Opinion – Best low-end professional camera

[Chris Tompkins]

If you were considering P2 I would recommend the HPX170/250 by Panasonic.
If P2 is to rich then look into the Panasonic HMC series.
Shoots to SD cards.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC

[Frank Cervarich]

The P2 card is expensive. I would like to be able to shoot for several days in the field without have to wipe the card clean after downloading it onto a hard drive or computer. I shoot lots of documentary style stuff in, sometimes, remote locations.

[David Roth weiss]

[Frank Cervarich] “I would like to be able to shoot for several days in the field without have to wipe the card clean after downloading it onto a hard drive or computer.”

Better buy fast Frank, because cameras that shoot tape are going the way of the dinosaurs in a big hurry.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.

[Sohrab Sandhu]

IMHO you should buy Panny Af-100.

Records AVCHD on SDHC cards which are not that expensive. Abilty to get shallow DOF with a wide range of lense choices. XLR inputs, SDI output. Can record to external recording devices like nano flash. Very good performance under low light conditions.

And FCP X is said to have native support for AVCHD so editing should be smooth!

All the best!

Sohrab

2.66 GHz 8-core, ATI Radeon HD 4870,
FCS 3, AJA Kona Lhi

“The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six months, or six years down the road. But he has faith that it will happen.” — Carl Ally

[Frank Cervarich]

From what I am reading and hearing I don’t need tape to meet that goal. I need an inexpensive storage device (I buy enough to hold several days worth of shooting on them and save them to hard drives when I return from the field so that I can edit) and a camera one that uses the device and makes a solid HD image of high quality). Or, at least, that is what I am hoping will be my solution. Am I out of line?

[Garrett Evans]

Panny’s HMC-150 is the DVX100A with everything up to 1080 60i. I love this camera…sure it’s got limitations, but so I.

MacPro OSX 10.6.6 2×2.26 QCIX 10GB 1066MHz DDR3 FCP7.0.3/FCS3
FCSvr1.5 Xsan2.2 DotHill 24TB QlogicSANbox 8GB ATTO 8GB

[Phil Balsdon]

The Canon XF300 records 4.2.2 to CF cards, the only camera in this class so far that can do so.

It’s still only a 1/3″ chip though.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Steve Eisen]

[Frank Cervarich] “The P2 card is expensive”

Yes, P2 cards cost more money than SD cards. They are also very cost effective. P2 cards will last a very very long time. You can shoot for days in 720/24pn mode. The HPX-170/250 is right in your budget WITH P2 cards. P2 shoots at 100mb/s compared to AVCHD which has a maximum data rate of 24 mb/s.

The HMC-150, AC-160/AC130 are very good cameras. But they are AVCCAM.

AF-100 is NOT for you. By the time you add lenses, you are way over budget. I’ll bet you didn’t know there is no servo zoom on any of the lenses for the AF-100.

If you want the ease of editing, P2 is the way to go.

If you want cheap, AVCHD is your option.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Shawn Miller]

I used to shoot quite a bit with the DVX100, and I’ve been shooting with the HVX200 and the HPX500 for the past few years. I recently started using the AF100, and I’m very happy with it. The AVCCAM CODEC is sturdier than I expected, and the AF100 has all the things I’ve come to like about Panasonic cameras; nice, natural color rendition, over and under crank (in 1080p no less) and familiar gamma/matrix modes. There are also some new features that I would find hard to live without now; built in waveform monitor, interchangeable lenses, focus in red, great low light performance, NTSC/PAL switchable, built in ND filters, etc. That said, I’m really curious to see what the Sony FS100 will be like, I understand it has the same sensor as the F3… so it should be pretty hard to beat at that price range.

Thanks,

Shawn

[Rafael Amador]

[Sohrab Sandhu] “IMHO you should buy Panny Af-100”
The PANY (love it) is not a video camera and his DOF is mostly a constrain unless you need it.
IMHO, as a VIDEO CAMERA the EX-1/3 still being a very good value.
That 10b Unc SDI out is priceless.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com