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What are the best Pro Video Cameras today under 12K
Was wondering if any of the pro’s here in this forum care to share what Professional Video camera they use and why they like it? What are some of the pro’s and con’s to them? And what they would rate from top to bottom the 4 big companies Sony, Canon, JVC and Panasonic in terms of overall quality, reliability and price vs. features worth?
I’m always concerned about which video camera is actually worth it in terms of performance and ability. There is always some sort of drawback to these cameras. One thing I’m noticing is that on the video card capture features I always see this “The clips are QT.mov format using the XDCAM EX codec and drop right into FCP without any transcoding or rendering”. What gives with this? Why is it like this? I use both PC and MAC and would like to be able to not have to go the extra step in transcoding for Premiere Pro on a PC. Why are they making cameras that do this. More people use PC than a MAC.
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6 Replies
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Sony EX3, EX1
Panasonic HVX200, HPX170 and HPX-300.Canon and JVC have some in that class too but I prefer the Sony and Panasonic models.
Also regarding ‘more people used PC than Mac” I’d like to see some number to back up that claim in terms of editorial. Sure there are more PCs sold than Macs- because they are much cheaper. But are all of those being used to edit, no.
Anyways really not that realistic these days to not expect some sort of transcoding step from most cameras. They shoot to a format designed for efficiency during image capture not editorial. With a fast enough machine it doesn’t take much time to transcode anyway.
-Noah
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I agree with Noah. The cameras he named are excellent although I would now add that the new Panasonic GH1 and the Canon 5D MKII should be added into consideration.
The footage from the GH1 strongly resembles the footage from the EX1 but the GH1 is a VDSLR that sells for $1,500.00 and features hundreds of lens choices.
The Canon 5D MKII is a real pain to shoot with but if you can put up with the crippled control system, you can obtain amazing images.
As far as the PC vs. Mac thing, I can tell you in several polls I have seen, video/film people overwhelmingly use Macs. Over on the DVX User site, in a poll of a few hundred HVX200 owners, around 80% of the owners were on Mac. Not a scientific poll but a good grass roots sample.
Generally I see that people who are production professionals generally use Macs (in LA, you basically have a hard time being hired on as an coordinator, PM or producer without a Mac, it is almost required) while I see a lot more PC users from students, people who have come into production from other professions, etc. Of course, there are exceptions to this and there are many pros that do use PCs in production but from a percentage standpoint, the numbers skew disproportionately toward the Mac in the entertainment industry. I am sure that the immense popularity of FCP has a lot to do with this.
Dan
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Thanks Dan for your response. I agree with you. As I said before, I use a Mac and FCP for my TV production work and prefer my PC for my other work. I do a lot of music videos and special graphics work and have more ammunition to work with on a PC…i.e. plugins and other programs that are not available for a mac so I get better results on my PC for that reason.
John
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Looks like you don’t have Saphire, Boris, FXFactory or similar plugins for the mac.
You are missin’ out.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Board of Directors
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
Interesting list of cameras. Curious about the SLR stuff….I’ve seen AMAZING low light results from the new Canon SLR.
AFTER ALL THE CRAP I’VE BEEN THROUGH WITH PC’S I WOULD LOVE TO SWITCH TO APPLE (like my Iphone)…..BUT…. See the computer spec’s below? I bought that for $999 and as far as I can see I’d have to pay 4-6x that for a comparable Apple.
I’d love to have one but I think I’d rather buy 3 more 8 core i7 PC’s and give em’ away when they have serious problems.
Some day. Plus, Vista 64 has been really damn good so far (knock on wood).
Best,
Todd
Todd Roush
Dreamscape Digital Media
Canon XH-A1’s – Dell Studio XPS i7, 920, 2.66 gig,6 gigs RAM (soon to be 12) 650 gig SATA, 1TB eSATA external, 3TB USB(storage). 512gig ATI video card, 28″ HannsG Monitor, 24″ Dell Monitor. -
Not HD, however while all the cameras in this range make good pictures, might the SDX900 still be impressive? Compared to any of the cameras listed, it looks the part.
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