Which Camera Should I Buy?

W

wied81

Member
Hey all,

New to the forums but love what you guys are doing here. Would love to get some advice if any of ya'll have a free second.

Here are my needs and some quick information:

I am looking to get a professional level camera that records in HD/SD and onto P2 cards as well. If possible, I'd like to have an option to use tapes as well as P2 cards. I will be filming a lot of fast moving sports (Football, Lacrosse, Soccer, Basketball) as well as some more relaxed scenes such as people talking during conferences and events.

I have had trouble previously with filming sports on an HDV camera I had and would not like to duplicate that experience. I have heard that HDV is especially bad for sports because of the massive compression being used, and that makes sense.

My budget is about $2K-4K.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.
 
It sounds like you are looking for an HPX. I have a friend selling one with lots of extras in your price range. I will give you his contact if you are interested.
 
Would love to hear what you guys think of having a tape/P2 vs. just having a P2 storage solution. I am leaning towards having both just to keep my bases covered but what do you guys think? I will be editing on FCP.

The HVX200 has been recommended to me as a good solution and I have found good things about it online. Would love to hear about the HPX as well though, phudson.

Thanks.
 
I used to say you needed tape because clients sometimes want it, but at this point I don't think it'll come up often enough. As long as you can budget for enough storage. And if you end up needing it you can always spend $70 on an old camera for tapedeck use.
 
Just to clear up any miscommunication . . . the HVX200a does not shoot HD to tape.

Sorry if you already knew this.
 
Thanks guys for all the replies, greatly appreciated.

It looks like at this point I am headed towards getting an HVX200, not the a. From what I have heard around here and other places it looks like P2 will treat me just fine and I won't necessarily need a tape deck on the camera, especially if its just shooting HD to tape and not HDV.

A couple other quick questions. First, since I will be doing a lot of long takes because I am filming sports events, what kind of storage solutions would be most appropiate? I am thinking a couple 64GB P2 cards would do the trick...but I know that can get pricey. What's a good price for a 64GB P2 card? And how many P2 card slots does the HVX200 have?

Thanks an advance guys, really appreciate it.
 
wied81 said:
especially if its just shooting HD to tape and not HDV.
Click to expand...

Did you mean SD to tape? As it only records SD to tape.

wied81 said:
A couple other quick questions. First, since I will be doing a lot of long takes because I am filming sports events, what kind of storage solutions would be most appropiate? I am thinking a couple 64GB P2 cards would do the trick...but I know that can get pricey. What's a good price for a 64GB P2 card? And how many P2 card slots does the HVX200 have?

Thanks an advance guys, really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Two card slots. Id consider looking around for used 16gb cards. Decent capacity, often see them used as compared to the 64's, shorter offload times per card (esp. if you are offloading in the field).
 
I am thinking now that I will be going P2 and I will need probably two 64GB cards because I will be doing long takes for sports events. Anybody know the best/cheapest place to find good 64GB P2 cards?
 
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