Camcorder suggestion for Premiere / After Effects CS4 editing

[Vince Becquiot]

In that Price range (in fact even less) I would lean towards the HV30.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Tobbe Bergman]

Hi Vince

Thanks a lot for your input!

Is the Canon HF20 compatible with the HV30?

I would like a camcorder with built in memory or/and memorycard!

Thanks again for your time!

[Lucas Windsor]

I have a Canon HF10. It has 16GB internal Flash memory. At first it was kind of bad because Premiere’s support for AVCHD was really sluggish. I am running a Mac Pro with 8cores and 12GB of memory and the video would take forever to stop stuttering. But they just released an update for PPro and whatever they did worked. The HD footage now loads and runs buttery smooth with no stutter, even when running at full res.

The canon’s have some of the best color for the small camcorders. Sony makes some nice HD based cameras as well. Just go to a store and try them both out and see which one has the features you need.

[Tobbe Bergman]

Hi Lucas

So it seems like the Canon HF series are going to work really good for for a enthusiast like me!

Don’t really know if Premiere CS4 has a favorite format it like the best?

[David Teubner]

In my experience, AVCHD video is tougher to edit on Premiere Pro, although the updated version (4.1) is a much improvement. However, if you don’t mind tape-based cameras, the HV30 (or HV20) work very well. HDV is a less cpu-intensive codec than AVCHD.

I use both the Panasonic HMC150 and the HV30. With Panasonic’s free download of the MainConcept transcoder, you can convert AVCHD to SD or DVCPRO HD, so there’s a good work-around if you don’t like AVCHD (AVCHD still “studders” when you scrub it in the timeline of Premiere Pro CS4). See some videos about them at at HowNowVideo.com.

[Tobbe Bergman]

Hi David!

On paper AVCHD sounds great but the fact that it is compressed takes it’s toll on the computer and what I “DON’T” want (studders etc etc) is something that isn’t smooth to edit

Memory based cams are nice but the fact that they are heavily compressed are going to be a big problem in Premiere.

For me and the budget I’m on the HV30 or HV40 (Don’t really know the difference between these two cams apart from the price) seems to be the way to go although they are not perfect (no smooth manual focusing etc etc).

Thanks for your input David!

[Jean-jacques Gaudel]

HI guys,
I am new to this forum, and would like to put my 2 cents worth. Nobody ever seems to mention the JVC-HD7 as one of the very best camcorders around. It got a bum rap in the reviews, but I looked beyond those when I bought mine a year or so ago, and I could not be more pleased. I did test the Canon and the Sony out before I bought it, and chose the JVC not only because I wanted easily accessible full manual controls, and was by far the best looking, but also because I preferred the vivid snappy images. I found both the Canon and Sony images very dull in comparison.
I have not regretted my choice. The hard disk is huge, the exposure controls and the manual focus ring are a pleasure to use , it shoots full 1920×1080. To shoot in the studio, I connect it directly to my MAC PRO thru a Black Magic HDMI card, and record live the full uncompressed video.
I know it records in an odd proprietary .TOD format, and that seems to scare people off. All you have to do is use MPEG STREAMCLIP to convert the .TOD to an uncompressed de interlaced 1920x1080p AIC file, and import them into Premiere Pro CS4 as Quicktime clips. You can even apply corrections to the image in the conversion process. I set the editing mode to AVCHD1080p Square Pixels. I also set the codec to AIC in the sequence settings, and it works like a charm. That’s why I had not become a member earlier!
Any body out there agrees with me?
JJ

[Bob Dix]

Anyone I have spoken to have problems editing hard drive camcorders.

We have used a Canon HV20 (now HV40)for 2 years and the results to Export to Tape in High Definition is broadcast quality either from a Canon EOS 5D mark II @ 1920x1080p or HDV 1920×1080 from the HV20

[Bob Dix]

Memory cards can cause problems with editing, we have been using a Canon HV20 for 3 years and it works very well editing HDV in Premiere and it can look sensational shot properly. You can tape HD on it and Export to Tape in HD, back to the HDMI input of a HD Sony Bravia and no need for blu-ray , the cost is minimal if you like 1440 x 1080 High Definition. Incidentally the HV 20/30/40 shoots 1920 x 1080, check with Canon.

Freelance Imaging & Video
AUSTRALIA