Comparing video: HMC150, HM100, Canon XF100 & 7D, Sony HXR-NX5U (or AX2000)

[gilcos28]

Hi,

I was doing my own research on the Panasonic HMC150, VCHM100, Canon XF100, Sony HXR-NX5U (or AX2000) and the Canon 7D, and unfortunately not a perfect fit for any camcorder I found between the range of $2500 to $4000:

HMC150 3x1/3 CCD and excellent optical stabilizer, AVCHD up to 24Mbps; Wide angle lens.
SonyHXR-NX5U 3x1/3 CMOS and excellent optical stabilizer, AVCHD up to 24Mbps; 20x zoom.

Those two video camera are very similar,the 1/3" sensor give a excellent picture but the compression (24Mbps, which is low) reduce the color clarity. This is not good for green screen, which I notice is harder to implement perfect result, from footage I saw, but good result can be obtained.
The optical stabilizer and the AVCHD coded give smooth movement of object at the frame; when you walk with the camera and optic stabilizer helps to have smoother frame and the ACVHD coded give a better movement of object in the frame....Nice.

HM100 3x1/4 CCD and fair optical stabilizer, MPEG2 up to 35Mbps; PAL and NTSC.
XF100 1x1/3 CMOS and optical stabilizer (don't know), MPEG2 up to 50Mpbs (4:2:2.

The HM100 from reviews and footage I saw, don't have a good optical stabilizer. as when walking with the camera you can easily see from the footage that the movement of the frame is rough. On the XF100 I did not see much information, but from only 1 video it looks quit good, and the movement of the frame is quite smooth. (But I am not sure).
MPEG2 coded (compare to ACVHD) don't give same smooth object movement in the frame, but the higher bit rate seems to compensate on this matter. so in over roll the movement of object in the frame is very good.
The good think about those camcorder is the high bit rate. Color are very vivid, and this let you play better in the editing phase with different effects. Of course the green screen footage always look perfect even if the background, as the footage showed, was not set up so well.

Canon 7D 22.2mm X 17mm CMOs (almost 1 inch wide), optical stabilizer (?), ACVHD ~44Mbps; Manual focus at filming.

funny, the footage I saw with the 7D are amazing. not comfortable to use as it is design to be an SLR, but proof that with the ACVHD coded you can get excellent color and it is only a matter of bps. Green screen performance is excellent. Movement of object is excellent, but I am not sure if walking with this camera is good, cause all footage was filmed on tripod. So I don't have any info on the optical stabilizer, if any?

In conclusion, It is simple as, if the HMC150 or HXR-NX5U increased the bit rate for 35Mbp or 50Mbps; charge me $500 more and I will be very very happy. or if the JVC will add a better lens and a optical stabilizer. With the Canon xf100, only 1 CMOS, which I am still don't feel comfortable with. So it is not hard to do the perfect camera, just the greediness of the companies not to do a perfect product so you will need to buy the more expensive module.

If anybody have more information or care to argue or agree, please let me know.

Or more important, if anybody found the perfect camcorder, with high bit rate, let me know.

Cheers
Gil

 

[AGMedia]

Here's a very quick two cents... value it as that as you make your own choices.

That Sony is the least celebrated "pro" camera of recent times. Just barely ahead of that is that JVC -- that is interesting to traditionalists married to "Final Cut," but not really many others.

The Canon 7D is an excellent video DSLR and has a place in production, but it's a totally different place than any of the other cameras you cited. Meaning, you get the 7D to go along with these others -- not instead of. And, if you're not in a rush, wait for the 5D Mark 3 -- that was due about six months ago.

As a side note, if you're not in a rush, wait until after NAB 2011 -- second week of April, I think.

The XF100 is the newest kid on the block -- so new it may not actually have arrived on the block as yet. It's a safe bet that it won't be an entirely awful camera, and because it's two years newer and has a higher bitrate and color space than every other video camera you listed -- it's a reasonably intelligent business decision to opt for the XF100.

Regarding your emphasis on image stabilization -- all in-camera stabilizers only make a very small difference, the best of which make a small difference when you're fully zoomed in while handheld. If image stabilization is important to you -- then you need to look at actual camera stabilizers like Glidecam and Steadicam.

Good luck!