dvx100 or canon hv40

R

retlokisnon

New member
a friend of mind is considering to buy one of these for general purpose and probably for short films, which one would you suggest? thanks for your suggestions.
 
Well, the DVX is SD and the HV40 is HD. Both record to MiniDV. The DVX can give a really good "film look" and can produce similar colors. The DVX also has a focus ring, zoom ring and a bunch of manual controls that are hard to access on the HV40. You can also get shallower DOF on the DVX. Plus the DVX has XLR audio for better quality audio. As far as prices go, you would have to pay about twice as much for a DVX.
 
I've had both. Still have the DVX, sent the HV40 back. My case would be unusual I would hope, but that camera an I didn't get along well. I fell in love with my DVX when I got it over 5 years ago, still a great match.

-Rodger
 
"Probably for short films" is a bit vague. He'll need to compare his needs (or figure out what they are first) to see which tool will work best. Andy summed up the differences nicely. If he's worried about HD, footage shot in Squeeze mode uprezzes nicely. There are examples on this site.
 
You need to figure out what your purposes are.

I was all set to shoot my feature film on a DVX but once I got in contact with the DP who would eventually be the person who is currently shooting my film he changed my mind over to the HV40. The reason I mention this is because he owns a DVX100 and still insisted that we try to shoot in HD, and the only camera in the same price range that I could afford was the HV40.

It lacks some of the manual controls that the DVX does, but if you know what your doing you can adjust most everything you'd need to get a stellar image. I couldn't be happier with it.
 
Andythefilmer said "The DVX can give a really good "film look" and can produce similar colors. The DVX also has a focus ring, zoom ring and a bunch of manual controls that are hard to access on the HV40. You can also get shallower DOF on the DVX. Plus the DVX has XLR audio for better quality audio...." . I don't mind about XLR out, can you get some film look with HV30 (or 40)? How about editing a HD raw? If someone burn DVD or upload movies to Youtube, is it HV30 (or 40) a not useful choice?
 
andythefilmer said:
You can also get shallower DOF on the DVX.
Click to expand...

How do you figure? The HV20-40 has the same size chip... actually it's a tad bigger; 1/2.7 vs. 1/3. So based on sensor size, the HV40 should get you shallower DOF. The only thing I can think of is the DVX has a longer zoom range, so you can get shallower DOF at the Telephoto end.
 
I'll say that I've learned a lot of stuff in the year that I've owned the DVX100. I doubt you'll learn much on the hv40 except how to trick the camera into getting around it's own setbacks.

You can buy a used DVX for around a grand or less nowadays. If you want to learn a lot about manual controls, go for that.
 
clintwest said:
Andythefilmer said "The DVX can give a really good "film look" and can produce similar colors. The DVX also has a focus ring, zoom ring and a bunch of manual controls that are hard to access on the HV40. You can also get shallower DOF on the DVX. Plus the DVX has XLR audio for better quality audio...." . I don't mind about XLR out, can you get some film look with HV30 (or 40)? How about editing a HD raw? If someone burn DVD or upload movies to Youtube, is it HV30 (or 40) a not useful choice?
Click to expand...

Well I posted that before I discovered the magic of HDSLR's. I just got a Canon T2i ($900). It records HD video with 1080p at 24 or 30 fps, and then 720 or SD at 60 fps. With DSLR's, you can attach any lens if you get an adapter, so you get very shallow depth of field. Here is a test video I just made. I shot 1080p 24p:

http://vimeo.com/10424823

(Also, FYI, there is no story behind this video. We just wanted to test it out.)
 
it should be very interesting to compare (with pro and cons) Canon T2i (550D) with, for example, Canon HV30-40 or Panasonic TM300 or even DVX100..... Is the DSLR body really too hot after few minute video? Is a not tilting LCD a great limitation (yes, for me)? Is the overall quality comparable with a camcorder video?
 
Well the overheating problem was resolved in the 7D and the T2i, but you do have more limited recording times on the T2i. It just depends on what you're shooting. For short films and docs, I would use a DSLR, but for stuff like event coverage, and other extended shooting gigs, I'd use a DVX.
 
andythefilmer said:
Well I posted that before I discovered the magic of HDSLR's. I just got a Canon T2i ($900). It records HD video with 1080p at 24 or 30 fps, and then 720 or SD at 60 fps. With DSLR's, you can attach any lens if you get an adapter, so you get very shallow depth of field. Here is a test video I just made. I shot 1080p 24p:

http://vimeo.com/10424823

(Also, FYI, there is no story behind this video. We just wanted to test it out.)
Click to expand...


Yo Andy,

Looks sweet, but why the horizontal stretch?

~DPS
 
How was the overheating problem resolved?

andythefilmer said:
Well the overheating problem was resolved in the 7D and the T2i, but you do have more limited recording times on the T2i. It just depends on what you're shooting. For short films and docs, I would use a DSLR, but for stuff like event coverage, and other extended shooting gigs, I'd use a DVX.
Click to expand...
 
andythefilmer said:
Well I posted that before I discovered the magic of HDSLR's. I just got a Canon T2i ($900). It records HD video with 1080p at 24 or 30 fps, and then 720 or SD at 60 fps. With DSLR's, you can attach any lens if you get an adapter, so you get very shallow depth of field. Here is a test video I just made. I shot 1080p 24p:

http://vimeo.com/10424823

(Also, FYI, there is no story behind this video. We just wanted to test it out.)
Click to expand...

You're 14 years old and shoot for ABC news???
 
I would say go for the dvx... sure it's not hd but if you decide to shoot other things in sd for reasons other than short films, youll be a lot happier.
 
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