Best second camera for sports?

K

Kanjikid

Member
I'm an EX1 shooter and want a second and smaller camera. I record my kids in horsejumping and lacrosse which require fast pans to follow the action. I use an EX1 on a Miller tripod at 720p60 and edit in FCP3. Here's a 45 second snippet of the resulting work: http://www.vimeo.com/8287244

I want a second and small camera...to record b-roll in the barn or locker room etc. And because the EX1 is painful to handhold and sometimes I just don't want to travel with the big rig). Once enjoyed the Sony HC1 but it stopped working. Tried a friend's Canon Vixia HF11 and loved the small size. But I haven't had the chance to compare cameras today.

I didn't know where to post this question...let me know if there's a better place.
 
The 3CCD set of the xh-a1 for fast pans without artifacts. My only complaint about the EX1 is the CMOS sensor and jello. Most small cameras have a cmos as it uses less power. Also the A1 has a 20x zoom, which is useful because sports are farther away. Most small cameras are around 10x optical zoom. The A1 isn't sigificantly smaller than the EX1, but it balances better and you can get a used one for $2,000 to $2,500.

I've seen it intercut with the EX1 before and with proper presets (another A1 strong point) they can be color matched and it looks good.

Otherwise the sharpness of the HF S100 is fantastic and card based.
 
i had exactly the same diliema. my solution was the Panasonic HMC150. has all of the frame rates of the EX1 but is CCD. the 13x zoom was a small consolation but the beauty of the image made up for it. covering a football game or soccer i wouldnt tend to get too tight anyway on a player. too easy for the action to change and then your lost. 13x not really a problem unless you are miles away then a 20x wins i guess.

IQ is amazing out of this camera and is pretty comfortable to handhold. cheap media and great slow mo clips from 60fps. plus in a pinch it makes for a pretty good b roll camera along with the EX1 since any frame rate can be matched.

david
www.davidprobst.com
 
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Kanjikid said:
David, the 150 seems to have been replaced by a newer model, maybe the 300?
Click to expand...

you said...300? HPX300...over the shoulder camera? 8,500..P2? the HMC150 is still for sale at B&H and still on the panasonic site. just curious what camera your talking about?

if there is a camera that is an update to the 150 at similar price range then...even better!!! a very good camera that gets better? cant beat that!

EDIT...im fully aware of the shortcoming of the EX1 shooting fast paced action but i thought you clip (above) looked very good. you stated that you shot at 720p 60fps. curious though what shutter speed did you shoot at. i know that you werent using blazing fast pans in that specific clip but there was still some and i thought it looked nice and tight and clean. i have found that on my EX1 i need to go to 1/120th and even a little higher but then it does get a bit stroby. i just gave up and bought the 150.

david
www.davidprobst.com
 
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The HMC150 is certainly a good camera, and at the same price point as a new XH-A1. In addition, they are both 3 CCD cameras so they are both good for motion. The HMC150 has the added advantage of being tapeless.

They produce very similar images for different reasons. The HMC150 has a smaller sensor (960x520 as I recall) and employs pixel shifting to produce a 1920x1080 image. The A1 has a 1440 wide sensor that fits rather nicely with the 1440 wide file format of HDV but then has to use a 1.33 PAR.

I always say that A1 has a bigger sensor but a smaller file delivery system and the 150 has a big file format but a smaller sensor system. Net result is very similar most of the time.

For a tiny hand held though I think he may be more interested in the HF S100.

Its both a trueHD sensor and file format (AVCHD at 24Mbps) that produces spectacular detail, which when I tested it was better than both the A1 and 150 in resolution.

However it only a 10x zoom and not full manual controls. But for a pocket camera its spectacular, and in good light produces a picture every bit as detailed as the EX1, IMHO.
 
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