First Camera Purchase - Need Advice

L

legion

Member
I'm looking for a camera that would be good to shoot weddings and other events of that nature in the short term, but also something that I could go on to use to make films.  Does the DVX100A have true 16:9?  Does it have true 24p? 30p?  Anyway, I've never really used a camcorder before, other than a crappy bulky VHS camcorder from high school that looked like it came out of the 80s, so I don't know too much.  I know I'm starting with something pretty expensive, but to me it's a business expense, and I don't want to mess around with some crappy future shop special.  I'd most likely be doing editing on my PC in premiere pro, unless you guys can recommend something better.  Is there a format that would be better than miniDV?  Or is it pretty much the best all around thing going?

Anyway, thanks for your time,

Legion
 
Re: First Camera Purchase - Need Advice

Wow, thats a lot of questions for such a small post. Well, to get to the point, no it doesn't have true 16:9, it has letterbox and squeeze. Yes it does shoot true 24p and 30p. As far as expense, mini DV would be the cheapest thing that you can edit, with the equipment that you arleady have. there are other altearnatives, like HDV, but personally I haven't been liking what I see, plus no true 24p as of now on any HDV camera. Premiere Pro should be fine, but I prefere Vegas 5. I have heard there are some issues with Premiere pro and 24p, so you should check out the Premiere forums for more info on that. As of right now, mini DV is about all the option that you have, even HDV uses mini DV tapes. If you want to go into the next bracket you have DVCPRO-50, the SDX-900 is like a big expensive DVX with interchangeable Pro lenses, 2/3 in CCD's and lots of other nice features as well as a 20+grand pricetag. So yeah your at about the top of your game with Prosumer miniDV.
 
Re: First Camera Purchase - Need Advice

Can you explain to me the difference between letterbox, squeeze and true 16:9?
 
Re: First Camera Purchase - Need Advice

[quote author=legion link=board=Links;num=1104815515;start=0#2 date=01/04/05 at 04:24:59]Can you explain to me the difference between letterbox, squeeze and true 16:9?[/quote]

Letterbox is simply matting out the top and bottom half portions of the frame to make a pseudo-16x9 frame. It is lossy if you project it on a 16x9 monitor, because you lose about 20% of your pixels. I have used it for 4x3 work, and I like it because if you show it on a 4x3 monitor, it looks great. No squeezing.

Squeeze is an electronic process that emulates 16x9 without chopping off the bottom and top portions. It is somewhat lossy, but many people have shot with it and say it looks acceptable. It projects properly (squeezed) at full res on a 16x9 monitor.

True 16x9 is achieved with either 16x9 chips (not in DVX, but in HDR-FX1, SDX-900, etc.) or with an Anamorphic Lens (Like the AG-LA7200G for the DVX) that OPTICALLY squeezes the image into a 4x3 frame. That is not lossy (bec. optical not electronic), but it does distort the image a little around the edges.

:D
 
Re: First Camera Purchase - Need Advice

"True 16:9" - the CCD sensor is arranged in 16:9 format. Capturing 4:3 video requires that only the central pixels be used, leaving all of the pxels to the right and left of the 4:3 picture unused (i.e. lower resolution capture).

Letterbox - the CCD sensors are arranged in 4:3 format. The 16:9 image is produced by ignoring all of the pixels at the top and bottom of the CCD resulting in reduced resolution

Squeeze - The CCD sensors are arranged in 4:3 format, but each pixel is captured (and must be interpreted during edit and display if unchanged) as being wider than normal. A "normal" 4:3 pixel is understood to be 1.33 times as wide as it is high. In squeeze mode the same pixel is 1.78 times as wide as it is high. Depending on how squeeze mode is implemented it can result in some resolution degradation from the ideal that the 4:3 CCD could produce.

Note: most newer cams use CCDs that have more pixels than are "normally" used and so degradation may be ephemeral.
 
Re: First Camera Purchase - Need Advice

Putting aside the SDX-900 (it's a little out of my price range) how would the HDR-FX1 compare to the DVX100A, aside from being true 16:9 and High Def?
 
Re: First Camera Purchase - Need Advice

The FX1 is an interlaced camera. If you want progressive video the DVX is by far the way to go.
 
Re: First Camera Purchase - Need Advice

[quote author=Shaw link=board=Links;num=1104815515;start=0#6 date=01/05/05 at 14:41:22]The FX1 is an interlaced camera.  If you want progressive video the DVX is by far the way to go.[/quote]
HDR-FX1, as Barry Green (Holy DV Guru) has said before, is great if you shoot and distribute in HiDef for Hidef monitors. If you are going to shoot in SD, and output to standard DVD discs, to be viewed on the greatest majority of TV's that are still 4x3, SD is still better, hence the 24p DVX. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top