AC160 AC160 vs Canon XF305, overkill???

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djkoz

Well-known member
I have all but decided on the Panasonic AC 160 as the camera I would like to get for documentaries and run and gun type of work. There is the possibility that, if good enough, some of my videos may be shown on the local PBS station. However, though pricier, the Canon XF305 offers higher quality audio, 4:2:2 color space and 50Mbps, although it is only 1080, 60i. Is the XF305 overkill for my purposes? It is about $1,800 more.

One of my concerns is that the AC160 at 28Mbps and 4:2:0 may not offer the quality required for cable/broadcast TV or even, perhaps, film festivals.

Thanks in advance for your advice.
 
Thank you. I had not thought of that. A quick search on the web shows that these external recorders can run from close to $1,000 on up. Can you redcommend a quality brand that will capture the highest quality video? I will be editing on a PC with Premier Pro and maybe even Vegas Pro.
 
For local-only PBS subchannels, they'll appreciate you're not shooting on 4:3 DV tape. And for festivals, you can shoot on whatever you please - you're the artist/filmmaker. If your content is quality, no one is going to snub you for not shooting on ABC/XYZ, especially for docu work. As long as you're not completely destroying the AVCHD in post, it holds up pretty darn well. External recorders are definitely an option, as is a program like 5DtoRGB.

That being said, I think that the XF300 is a simply a better camera. On top of the 422, it has a higher-quality lens, better ergonomics and an autofocus that is more...er...reliable. It is considerably more expensive, but if just buying one camera, I would have probably gone that route myself.
 
Thanks. It appears as though a good external recorder will run about $1,000+, closing the price gap between the AC160 and the XF305. The one drawback, if, indeed, it is one, is thst that the XF305 only shoots in 1080/60i as far as I know.
 
I dumped my XF-300 for the Panasonic 130. The XF-300 was plauged with interline twitter once rendered to Blu-ray.
 
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