Canon 5d Mark II future buyer. HVX200 VS CANON 5d MARK II

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magid1020

Active member
Hey Guys,

So I am coming to you for advice. I have researched and researched but can't find a good answer. I have a HVX200. Its wonderful, but its too big. I like everything about it but my eyes keep drifting over to the Canon 5d. The amazing video it shoots is.... amazing. And the biggest factor, its smaller than the HVX. I am about to sell my HVX200 for this Canon 5D. But am I making a big mistake? I know it doesn't come with XLR but there are adapters for that. I am going to be shooting short films, music videos, events, and possibly feature films. What are the drawbacks and am I losing anything? I just want to know the pros and cons and if I am going to have a lot of trouble. Is there a better camera the the mark ii? Or will this be the best choice I made? I know its gonna take some fiddling and a lot of work to make it look good. I don't expect it to be wonderful out of the box. But Im still willing to dive into it. Help? Thank you~~ :cheesy:
 
The shooting style with 5Dmk2 is so different form a real video camera that they can not really be compared. Is ok for shooting films and music videos, but not events.

While the darn thing puts out terrific quality video, there are serious limitations:

- 12 minute limit for each clip.
- quite impossoble to handhold
- quite impossible to focus while shooting
- quite impossible to change exposure when shooting
- no real zooms, have to change lenses
- no long reach zooms for event shooting etc
- no autofocus for run & gun
- shallow DOF makest things hard for R&G
- no buit-in ND filters for daytime outdoor shooting
- no real audio even with adapters, not even a headphone socket

I would never sell a HVX200 and replace it with 5Dmk2. It is like selling a BWW 5X and buying a small open MG only because it corners better.

I have several 5Dmk2 bodies and almost all lenses from 15 to 400mm and use them all the time (and good audio gear including SD722), but often the Canon XH-A1 is the only sensible/possible way to go.
 
magid1020 said:
Why is it impossible to focus while shooting?
Click to expand...

It's 'difficult' to re-focus with any accuracy without over shooting. If you plan on changing focus while shooting then looking in a a focus puller and be ready to pre-focus everything and mark the wheel.

I would add Aliasing and Moire to Petrus's list.

I wouldn't say it's impossible to change exposure, but you will need a variable ND filter to do it, and make sure everything it locked down at that point, otherwise you'll wobble camera and introduce the jello effect.

When all said and done, if you are shooting shot films or music videos where everything can be planned and/or reshot if you screw up then the 5D makes a fantastic camera.
 
I have both the HVX200a and the 5D Mark II.
I take my 5D almost everywhere, I love it! It is a completely different shooting setup than the HVX, obviously, but I personally like it better.

I am a huge fan of depth of field, and the colors on the 5D are very good.

With the 5D it is hard to refocus during shooting, although not impossible.
Aliasing and jello are a big deal. Instead of handheld I usually use a monopod for shots with movement.
For audio I use a Zoom H4N and run my xlr's into that and then match up the audio with plural eyes.

For shooting longer events the HVX is far better. The P2 workflow is genius. The spanning clips, the hot swap, the durability, easy focus, great zoom.

One big downside of the 5D is the recording format. It records in h.264 which is good in terms of space saving. But it is a major system hog for editing. I convert all my files to prores422 and then edit with that codec. It works great, but takes up tons of space.

At the end of the day what matters is when I go out on a single camera shoot, I almost always reach for the 5D over the HVX.

I would be very interested in putting 35mm adapter on my HVX and comparing the footage.

Hope this helps....
 
I would say it's actually easier to focus with the 5d than those small 1/3 inch sensor cameras. I've seen a lot of videos where people continually have everything out of focus with those cameras because you can't see it properly on the lcd. With the 5d the focus area is so small it's easier to see and with good lenses the focus is easier to pull.

I pull focus always when moving and I have no troubles with it. Impossible, bah. :laugh:
 
You know, You're starting at about $2,500 body only for the 5DII, and it won't take much to really get it above $3,000 when you start adding all the this and thats. At this stage of the game, you should really consider the upcoming Panasonic AF100. It will more than likey surpass the video quality of the video on DSLR, and most certainly fix all the weaknesses that the DSLR codec suffers from. It will add much more useability when it comes to audio unless you just love doing double system sound. For only 4,700 street price, it seems worth it to stretch the budget a bit and get the AF100 in Dec for all the additional features it will offer. Plus you'll be on familiar ground coming from your HVX200 unlike me that will have to learn how to operate a damn video camera now. Just a thought.

Just with the kit lens & 5DII, Juiced Link, View finder etc. I'm over $4K for the 5DII. It's very close to the AF100. But as a still photographer I'm more than happy to keep my 5DII and T2i when I get my AF100.
 
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i have both started with the hvx and thought the same thing u did and bought the 5d. i shoot a lot of action sports and ive found it easier to use my hvx. so my advice would be to not sell ur hvx unless its toward another video camera. otherwise jis save up and buy the 5d as a 2nd camera
 
I have both. HVX for industrials / corporate videos or for long event shooting, 5dMkII for more cinema-styles...mostly commercials and low budget films.

HVX is good for more functionality, 5d has a better picture hands-down.
 
Do not replace your HVX with DSLR, even with an awesome one like 5D, keep HVX and get 60D or GH as a second camera, than you'll see what we mean,
I have two EX1s, 5D and 7D and I need all of them , maybe I'll replace 7D with 60D, just because of the free form LCD
 
I have both too. Just got the 5DII for a good price so I decided to splurge to give it a try. There is a definite quality increase from the 720 p of the HVX to the 1080p of the 5D. It will be interesting to see how the new pana100 does.
Good luck!
 
I can top that all. I have a HVX200 (with 35mm adapter), I have two 5DMKII , and since one week I have a GH2. I like them all and would not do without one of them. However, the pictures of the 5D are so impressiv, that I hardly use the HVX, but the disadvantages of the 5D was named here and I see it like that as well.
The GH2 has a lot of pros opposite the 5D, there is the flip viewer, the ability to film through the EVF, the flexibility in using different lenses. The menu is a bit confusing, the HD quality seems to be equal to the 5D, but the photo quality of the 5D is much more better.
I would keep the HVX and buy a GH2 (If you are not a photographer beside)
Benn
 
Canon 5d was my first full frame camera. Prior to it I had owned and operated a 40D, 30D and Rebel XTi. I am a wedding and sports photographer primarily, so I have been able to test the 5D Mark II out under both of these conditions. The batteries this camera use really do hold a charge for a while. I used mine with the battery grip at the wedding, and the two batteries after going for over 500 shots still had about 72% charge each left on them.

If you're looking for an excellent, full-frame DSLR, the 5D Mk2 is very, very good.It has new LCD screen is gorgeous. 3" diagonal with 900,000+ pixels. It's possibly the best quality LCD screen ever put on a DSLR and it has huge 21 mega-pixel RAW images are excellent.

It has some good functions
-Full frame = Real wide angle. My 17-40 lens can now work as it's supposed to.
-High ISO with amazing quality.
-High quality LCD with a light sensor, so no need to adjust LCD brightness from time to time. It's neat.
-Simple menu system that does not require an engineering degree to use.
- Low-light performance has to be seen to be believed.
 
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