HD video cameras

[Codylee1985]

I'm looking to get a new video camera, but not sure which camera to get. I def want an HD camera but don't like that I can't find one with that great of an optical zoom. I am looking for a camera in the $1000.00 range and am so far leaning towards a canon vixia hf s21 or a Panasonic hdc-hs700, and would just get an additional telephoto lens...Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[chase]

I have the hf-s21 and it works great! I agree that the zoom isn't the best but you can buy the telephoto lens. These videos were shot with the vixia, check it out.

 

[Yoyak]

I have a similar canon vixia camera but not that exact model. Films at a similar quality though. The youtube videos chase posted only play at 360p which don't really do these cameras justice. Here is a video I uploaded in 1080p.

Also I have a Century optics 2x lens that is pretty decent. $250-$300 though. The quality doesn't suffer too much with using the doubler lens. The two velvet bucks at the 2 minute mark were filmed using the doubler. I think my lense was dirty because the 3 o'clock position was a little blurry on both shots that day. First one at 115 yards the second at 150ish. Even with the doubler lens your are limited on zoom power. The camera's 10x zoom is simply unaccpetable. I believe Canon makes one model that has 15x optical zoom. Good luck and let us know what you end up getting.

 

[Codylee1985]

Thanks for the info guys! Both videos were great and I'll let you know what I end up with. I will def be getting a telephoto lens!

 

[Yoyak]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-01-11 AT 03:37PM (MST)[p]This is the lens I have.
http://www.calumetphoto.com/eng/pro...r_35mm/co7020?t=GB01&a=CA01&CAWELAID=49646605

I got it through:

Kelvin Pickett
Performance Audio
2456 South West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
USA

Phone: 800.771.8330

He's and expert on this stuff, call him if you have questions.

 

[buglinbilly]

Look up C3 who posts on the site. He knows a ton about good video and I am sure he could recommend a great camera to you. I was just talking to him yesterday and he was telling me about a camera Pansonic just came out with that is a Micor 4/3 abd he says quality of video just blows away the oompetion and he says it has mega zoom on it. I dont remember the figure but it was might high.

If you pm me I will give you his email address.

Good luck. BB

 

[c3]

All this video stuff is a tough call. It greatly depends on what you want to do with it and which features you're most willing to compromise on.

If you want to film through a spotting scope it will rule out the dslr's right off the bat. The best cam for that would be the Canon M30/M31. Smaller sensor, great image stabilization and pretty good HD image quality.

My TM700 is about as big as you can get and still film through a scope, but you have to be at least a half mile away to get it to work.

The #####.com Point and Shoot Scope)cam adaptor is an incredible tool for digiscoping 720HD video and stills through a scope.

For the ultimate in image quality a Panasonic DMC-GH2 that just came out seems to be the ticket. It will cost $1500 though with a 14 - 140mm zoom lens and can't be used for digiscoping. Bulky and you can't just shove it in your pocket.

The ultimate in image stabilization is the Sony CX550 or their new CX700.

The ultimate for doing slowmotion is the Panasonic TM700 or new TM900 as they do 1080/60p video that can be slowed down half or to 0.4 speed and output for youtube or BluRay perfectly frame for frame.

The ultimate color and sharpness is the TM700 per last years reviews. I would tend to agree having tested a bunch of cams this year. I'm not counting DSLR's here as they're out of your budget range listed above. A Canon 5dmkII is incredible with a super huge piece of glass, but it will cost you almost $10k to get the range of lens you have on the new camcorders. There is virtually no image stabilization in spite of what they claim with most of the DSLR's.

Here's my set up and what it takes to really take advantage of full HD video.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 = $850
16gig Class 6 SDHC card = $100
Extra battery = $150
Century Optics 2x converter = $450
#####.com Scope)cam Adaptor = $180
Slik CF613 Ultra light carbon tripod = $225
Manfrotto 128 micro fluid head = $75
i7-920 pc w/ 9 gigs of ram and 2T drives = $1250
Sony Vegas Movie Studio 10.0 Platinum Pack = $125
Vizio 32" HDTV that actually plays 1080/60p video = $600

If you really want to go down the HD route, just remember there's point creep involved

In the end of the day I've found it to be as rewarding as anything I've done in a long time.

Here's few of my clips from this year with the TM700. You'll be able to see all the digiscope footage as it has the black corners or what they call vignetting. It's also no where near as sharp as the straight footage.

http://www.vimeo.com/11787542 Digiscope sample

Remember there's always a better setup and you'll get pretty close to great stuff with a $350 Canon M31 or a Panasonic TM60 if you use it well. You can go crazy and spend $12k on a Red and get junk.

Sorry for the long rant, but that is my take from a year of playing pretty seriously with the newest latest and greatest in consumer HD.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[Codylee1985]

Thanks for all the help! I decided to go with the Panasonic! I got the camera, 3 year accidental warranty (since I've trashed the last 2 cameras I've owned) and a package with assorted items such as a 3.5 telephoto lens, cleaning cloths, tripod, carrying case, xtra battery, cigarette lighter charger, etc... for 1033.00! I'M sure the acessory pkg isn't the highest of quality seeing that it was just a little over a hundred bucks...but figured it was a good start! Thanks again and I hope to be posting some video in the near future once the camera arrives! By the way all of your guy's footage was awesome! Def wanna hunt an ibex someday!

 

[gdog]

I was going to buy a TM700 for the 60P, but I work on MAC's which won't convert the 60P format, which the camera got high reviews on. Any issues with the fan noise? Have read a few reviews that talk about the fan noise being picked up. The new Canon HF G10 is getting great reviews for low light shooting.

 

[c3]

The fan noise of the TM700 is a non issue. I put the audio in an editing package and it shows to be about -48db which is almost imperceptable when your output is set to normal listening levels.

It's actually pretty easy to convert TM700 footage to a Mac MP4 transfer stream. You need a program called ffmpeg and a conversion tool available from a guy on the Apple forums that simply changes the transfer stream from MPEG2 to MP4 without transcoding the actual compressed video. Do a search on the Apple discussions from last spring to sort out all the pieces required. It really is pretty simple once you get it sorted.

There's also a couple of software tools you can buy to do it that only take a few minutes to convert a 16gig card full of video files. If you are going to edit in Final Cut or iMovie converting to ProRes or AVID DNxHD codec in MPEG_Streamclip (freeware) will be appropriate, but it increases the size of your files a ton and takes a huge amount of time.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[gdog]

Pete...good stuff!

I actually had come across both courses to adapt the 60p footage that you mention. Goal was/is to be able to easily edit in Final Cut/IMovie, without taking hrs to convert.

Are you actually working on MAC and have gone through the conversion? I might send you a few questions.

I think its between the TM900/700 and the new CanonHF G10. The Panasonic is suppose to have a little better picture, but the Canon is suppose to be extremely good in lower light conditions...decision...decision.

 

[c3]

I'm not on a Mac. I've been researching lately an intermediate codec to store chapters for a final project that can be transfered to FCP. That's where I found the AVID codecs to use with MPEG_Streamclip.

I'd also look at buying the TM750 3D cam and selling the 3D lens. You could potentially end up with that cam for $500 - $600 if you sell it on ebay.

Here's a link to a much more detailed discussion of these cams.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=161

Cheers,
Pete