Question for all you film students

Iget

Iget

Member
So I am planning on buying a camera that will last me until college (2014) and I have come to a dilemma. I have narrowed down my choices to two cameras, the Sony HDR-FX7 and the Panasonic AV-HMC150. These are both solid cameras from what Ive heard, and both have their ups and downs. But the question is, where is the film industry going? Is it going towards SD card memory? Or is it staying with tape recording.

Thoughts?
 
the fx7 is a solid camera. capturing from tapes sucks however.. also you're stuck with 60i, which isn't horrible, but it's nice to have the options the hmc offers. if you got the money, definitely bank for the hmc.
 
Thanks for the help guys, but would your opinion change at all if I told you that I am currently interested in filming skateboarding? k+ to both of you.
 
No my opinion wouldn't change, or maybe look into an hpx170/HVX200a just because the p2 codec is considered more professional, and it also has 4:2:2 color sampling, but youll most likely spend more money in a p2 camera, because p2 is sooo much more expensive than sdhc cards
 
true, but actually i would say both the HPX and HVX are getting kind of outdated. the HVX can't even shoot in full HD, which kinda sucks.
i would recommend either the hmc150 or just stepping up to a camera like the AG-AF100. that camera can shoot 1080p60:30p and records to SDHC cards instead of P2.
however, the af100 is way more than the OP is looking for. my point was that i'm just not sure if i'd drop the cash for an HPX or HVX at this point in time.
 
Also i think it's important to know his budget, because there are the xf300, but its like 7 grand haha, but yeah even if the af100 wasn't way more than the op is looking for he might not wan't it if he's filming action sports because of the cmos sensors instead of the hmc150/hvx200/hpx170's 3ccd sensor.
 
nah it's a great cam, trust me.
i've seen some of PBP's footage from this season that was shot on the AF100, and it looks sooooooooo good.
 
They're both p2?

And will, how is the hvx not "full" HD? it shoots 1080p24pa and 1080p30

Ive seen hvx200p and 200as both go for similar prices as hmc150s
 
OH sorry i didn't mean the og one isn't p2 i meant thats the price without p2 and p2 is up the butthole expensive, and im pretty sure at 1080p the hvx shoots at 1440x1080 and stretches it to 1920x1080, and at 720p, it stretches it from 960x720 to 1280x720 or something like that
 
I guess i'm just defensive because i own one ha

My hvx "non full hd" shot still look just as good as similar level cameras and better than any other cheap camera that claims "full hd". For the internet, you can upres dvx footy to 720p and it looks similar.
 
I'm aware about the dvx, i shoot with one haha, but yes it looks similar because it films at such a high bitrate like 100mb/s or something like that
 
the wonderful glory of p2, bummer a p2 version of the af1000 will be like 7-8 grand.
 
in all honestly i doubt theyll be making one because there wouldn't be a big enough market because all the people that really wanted an af100 will probably already have one, and i think whats happening to cmos vs. ccd right now is going to happen to avchd vs. p2 pretty soon, just because its soo expensive to make p2 and shit like that, thats just my prediction though. but with magic lantern hack on the t2i you get variable bit rates :) haha, hoping to order mine soon
 
i mean, there's probably still some rolling shutter problems, but i don't really know the degree.
i've never been bothered by rolling shutter though, i don't even notice it in action sports because theres so much to look at and everything is shaped oddly (instead of a straight building), so it's harder to notice any distortion.
the only place where i can see rolling shutter being an issue is in very professional applications, and even then most people without technical knowledge of cameras probably won't really notice. so in a way, it might not be bad in action sports anyway since they don't require the most professional cameras.
 
apparently it gives you variable bit rates, which is cool. but it's most well known for making it possible to disable the AGC on the T2i's mic and allows you to control audio levels. it also gives you a histogram and zebra patterns, and some other features
 
Whenever you have an unstable CMOS camera the rolling shutter is VERY apparent. Every time i see a shot of someone hand holding a dslr or gopro, the rolling shutter is terrible.
 
like i said, a lot of people who aren't familiar with the concept probably wouldn't even notice.
also, the handheld problem shouldn't even matter much for the AF100. it's pretty stable to hold by the handle, and all the footage i saw was shot with a tripod, so it looked fine
 
I honestly think the biggest add on things with it this is just my opinion is the variable bit rate, kelvin white balancing, and zebras of course ha
 
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