I took the step. AG-DVC30

[adamtheburger]

I purchased the panasonic agdvc30 and I recieved it today! It s a really nice camera. Can't wait to get my hands dirty using it. Anyone have any advice for it?

[Evan S]

just make something.

[magichristopher]

i would say play around with the settings in various environments I used to have one and loved it tremendously, it suited my needs more than the DVX, (believe it or not) and regardless of what others say, the 60i footage is almost indistinguishable, with the DVC30 having less noise and a little worse on low light. It is a great camcorder.

Just curious, what did you pay for it?


I would suggest getting the xlr box and a mic because the built in mic sux pretty bad. Also the mic outputs have a hissing sound, but it is not recorded to tape.

Get a decent tripod. i bought a 701rc2 for it and it was pretty good (not very) until I modded it to be super good (really smooth). What I did was take it apart, clean up the manufacturers lube, and made my own of vasoline and a little bit of epoxy ( I know epoxy? Yes just one of the tubes not both) The end result is a super smooth tripod that I would put up against a $600+ head anyday, seriously.

Also i would suggest getting a tripod controller, or building one, as can be found on this site. They really take advantage of the DVC30's super slow zoom and quick zoom.

[the_fusionist]

I am looking at this camera as well. Does this camera do 30p? It states that it does but I would like user experience. And please, post some videos. Thanks.

[iamcrazyed]

Yeah, I'm trying to decide between the two as well. Buget's a big deal for me; I work for a non-profit organization and we have a $3000 Canadian budget. My buddy has the dvx100a, so my pride wants the better camera. If the difference is negligable, then I'll go for the '30 and buy some extra equipment.

[magichristopher]

The dvc30 is a fine camcorder. It is starting to show its age a little, and I am betting that an hd version variant is just right around the corner (by february is my guess) so that may be something to look into. For sd it is fine and does do 30p at the expense of field blending, but no worries it looks really good.