circumstances.

As far as dropouts, I've had two VX2000s for the past couple of years (the VX2100 is a slight upgrade) and they run dropout free on Sony DVC-60 Premium tapes. I've even, in an emergency, run them in EP with no dropouts.

If you choose a camera with less than stellar low light performance, consider a very good quality wide angle lens when the lighting is low. The extra size gathers more light, but at a small loss in resolution.
corug7 wrote on 10/8/2004, 11:36 AM
If you are buying the Xl2, I have been told that purchasing the Canon wide angle lens is the best investment you can make for weddings. Not the one that screws on to the end of the lens that comes with the camera, but the one that replaces the original. I have been told by several XL1 users that they just put the wide angle lens on and leave it there for good.
RafalK wrote on 10/8/2004, 1:22 PM
Daddy, go with the XL2 than. If you compare it feature by feature to the DVX100, the choice will be obvious.
bowman01 wrote on 10/9/2004, 5:14 PM
If i were to choose and buy a camera now, the xl2. I'm using Sony PD150's, unbelievable battery life- never have to change all day or night in normal wedding conditions. However, the new xl2 will give you 16:9, and unbelievable footage with the L series lens. I'm not sure how narrow the 20x lens would be though, i would more than likely prefer wide the long.

Weddings don't give you much time to set up shots, especially with a lot of photographers these day, so sometimes i would check to see which of the two would be faster to be able to run and gun. I wouldn't even look at the dvx100 anymore now that the xl2 is out.