which camera?

[killmaster]

I'm looking for a professional camera which will allow me to shoot videos that may be screened at some point. So the following features are important to me:

0) must be solid state
0.5) 24p or whatever is required to help it have that film look
1) low light ability
2) full raster 1080p
3) great color depth or good enough that I can make it look good in editing (FCP)
4) XLR inputs
5) not having to pay $500 for storage card (P2) would be nice
6) overcranking ("slow motion") would be very nice

I'm just now beginning to look into this and am very new to this. Many things are confusing to me at this point. Like:

1) difference codecs AVCCAM, DVCPRO HD, XDCAM etc.
2) what does the 60p mean, like in 1080/60p or 720/30i etc...
3) how do you know wether a camera will shoot slow motion.

its hard to find an article which spells out all this stuff for newbies. Trying to find out what the state of the art is, is difficult. I heard that Canon is going to come out with their own HD standard. Is it worth waiting for?

and what is this business of 4:2:2 and 4:2:0? Does this indicate how well the camera captures color or color depth? What do these number mean?

Any help in clarifying these things is much appreciated.

Greg (wannabe HD filmmaker)

 

[killmaster]

by the way, the following cameras are ones that I've looked at recently (in order of interest):

Sony HXR-NX5U NXCAM
Panasonic AG-HVX200A P2HD
Panasonic AG-HPX170 P2HD
Panasonic AG-HPX300 P2HD

 

[Joe Calabrese]

Your best bet on that list is the Panasonic AG-HPX300. It's a spectacular camera, and the only one on your list to have full raster chips. It shoots AVC-I 100, one of the highest quality formats available, at 4:2:2 color space (great for chroma keying and double the information than any Sony XDCAM, NXCAM, or HDV cameras). Do some research into the cameras themselves (the HPX300 is a shoulder mount camera with removable lenses), their compression codecs (AVC-Intra, DVCPRO HD, AVCCAM, NXCAM, etc.), and finally, look online for some footage or shoot some footage for yourself. Depending on where you live, (I live in NY, so I go to Abel Cine Tech all the time) a store might let you bring a hard drive and shoot some footage to take home. In fact, any good camera store should let you do that. See what you like best, and go with that.

 

[killmaster]

thanks Joe! very helpful!

 

[killmaster]

I'd be curious besides the Panasonic AG-HPX300, which of the others is a possibility? That one is pushing my financial limits. Especially having to get a couple p2 cards...

 

[Bucknfl]

Look at the HMC 150.

 

[Cranky]

I'm looking for a professional camera which will allow me to shoot videos that may be screened at some point. So the following features are important to me:

0) must be solid state
0.5) 24p or whatever is required to help it have that film look
1) low light ability
2) full raster 1080p
3) great color depth or good enough that I can make it look good in editing (FCP)
4) XLR inputs
5) not having to pay $500 for storage card (P2) would be nice
6) overcranking ("slow motion") would be very nice

The HMC150, or the NX5 if (2) is a must. The NX5 is not technically a full-raster, but has higher resolution than the HMC150.

1) difference codecs AVCCAM, DVCPRO HD, XDCAM etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD -- AVC-based
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DV#DVCPRO_HD -- DV-based
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XDCAM -- MPEG-2 based

2) what does the 60p mean, like in 1080/60p or 720/30i etc...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_video#Technical_details

how do you know wether a camera will shoot slow motion.

If you play a video with lower image rate than it has been shown you get slow motion.

I heard that Canon is going to come out with their own HD standard. Is it worth waiting for?

Yes, no, maybe. It is not exactly a new standard. Google is your friend.

and what is this business of 4:2:2 and 4:2:0? Does this indicate how well the camera captures color or color depth? What do these number mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_subsampling

 

[killmaster]

wow, thanks alot for all the responses. It really helps a lot.

checking into hmc150. maybe thinking full raster isn't really all that important. and reading info links at wikipedia!

I do understand that if you play video and a slower rate it will be slow motion but my question was really, when I go to buy a camera, what do I look for to know wether I can use it to do slo motion. I come from film land and there we would just shoot faster and play back at 24 fps. Not sure how that works with video.

where's a good place to get a good deal? right now I'm checking bhphotovideo and amazon...

thanks again Joe, Andrew, Bucknfl and Cranky!

 

[killmaster]

great info Cranky. very much appreciated!!!

 

[killmaster]

does 4:2:2 color space really make that much of a difference? Can only experienced video people tell or is it something that will be a noticeable degradation once projected?

 

[David Saraceno]

does 4:2:2 color space really make that much of a difference? Can only experienced video people tell or is it something that will be a noticeable degradation once projected?

Take a read at this article:

http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/colorspace/

That might influence you

 

[killmaster]

yeh, definitely important information and very clarifying! thanks very much!

 

[killmaster]

just added 4:2:2 to my lists of must have. Think I'll wait til NAB and see what Panasonic and Canon have to offer... can't wait. thanks again for everyone's help.