HVX-200 shooting miniDV compared to PD-150 in low light?

[High1ander]

I am newly registered here but I been creeping along on this forum for a long while.

I wonder how the HVX performs when shooting on miniDV tape at 29.97 interlaced in low light compared to PD-150.

My boss who is documentary filmmaker have shot 97% of his new documentary on PD-150 and the rest needs to be shot on a new camera because of the PD-150 is old and broken (HVX or PD-150/PD-170). I know that the HVX is hogging light like a black hole, but how is it when shooting non-HD? Is the HVX200a much closer (i know better light performance and less noise) but is it still night and day between it and PD-150 (or PD-170).

Also, what is needed if the HVX turns out to be good is a place to buy the HVX without all the bundles, all that is needed is just the camera and 2-3 batteries, no P2 cards, no filters, no knifes or wifes included. What would that cost, less than 4000?

 

[Barry_Green]

The PD150 will be much more sensitive than an HVX200. The HVX200A will be a lot closer, but the PD150 will still be more sensitive.

The HVX always shoots HD at 1920x1080, and then downrezzes it to whatever your recording medium is. So it will be exactly the same sensitivity in HD as it will be in DV.

60i is not the HVX's strong point. 24P or 30P, yeah, but 480/60i doesn't look that good.

And a base HVX200 package without all that dealer-added crap goes for about $5200. There's a $400 rebate on the original HVX.

 

[High1ander]

The PD150 will be much more sensitive than an HVX200. The HVX200A will be a lot closer, but the PD150 will still be more sensitive.

The HVX always shoots HD at 1920x1080, and then downrezzes it to whatever your recording medium is. So it will be exactly the same sensitivity in HD as it will be in DV.

60i is not the HVX's strong point. 24P or 30P, yeah, but 480/60i doesn't look that good.

And a base HVX200 package without all that dealer-added crap goes for about $5200. There's a $400 rebate on the original HVX.

Thank you for that, pretty much what I expected.

In terms of it doing "bad" on interlaced how is it manifested and is it less/more noticible on DV than HD?

The thing is that my boss wants a camera to finish this DV project and still have a camera later on that is good enough for HD work in a broadcast/independent scale.

If there are cheaper/better HDV-cameras for around 2000-5000$ then I am interested as well in them, but i know that HDV might be trickier in every aspect except the fact of having 63 min continues recording time (after all he does a lot of interviews).

 

[TedRR]

Hi High, Man that made me laugh.

FWIW, We do a fair amount of mini-DV shooting in 30p on the HVX and have had rave reviews. The latest from a company from New York that said it was some of the best footage they have ever got from a freelancer. (Maybe blowing smoke up my arse, but it was better then hearing nothing or just saying it was fine).

Understand this is coming from me. I always poo-pooed the idea of shooting anything other than Beta SP. That is until we got the HVX and we had a couple clients NEED mini-DV. I reluctantly shot mini-DV and we were thrilled.

 

[High1ander]

Hi High, Man that made me laugh.

FWIW, We do a fair amount of mini-DV shooting in 30p on the HVX and have had rave reviews. The latest from a company from New York that said it was some of the best footage they have ever got from a freelancer. (Maybe blowing smoke up my arse, but it was better then hearing nothing or just saying it was fine).

Understand this is coming from me. I always poo-pooed the idea of shooting anything other than Beta SP. That is until we got the HVX and we had a couple clients NEED mini-DV. I reluctantly shot mini-DV and we were thrilled.

Oki, but that is Progressive though :/ I am just scared about getting bad interlaced footage. Thank you though, that helps a little bit knowing it is ok progressive in miniDV.

Also, how does the HVX deal with progressive on miniDV tape?