Canon XA20 help

[nancyh1990]

My mother is making online-yoga videos which last 60-90 minutes. She will be hiring a person to do post production.

Most of the time, filming will be on tripod with just her. At other times, it will be studio environment.

Currently, she is recording on my D7 and her wireless Azden microphone. Since she wants to view the footage immediately and has no access to software (not a sage computer user but a great iPad user), it is quite difficult for her to handle no sound and multiple SD cards. I want to make this as easy as possible for her. Close-up sound is important due to the breathing patterns....

I am undecided between the NEX-VG30H (18-200 lens) and the XA-20.

I read that the XA20 has iOS with her iPad. I understand this is not for streaming.

Questions:
1) With the iPad, via XA 20 wifi, she can control the camera settings?
2) With the iPad, can she see herself LIVE on the iPad as recording is going so she can adjust her poses accordingly?
3) I am confused about the MP4 capability. Please help this dummy.
4) WHICH camera WOULD YOU SELECT?

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[plegilink]

I have the Canon XA25, but have not used or tested the NEX-VG30H

Questions:
1) With the iPad, via XA 20 wifi, she can control the camera settings?
A: Yes, Focus, Zoom (very choppy, not smooth like using the new rocker), Exposure (in non Manual mode), changing between P/A/S/M modes, white balance, Aperture, gain, shutter speed & Start/Stop recording.
Ideally iPad needs to be set to Auto Lock off and powered via AC to remain on and not "go to sleep".

2) With the iPad, can she see herself LIVE on the iPad as recording is going so she can adjust her poses accordingly?
A: Yes - Live view is available, but it's not "full realtime" i.e. there is a slight delay between what the camera is viewing/recording and what is sent to the Live View in the browser app, and then you only receive every 20th/30th frame (bit like a slideshow) so it's ok for framing but not realtime monitoring.
Basic view gives a large Live View screen that can easily be viewed from 10 feet away.

3) I am confused about the MP4 capability. Please help this dummy.
A: Just a different "wrapper" that has the H.264 codec and can record at 35 MB/s as opposed to AVCHD which records as Max 28 MB/s. Both those modes can only record at 50p even though the camera can output at a different resolution/frame rate from the HDMI port!

4) WHICH camera WOULD YOU SELECT?
A: Very happy with my XA25, although there are always improvements that can be made, and/or compromises Canon have made.
Ask and as I get a chance I will try to answer.