[Micah Mcdowell]

I usually sync audio manually by matching up waveforms with the on-camera audio. Never had any trouble at all and it just takes a second. Slate the shots with a clapperboard and line it up that way if it makes you feel more comfortable; that’s how the film guys have always done it.

Everyone I know that uses PluralEyes loves it, though I’ve never tried it.

[Micah Mcdowell]

What is your ISO set to? Turn it to a lower setting (not auto, experiment with ISO 800 or lower).

This will reduce the camera’s sensitivity to light but will improve or completely remove the noise in the image. It appears that you’re in some sort of dark room; if the camera is set to auto ISO, it will automatically crank it up to compensate for low light which obviously looks lousy.

Your lens is ok but not ideal. It’s not going to make the image noisy though.

[Micah Mcdowell]

All three cameras will record up to 720p60 footage… 60 FPS will allow for some nice slow motion in post. The HPX/HVX allow many odd frame rates in between the standard rates for more flexibility in speed; this might be advantageous over the HMC150 if you do lots of slow-mo shooting.

As already mentioned, the HPX/HVX both record to a more robust and easily editable format… that’s what I’d get.

[Micah Mcdowell]

Just a note; I’ve got a Canopus ADVC-110 and it’s always been very finicky; I also have an ADVC-55 and it’s more reliable, plus it’s cheaper. Get the ADVC-55 as long as you don’t need to output back to analog or get around Macrovision.

[Micah Mcdowell]

Oh gosh, I must have missed the interlaced only recording in the specs. Are they serious?

I guess it’s obvious that they’re planning a pro version and it’s crippled with 60i only so it won’t cannibalize sales of the more expensive camera. Why else?

[Micah Mcdowell]

1. Generally, the three sensors of the Panasonic would be an advantage, but from reviews and experience, I’d say the Canon will produce a better image. Forget the megapixel values of the sensors; full HD video is only 2MP, and those numbers are basically useless except for stills. The stills from these cameras will be lousy regardless. Megapixels have nothing to do with zoom.

2. If you want good audio, especially for interviews, you need an external mic. This is important.

3. The Sony and Canon have 32GB of internal flash memory while the Panny has 120GB of hard drive space. However, all three allow you to use SDHC cards for extra storage. I’m not a big fan of the hard drive cameras for reliability concerns.

Conclusion: all three cameras are very similar so don’t stress out about the choice. I have a strong preference for the Canon since it has a mic jack and the VIXIAs generally have great image quality. None of the three are anything approaching a good quality pro camera, but they’re great for the price.

[Micah Mcdowell]

Wow, that looks very, very intriguing. Unfortunate that it doesn’t have more pro features (XLR inputs, better recording codec), but for the price point, you can’t complain too much. I predict it will sell like hotcakes. It even looks like the Starship Enterprise if you squint your eyes a bit.

Now, we just need Canon to build the same thing, put the 5DmkII sensor in it with proper anti-aliasing, slap on some XLRs and make it record 4:2:2 or better at a high bitrate. Could it be that hard to do?

[Micah Mcdowell]

I’ve got a T2i that I use almost exclusively for video.

The 18-55mm kit lens is usable, but rather lousy. It has a slow variable aperture, so it is comparatively mediocre in low light and you can’t zoom during a shot without the exposure shifting. Also can’t get as much of the super-narrow depth of field if you want that style.

I mostly use an Olympus 50mm f/1.8 prime. The Canon EF 50mm will give similar (likely better) results and you definitely should buy it. Right now I use the 50mm for most work and only use the kit lens for wide angles. As mentioned, the Canon 24-70L would be a great choice for a multi-purpose zoom that’s much better than the kit lens, and I’m saving up for one now. Ideally, my kit of lenses for the T2i would be Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 (or 1.8 if money’s tight), Canon 24-70 f/2.8L, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X wide-angle, and perhaps a longer zoom and some more primes if money is no object.

Also, you’ve got to have some form of audio recording since a mic direct into the T2i sounds awful with no control of levels. The Zoom H4n recorders are popular, or you could try one of the Juicedlink DT454 XLR adapters. I use a Alesis ProTrack recorder for all of my audio and sync it in post.

[Micah Mcdowell]

It depends on many factors…

Let’s say you’re working with NTSC DV compression standard-def video as an example. When you capture it from a tape, the data on your hard drive is bit-for-bit the same as what was on the tape. If you do cuts-only editing and export back to a tape, it will still be the exact same data. No generation loss whatsoever (I believe Final Cut gives the option to recompress frames… if you don’t, the original data is preserved).

If you took the same footage and added titles/effects/color correction while editing and rendered in the DV format, the footage will technically be down a generation. With DV footage, this may be quite noticeable. That’s why many people convert everything to uncompressed footage, do all effects work, and then export back to the delivery format. When you’re working uncompressed digitally, there’s theoretically no generation loss as well.

Basically, whenever there’s a format/compression change or rendering step, there’s going to be a slight loss in quality unless you’re using uncompressed/lossless all the way along.

[Micah Mcdowell]

There does not appear to be an adapter that would do what you want, but there’s plenty of reasons why you shouldn’t do it in case it makes you feel better.

The APS-C sensor in the Canon T2i (I assume that’s what you’re looking at) is approximately 22.3 x 14.9 mm while a 1/2″ sensor like what the L1 has is around 6.4 x 4.8mm. That lens won’t be able to cover more than a tiny bit of the large sensor without extreme vignetting.

Even if it did work, that lens only had to be sharp enough to resolve a standard-definition TV image. It’d be a blurry mess on a DSLR.

You can adapt lenses from a variety of older SLR cameras to the T2i. Most Nikon F-mount, Pentax, Olympus, Contax/Zeiss, and some other lenses can be fitted using affordable (under $30 or so) adapters. I’m using older Olympus primes that were found at yard sales with great results. Of course, you lose autofocus and have to use stop-down metering on the lenses in most cases, but you can get great glass for cheap.