Invest in DVX, Hmc or HVX?

[shift88n]

Hey everyone, I'm a 20 year old college student, I'm on the verge of opening a wedding business, i will offer video only. I have all the equipment except the cameras. I have roughly 5,000 to spend. I was looking into getting two dvx100b's , however I'm skeptical due to the lack of hd. The other is the hvx, however that is almost thrown out because i need two camera's to film and i can only afford one at this moment and it would pretty much be worthless until i get a Firestone drive or more p2 cards, so i would shoot it in mini dv. And who wants to buy a hvx200 for only mini dv? I don't! BUt it would be a future investment for future hd. I also have been considering to wait for the hmc150. However that price is yet to be released and I'm guessing it will be to expensive to afford. Hence should i buy two dvx100b's and sell them in the future when i upgrade to hd and probly go with the hmc150 because it uses Sd instead of P2?

Thanks ! Any help would be appreciated, i just want to buy a camera and shoot!

[wgzn]

why dont you rent for the time being?

the hvx is terrible in low light (unless youre a lover of grain) the dvx100b is a favorite of wedding/music shooters for its great low light performance. but if you buy those they will be more or less obsolete in about 24 months - with the standardization on blue ray for hd disc delivery and the coming digital switch.

[Matthew R. Rodwell]

HMC150 might be a good choice but until NAB it is impossible to tell. I wish Panasonic would release the price on that thing. I am considering picking one up if the price is right.

Also look into the XHA1.

[Barry_Green]

the hvx is terrible in low light (unless youre a lover of grain)
Come on, the HVX is not "terrible" at all. It's incredibly more sensitive than, say, an V1U. It has about the same low light performance as an HD100, and depending on your settings it's about on par with the XHA1. It's infinitely superior to an HV20. The only HD camcorder on the market that's noticeably "better" in low light is the EX1.

[Mister Big]

I'd recommend buying two lightly used DVXs. They are not very expensive and you can always resell them later of someone releases a magic camera and not take too big of a hit.

[ProfessorU]

If you insist on buying on your budget, I'd go cheaper than DVX, into a well-kept pair of Canon GL2s probably.

Chances are that someone in your area has a SD MiniDV camera that they'd love to make $75/day on. If someone wanted to rent my GL2, I'd be happy to see it make that rate. I used to rent 2 DVXes for $200/day, and that was 2003.

If you buy two nice tripods, you'll be very glad in three years when you upgrade to nicer equipment.

If your clients want the ceremony in HD, bill them for it and rent. You can get a HVX for around $250/day and you'll have negotiating power if you're renting two of them.

[wgzn]

Come on, the HVX is not "terrible" at all....

agreed. but that's the one thing we hear here from a lot of wedding shooters. just wanted to put it out there.

[DOSMedia]

Come on, the HVX is not "terrible" at all. It's incredibly more sensitive than, say, an V1U. It has about the same low light performance as an HD100, and depending on your settings it's about on par with the XHA1. It's infinitely superior to an HV20. The only HD camcorder on the market that's noticeably "better" in low light is the EX1.

EXACTLY what i was thinking. Funny you say that, I just got my hvx 3 weeks ago and i used to use a V1U and shoot at night a lot (with generator and lights) and sometimes i had buddies with an hvx at the same shoot. I must say that it was a HUGE difference between the 1/4" chips and the 1/3" chips on the hvx.
I dont see how its that bad in low light. I have had tons of success in poor lighting with the HVX so far.
THe EX1 is probably better for sure.

To help you out.
All depends how much the HD means to you.
If you desperately need HD and double angles then 5 grand is too small of a budget.
Possibly go with an FX1 for cheeper hd camera.

[filmguy123]

HMC150 for sure. SD is being phased out, I wouldn't invest ANY money into it.

