2x Canon XL2 vs. 1x HPX170

[Manuel]

Hi,
please help me out :-)
Now that the P2 prices are down and I have a good offer for a HPX170 I think about selling my two canon XL2 and buy one panasonic HPX170.
Should I do this?
My main work are imagevideos/musicvideos/concerts

For concerts its great to have two cameras but maybe it's better to rent another HPX170 for the four or five times in the year when I film a concert.

For the next months the endproduct will be a dvd and not blu-ray but this could change in a while.

So what are your suggestions?

Thanks
Manuel

[Casalen]

If the two camera shoots are not your primary market I recommend upgrading. HD can be a great marketing term for a lot of work, especially music videos. But it depends on your needs, of course.

And you probably have to hire a second camera op for the two shoots anyway. You'll have to pay a little more to get someone with a camera, but it might be worth it. Depends where you want to take the hit; that, or not coming off as 'high tech'.

[Knoxworth]

The thing about live events is that it gets hectic moving away from tape unless you can film 720p on 2 big P2 cards or Firestores. I have a FS100 and its been super dependable. But live events are always hectic the more actions you give your hands, and switching out tapes, batteries, and P2 cards gets to be hectic for sure.

If you can swing it by owning one camera and renting another, I don't see any reason why not. Just make sure the upgrade is worth the potential debt. Because it doesn't sound like you HAVE to move up just yet.

[Manuel]

Thanks for your responses.
I would get the 32 gig card with the camera and then buy another 32 gig or 64 in august. I want to go tapeless and hd but it's right I don't have to.
My clients are fine with the picture of the XL2 but in some time I also want to make a shortmovie for which I definitely want to go hd.
And yes the HPX will be great for musicvideos :-) and shortfilms.

[stickman]

I have heard that the XL2 upresses to HD pretty well because of the native 16x9 chips. You might consider hanging on to one of the XL2's and get the HPX170 as well.

[Carlos Corral]

I have heard that the XL2 upresses to HD pretty well because of the native 16x9 chips. You might consider hanging on to one of the XL2's and get the HPX170 as well.

Yes, the XL2 upres looks great, but the reason Im going to sell mine soon is because I want to move off of tape. I'll still probably do SD shoots with the HPX170 later on anyway.

[Manuel]

I hope that the dvcpro50 will look much better than the picure of the canon when it is on dvd. Is that right?
But I think it is better to film in 720p even when the endproduct is a dvd? And I have the slowmotion with 720 50p.
That's why I want to go for the HPX170 and also the tapeless workflow. The formfactor is for me positiv and negativ because the XL2 with the accuadapter mounted on the back of the camera makes the camera a good shouldercamera but it's nice to have a lighter and more flexible camera.

There are always advantages and disadvantages :-)