Hd, sd???

Lake Films

Lake Films

Veteran
Hey guys,
I'm currently shooting with the Panasonic dvx100b, in 24p mode for my films. I still love the images it produces, with correct lighting of course. But, I've been looking online all morning at the Canon VIXIA HF11. How do the 2 compare? I know one is HD and the other SD. Was trying to decide if it's time to move up to HD.. Thanks for any comments...
 
Well, the obvious idea is HD compared to SD, but with the HF11, you lose most if not all of your manual control. I was forced to use a HG20 for a short and it was just horrible. I shot in in "cinema mode" with color set to "low sharpening". It looked okay on the screen, but when I imported it into FCP, it stretched all the pixels so it was not something like 2564x1080 (so it was 2.35:1 but still square pixels). Couldn't get the film look I wanted, because the highlights were just too bright and overexposed. It was warped and overexposed on auto iris. Great!

I would just recommend getting an HMC150 or HMC40 if you wanted to HD. Obviously the HPX170 is above all the mentioned cameras, but becomes expensive after P2 cards and such. If you wanted to keep your DVX, look into Instant HD Advanced by Red Giant. It analyzes each frame and composites all the information about the pixels together to create a higher quality image (HD from SD). Haven't tried it, but I know a similar technique was used to scale HD footage from a Varicam or something to 70mm IMAX. Only the Advanced version does this, just so you know.

I really wouldn't recommend getting a consumer camera to just get HD. It's really a step in reverse in my opinion.

-Joe
 
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/awilt/story/review_canon_vixia_hf11_avchd_camcorder/ -- you may need to register.

You can get enough manual controls on this cam to deliver good image, though it is tiny and the "controls" are just one joystick. Manual focus is the worst, consider that it does not exist. Either set it on auto or zoom it / lock / zoom out, but forget about focus pull. Everything else is decent: shutter speed / aperture + gain / sharpness / color / gamma (cine or video) / zebras. If you have time to set up the shot, it is a fine camera. Oh, 24p and 30p is over 60i, so you will need something like Cineform.

To work with shutter speed / aperture / gain settings you need to learn some tricks. And the worst of all, the cam era forgets the aperture/gain settings when turned off.
 
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I'll tell you. I was editing some material from a interview I shot on my 100A today and after working with XDcamHD, HVX, RED, and now my own 7D pretty much week in week out for the past three years, the DVX (which I picked up 5 years ago) still holds its own. I have said and probably will be saying for a long while to come that the DVX can produce some of the most stunning images I have seen on SD, especially considering its price.

Even if we disregard the massive landslide of a difference in manual controls and professional connections and monitoring, I think consumer HD looks like crap next to well shot DVX footage. If you are going to go anywhere from the DVX, go to the HMC-150 at least.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, I will stay with my trusty DVX, and invest in more lighting, can never have too much of that...
 
i had a dvx100a a few years ago, and sold it to get the HV20 when it first came out. horrible desicison. like everyone else said no manual controls, the image just looks really videoey. i sold the hv20 last month and rebought a DVX100b. i couldnt be happier. besides, i just shoot in squeze mode and uprez all my footage to HD anyway, so it doesnt really matter.
 
Hi Linkdafourf,

I am just wondering how long of your video clip when you convert from SD to HD by using instant HD software.
In After Effect , I saw the clip in project that people using for special effect is very short from sevral second to 30 seconds. Have you tried convert one hour long clip in After Effect to HD.
If you do not mind to share your work flow convert SD to HD by using Instant HD software

Thanks a lot
 
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