What would you choose ?

vegasmon wrote on 5/6/2007, 8:20 AM
Scenario:

Your purpose to shoot mini documentaries, and How to Videos and
you use Vegas Video 7.0E for editing.
You also need to get in tight spaces,and have a camera that won't feel to intrusive to people,so the camera can't be intimidating.
Aside for the above you have to deliver exceptional quality.

If you have the choice purchasing any of the following camera new or used, which camera would you buy and why ?

Panasonic HDC-SD1
Panasonic DVX 100
Canon GL2
JVC GZ-HD7
PV-GS400
Sony HDR-SR7

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 5/6/2007, 9:13 AM
Here is my analysis. Your mileage may vary:

> Your purpose to shoot mini documentaries

Then you want to shoot tape and not internal hard drive unless you want to carry a PC along to offload the hard drive when it’s full. The 60GB hard drive in these cameras will only hold 5hrs of video. I would also want to shoot 16:9 but that’s just my personal preference.

> you use Vegas Video 7.0E for editing.

If you are editing you want to stay away from formats like AVCHD. It just isn’t a good format for editing.

> You also need to get in tight spaces,and have a camera that won't feel to intrusive to people,so the camera can't be intimidating.

Then you want a small hand-held not a big camera.

> Aside for the above you have to deliver exceptional quality.

Then you want HD. ;-) (ok so that’s my personal opinion)

So let’s see how the cameras stack up:

DV cameras: (BTW, I wouldn’t buy a DV camera today)
Panasonic DVX 100: Not HD, not small so could be intimidating, but great for DV docos, 24p, etc..
Canon GL2: Not HD, not small so could be intimidating
PV-GS400: Not HD but it is small. There are better cameras to be had.

HD cameras:
Panasonic HDC-SD1: AVCHD format not good for editing. Records to memory cards. 40 min for 4GB card.
JVC GZ-HD7: AVCHD format not good for editing and Hard Drive recorder limits time to record
Sony HDR-SR7: AVCHD format not good for editing and Hard Drive recorder limits time to record

So that leaves you with none from your list. :( I would not buy a DV camera today with all the HD cameras to choose from and I would not buy an AVCHD cam for editing which eliminates all of your camera choices.

Personally, I feel the Sony HVR-A1U is the perfect camera for this. It’s small when it needs to be (just remove the microphone pod, lens hood, etc and it looks like a small hand held) It uses tape and is HD and has exceptional quality. When you don’t need it to be small you can attach the mic pod and use external pro mics via XLR. It’s just a great all around camera.

So my recommendation would be the Sony HVR-A1 but this is just one man's opinion. I'm sure others will give you different pros and cons on those cameras.

~jr
mbryant wrote on 5/7/2007, 6:51 AM
AVCHD format not good for editing

Now that Vegas support AVCHD, is AVCHD really any worse for editing than HDV? We all know that any highly compressed format isn't the best for editing. And whilst Vegas 7 can edit HDV natively pretty well, for complex edits often use of an intermediate like Cineform is still recommended.

I've tried a bit of editing AVCHD with 7.0e, and it seems to me very similar to native editing of HDV.

I know AVCHD is even more compressed than HDV, so that would indicate it is worse to edit, but is it really any worse than editing HDV in practice?

Anyway, I agree HVR-A1 is a good choice... or even the Canon HV20 or Sony HC7..
riredale wrote on 5/7/2007, 8:21 AM
I'd be a lot more comfortable suggesting AVCHD to a friend if I ever saw a review that praised its image quality. So far the reviews on camcorderinfo say that it suffers from artifacts. Maybe the next generation of chips will fare better.

I have two HDV cameras, an FX1 and the little HC3 I call BabyCam. The HC3 and its newer brothers, the HC5 and -7, deliver excellent image quality and are truly portable.
PeterWright wrote on 5/7/2007, 9:44 PM
I have a Z1, and an A1 as second camera - would recommend either - the A1 as Johnny says is excellent for non-intrusive shooting, but I would always get a wide angle lens for small spaces.

I wouldn't get an SD DV camera now. HDV is such a step up in quality, but not as huge a step up in price.
Patryk Rebisz wrote on 5/7/2007, 10:46 PM
That just shows that we are all different and deliver varius projects with various purposes. My often jerky, action filled handheld music videos is the last area where you would want to deal with HDV's limitations, so often we end up shooting SD over HDV.

I would go with DVX100 from your list. Proven workhorse if you know what you are doing plus if you shoot 24pa then it compresses better for the web.

Also don't get hang up over "camera that's not intimidating" -- often having a camera that's too small won't get you the right credentials/image.
farss wrote on 5/7/2007, 10:51 PM
Don't know how it fits into your budget but the V1U/P is preetty good value. Not too big and not too small either. If you need it bigger add a matte box, if you need it smaller, remove matte box.

Bob.
24Peter wrote on 5/8/2007, 7:49 AM
Canon HV20 all the way. I just sold my DVX100 in favor of this camera. Add a Beachtek adapter for balanced audio inputs and you're good to go. Canon has a nice zoom-through .7x wide angle adapter too.

Total cost (not including your mics) $1250 for some of the best HDV out there (plus 24p if you want that look.) I actually made money when I sold my 4 yr old DVX100 for $1750.