Working with the Canon HF200

C

Chris J. Zayachkowski

New member
Hello,

I am think of getting this AVCHD camcorder for doing a short film or perhaps feature. My previous work was a feature shot on the DVX100. Has anyone worked with the consumer AVCHD models? From what I see the image quality is what I'd consider better than the DVX100. Going HD with true 16:9 is always a great advantage too!

Any ideas, thoughts, advice?

Chris
 
Chris J. Zayachkowski said:
Hello,

I am think of getting this AVCHD camcorder for doing a short film or perhaps feature. My previous work was a feature shot on the DVX100. Has anyone worked with the consumer AVCHD models? From what I see the image quality is what I'd consider better than the DVX100. Going HD with true 16:9 is always a great advantage too!

Any ideas, thoughts, advice?

Chris
Click to expand...

I've got an HF200. You can see it at 12mbps/30p with no color correction via my webseries:

http://www.youtube.com/user/thegreatindependent

I've only ever seen its 24mbps video via the camera being plugged into my television, unfortunately. You have to have a Quad Core system in order to capture/edit the footage at 24mbps.

With a crappier set up (like mine), you're stuck at 17mbps -- but I drop it to 12 because I find it to be a bit choppy (not on in-camera playback, mind you. Just because my computer blows) at 17.

I may be alone in this, but I'm still not completely sure about the 24p setting. The cam shoots at 60i and then (insert technical term here) changes the footage to 24p or 30p. For some reason the 30p footage looks really "BBC" (sweet) to me, whereas the 24p footage can have some issues when the camera is moving (or something is moving in camera). Bits of artifacting, etc.

If you're planning on shooting 30p, I think it looks absolutely beautiful at 24mbps. The blacks are silent. Color's great. And I think because the HFS100s are so kick-ass, the HF200s can sometimes go for a steal. You can probably grab one for 500 bucks -- and it's about 98% what an HFS100 is, just minus a couple features.
 
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/awilt/story/review_canon_vixia_hf11_avchd_camcorder/P0/

Adam Wilt reviewed the HF11, the older model but a better one than the HF20/HF200 if you ask me. The HF20/200 have better resolution in bright light, but are awful in low light. Everything else (features, buttons, shooting modes) is pretty much the same between the generations, so this article is a good reference point.

Vegas Pro allows chroma blurring, by direction (vertical and/or horizontal) and by channel. Vertical blurring in red channel by 1 pixel fixes chroma to acceptable level - IMHO - without too much overall blurring.
 
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