Plus, already people who want weddings are demanding HD. And if you don't offer it, they won't want it. Consumers don't know better. Even if the DVX gets better lowlight. they will not understand, and they will want HD. And your competitors will offer it. DO NOT BUY SD, you might be ok for the remainder of the year, but after that you will get screwed. You'll probably lose business before that anyway.

HVX200 is way out of your price range when you factor everything in. HMC150 should be a GREAT camera, with some newer tech than the HVX; *cheap* media to shoot to. Perfect camera for what you want to do. It will probably be around $4000.

Yes, that means you can't *BUY* two cameras up front. But who cares? You can rent the second backup camera, and since it is a BACKUP camera that you will only want to cut to when you NEED to, and since it will be a wide, long shot, you can get a cheaper SD camera and uprez that footage and it will probably be unnoticeable. You hardly use the backup camera anyway. And, if you need to use it more, fine, then rent a 2nd HMC150!

You can also give options on your rates.

As you save up, you can afford a second HMC150.

That's the way I'd go, hands down. For my $5k doing wedding videos, I would:

$4300 HMC150 + 1x 32gb Class 6 SDHC card
$150 or less, cheap tripod. It's static. You don't need a nice one.
$400 Shotgun MIC / XLR cables & Accessories (you want a shotgun for your main camera, for sure. You wont some XLR adaptors and cables, so you can patch into the soundboard and record the direct feed into your stationary B-camera that you rented until you can afford a 2nd HMC150.

That's your $5k.

Wireless Lavs are great. They are also insanely cheap to rent. Rent until you can afford them. $600 to buy a good pair; $5-$20 to rent a day. You'd have to rent the $20 thirty times until you hit $600. So you have some time to save, and evaluate how much business you will really generate. And a shotgun is more valuable for ALL types of videos.

[SPZ]

Another vote for HMC.

[Kholi]

Define: Verge

Cause if you're looking for a camera in say the next two to three months? Your choices are ONLY DVX100 and HVX200 (unless they've changed the HMC release date to before Fall?)

If you plan on making money soon then I wouldn't worry too much about the HMC. It's far off this year.

[manglerBMX]

i think you should invest in the items that you know you will be using in years to come. and i think a good tripod is at the top of that list. you don't have to go spend a ton of money tho, a good libec head and some miller aluminum sticks and you're good to go. monopods are also really handy at times! also get a wireless lav and a decent shotgun. also an on camera light that has a dimmer on it, litepanels are nice but pricey, maybe vidled would be a better option. wedding season is pretty much starting now, so i would go ahead and try to start booking a few and then renting gear for a little bit. i've shot weddings with the hvx and the a1, both are great(hvx not as great at low light). but i really think that the hmc150 is going to be a great wedding/event/eng cam and why not go ahead and start doing some gigs to get some cash flow in.

[filmguy123]

Ahh, so a few more thoughts.

I disagree about needing a good tripod right now. For what you are doing - WHY? the only tripod shot will be the STATIC backup cam! For the main camera on stage, you could try a monopod, but I find those clumsy often... try a spiderbrace. Only $70. The DVMultiRig Pro (reviewed at this site) is a GREAT product but a little spendy to start out with. Hold off on that.

Good point, wedding season is starting, and the HMC150 releases in the fall.

I would wait until the fall to buy a camera. In the meantime, RENT. Rent the DVX100b, rent the HVX, rent some Canon & Sony cameras. Try all sorts of different equipment, learn about it, and learn what you like and don't like.

Sure, your margin per wedding will be less, but think of it as paying for education. You will know cameras very well by that point, and learn a lot about a variety of gear. And it won't set you back, it will just decrease your margins. You probably won't have as much business this first spring/summer anyway, you are just starting out. So it's a great test drive before investing, and a good time to save, etc.

All HD cameras get worse lowlight than SD cameras. But that's a neccessary evil. Get over it now. You will have to go HD. But by all means, rent the DVX and try it out! Plus it's a weekend shoot, so the stuff you rent, you can play with the rest of the weekend to get comfortable with and learn about.