D90 or HV20

1

1150A

New member
New here.. looking for some tips/suggestions.

My brother has a D90 that gets no use at home so the other day I thought I'd go use it to take some pictures. Keep in mind, I have no idea how to use the thing other than hitting the record button for video and taking pictures with the auto function. Though, I've taken some video production classes in high school and really enjoy editing videos.

While the D90 seems like a great camera, I'm curious what are the disadvantages when compared to the HV20 or any of the other HV series. From my brief research, I've found that one of the main things is that the D90 has very limited record time. While that doesn't seem like an issue at the moment, it could be in the future. Though, it seems like there's easy work-arounds for this, just a bit of a hassle.

My main question really is, if you had to shoot video, and you already owned a D90... Would you shoot with the D90 or shell out a couple hundred $$$ to get a HV20?

If it helps at all, I'm probably going to be filming a lot of mountain biking.
 
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Depends entirely what you are shooting. For a short film, honestly either would work great and both have their limitations.

For film like depth of field shots, the D90 will be better, for getting a vast array of quality glass available to you the D90 will be better.

For fast panning, moving shots or something like a documentary or filming a long presentation without stopping, sporting event, etc... the HV will be better.

As you said the d90 has a 5 min run time. In making a short film this is a non-issue. The average film cut is like 7 seconds, so you will never get close to that. You shoot, move the camera, and shoot again, etc...

Onboard sound: If you arent going to have an external recorder, the HV will have better onboard sound, and the capability of adding a mic.

Still pictures: Of course the D90 is the leader here.

Logging and capturing: I belive the HV20 is a minidv tape camera. This means you will have to log and capture your video off the tape in the camera before you can start editing anything. This is a tedious process that i like to avoid. Withthe d90 the files are just on your SD card so you drag, drop, and your editing within seconds.

What is best for you? Up for you to decide.

I went with the D90 out of all the choices available because i needed both a DSLR and a Video camera and i had about a $8-900 budget. I figured it was teh best mix.

If you only need video take that into consideration.

Look at short films and stuff and see waht people are accomplishing with both.

jon
 
Personally, I'd recommend the HV20. The D90 is an early DSLR with video and as such suffers too many glaring faults to be truly viable for shoots.

Also, you mentioned you are going to shoot Mountain biking, in which case, I don't think the D90 will cut it as mountain biking or any sporting event inherently has fast moving action and the D90 just can't keep up.
 
OH, and there is some mountain biking footage that someone psoted up in the last few weeks. Cant remember which DSLR it was shot on, but look around for it.

jon
 
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