hv20 help please.

[reem12]

i may be purchasing the hv20 his week as a b cam to the a1,but i had serious questions before i make this move.after holding this little cam in my hands today i couldn't get pass it feeling like a fisher price toy.that brings me to my question.if i take care to properly light scenes and only use this cam in optimum lighting situations, on a 42 inch hdtv, will the quality and its 24p look as good as the a1?these are things i'd like to iron out before i make this purchase.thanks.

[Sacksnack]

Properly lit, the image is very close. The A1 is slightly cleaner, the HV20 is a bit more saturated and contrasty out of the box. The A1 can be matched to it easily in post. As the light dims, the HV20 will fall behind. I will say that I've used the HV20 on several weddings, in a dimly lit reception hall, with a small light on top, and it looks good. But you have to manually control the gain, using any of the tricks mentioned on this site.

The problem with using the two cams is the 24p modes are different. You'll have to remove the pulldown from the HV20, or add pulldown to the A1. It's a hassle. If you use both cams in 60i it's not a problem, or A1 in 60i and Hv20 in 24p. Maybe I'll do a side by side test.

-Kevin

[reem12]

thanks sacksnack,very informative.