Is the A1 right for me?

W

Whipsmack

Member
Im in the market for a camera, with a budget of $3,000 unfortunetly there are few options for me. Currently im eyeing the sony V1U and of course this Canon A1. Everything else is too expensive, however the consumer canon HV30 for $800 might be a good option for me until prices settle on the really good prosumer cams.

We will be filming a variety of things, lots of green screen, and lots of outdoor shots that could possibly be darker then we wish. (b-rated horror film) Well im not too familar with all the technial stuff, my friend is the special effects and green screen master. He says 4-2-2 pull down is ideally what you want with green screen. And of course progressive is very important.

I know the Sony V1U does progressive but the colors and low light noise is terrible. The A1 has 24f, is this going to pose any sort of huge problems with green screen footage and for heavy use of special effects? I'd be really happy with a DVX100b right now but spending $500 more I can atleast future proof our projects with HD, I just hope these 2 cameras can handle this. How is the A1 in low light situations? Thanks so much!
 
The DVX would be an extremely poor choice.
Not only is it SD, but it doesn't record 4:2:2.
Like every other NTSC DV cam, It records 4:1:1,
which is even worse than 4:2:0 for DVD mastering.

4:2:0 at 1080p has more color information than 4:4:4 at 480p.

Of the HDV cams, the XH A1 has the best reputation
for low light performance. It has two built-in software
noise reduction modes that further reduce the noise.
 
Or you can purchase instant hd and turn your DVX progressive images into hd .
and then pull a key of your greenscreen images.
There is a demo you can try out.

(b-rated horror film)
You can get some pretty good results with hv20 ,100 bucks less ,or hv30.
Google it vimeo.

And I would not recommend shooting greenscreen @ 24f.SHoot 30f
If you still want 24f motion shoot it with a high shutter speed to reduce motionblur which can destroy your key.48 for 24f or higher if possible.

Goodluck

PS:why not make a musical :) ?
 
Thanks, Noel.

Also, you don't have to shoot in low light. No camcorder produces great images in low light (though some are less crappy in low light than others). You can shoot with a moderate amount of artificial (low key) lighting and your images will still look quite dark in camera (with gain turned off).
 
Keep in mind you can turn off the Auto Gain Control in the HV30 by using the Spotlight or Sunset program modes, however when you use either of these you cannot adjust aperture or shutter manually. In today's market at the A1's price point there's nothing else out there that can beat it :)
 
A1 hasn't had a price drop ever has it? Needs to be sub 3k. For same cost I could get HV30, glide clam, new lens, nice tripod, and have enough over to buy all that twice!!! I realize hv30 doesn't really compare, but who else besides us would know the difference?
 
Well we are using an Azden SGM 2X boom mic, with an XLR to mini adapter are you saying the audio hardware on the camera is just really noisy, or did you mean there are few good mics that can fit on it? Cause audio is important indeed!
 
The HV30's audio hardware as a whole isn't up to professional audio standards. Not only that, but HDV audio is compressed. You'll want to get yourself an external audio recorder, something like the H4 or better.
 
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