Rodrigo Pio

In addition to the cameras you've already considered for your project, you may wish to investigate Panasonic's new Lumix DMC-GH1 Micro Four Thirds interchangable lens digital still & HD video camera. The GH1 has just begun shipping in Japan, and it's supposed to be available elsewhere by June. It's early days yet, but the GH1's features are intriguing for certain applications.

 

I've started a GH1 thread here on Cinematography.com:

http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=37701

Hey Peter

Tnx for the info on AVCHD. And I'll definitely check on the GH1, I'm particularly interested in 35mm SLRs with movie capabilities.

As far as I know the Sony should have satisfactory image quality, Canon's AVCHD cameras are probably a lot better in the way of manual functions (that was never Sony's strong point). If you're planning to use these cameras professionally AVCHD isn't such a good choice. They still aren't in the league that the HDV camcorders are in, AVCHD isn't a professional HD codec, and I believe editing programs that will take AVCHD are hard to come by, it'll certainly require a very powerul computer. The Canon HV30 or Sony HDR-HC9 are HDV camcorders in the same price range, and they'll both produce picture that'll leave the SR11/12 in the dust. I'm sorry if that comes as inconvinient news, but I'm afraid no DVD, Solid State, or Hard Drive camcorder can currently match good ol' tapes. But if you really must have AVCHD than stick with what you think is the better camera overall.

 

Take care! :)

Hey Matthew

Funny, but I just asked you something related to that in other topic :P

Anyways... I was considering purchasing the HDC-HS300 for a more professional use with a DOF adapter (Letus35 mini), a steady, a shoulder mount and a few more things. Do you think AVCHD is still a bad choice for editing? I've heard of some of the popular NLEs (such as Premiere and FCP) supporting it through addins or updates. I've got a quad-core with 4gb RAM, do you think it's enough for editing AVCHD?

I think the Panasonic exports the progressive as interlaced and it's sewn back togther on the computer. Someone else could give you a better answer than me.

 

Personally I'd go for the camera with HD, but not the SD9. AVCHD has yet to catch up to the quality of HDV. Why not wait a while ans see what the manufacturers offer in the consumer HD sector for 2009.

Hey Matthew

I was drawn into the same question, and after checking the consumer camcorders I've found the HDC-HS300 very interesting for a low-budget equipment, along with steady, DOF adapter and a shoulder mount. What do you think? Or should I spend a few more bucks in, let's say, a FX7 without the DOF adapter?