Compact HD Video Camera (recommendations?)

have not tried any that small hd cameras with drive, but you might want to check this site here for some info.

good luck;)

Thanks Marius, the site is useful. Looks like Canon got a mention in another post on a similar subject “Video documentary on photographic work ” Does anyone out there have any experience with these type of compact HD cams? Would love to hear from you.

HD cams are all very well, but where are you gonna archive the footage? Tapes are an automatic archive medium, consume no power and are light and portable (and copyable).

Get the Canon HV20 and a Beachtek XLR adaptor. Lots of newspaper videographers are using it. Its not all singing all dancing, but its a nice little HDV package.

HD cams are too flakey, the compression codec isn’t much good and its a bit of a pain in the arse to edit the codec on most NLE’s.

The only trick you need to learn is to shoot for the edit so you don’t burn through tons of tape. That way, you don’t spend an age capturing the tapes to your computer.

G’Day James, I have shot a few series of docos with both Canon and Sony HDcams. Not the small one though. I’m using a Sony Z1 at the moment. The one thing I have really noticed between the different makes is the interface. I have found the Sony cameras menus and interface to be alot more intuative than Canon’s. I guess my point is get your hand on them and have a good go at messing with them. You want something that you can use as easely as your stills stuff without getting lost in a menu nightmare. This will depend on what you are used to.
Cheers Matt

Hey there “Deadpan” Matt good to hear from you! Sorry only just picked up your post (been a busy week)! Cheers for the info. I hear the Canons are poor in low lighting. Do you have any experience with this?

G’Day Mate, the last Canon camera I used was a the Canon XL2. I shot four half hour programes. I found the auto focus would search unnessassarily ans often result in soft images. This mostly happened in low light. Since then I have been using Sony cameras. The interface and picture quality just seems a lot better.
Cheers Matt

james,
for the budget you have i would suggest the Sony HDR-HC7E, it’s a bit more expensive than the Canon HV20 but works great, easy to use, very intuitive touch screen and there are also external mic and headphones input.

Only thing i don’t like is that as Sony produce cards and other accessories and oblige you to use their own products (memory stick or external light..etc.).

It’s a little nice camera that’s pretty cool for its budget.

Best,

Stefano

Cheers guys! I’ll have some time to start looking into this again next week… Sony definitely seems to be creeping up the rankings!

This is a review of the Canon HV20 vs the Sony HC7. (you’d be looking for the HC7U by the way, which is the US compatible NTSC camera).

http://tinyurl.com/yvxjgx

The Canon just edges out the Sony, (and this isnt the only review which has concluded this) though admittedly the Sony is better built, which is something you might want to consider.

The Canon gives you 24p shooting and because a new version has come out (thats black, not silver), chances are the Canon should now be offered up for less money, even though its the same package.

Get yourself a Beachtek XLR adaptor and a decent mike and you can shoot stuff which will pass muster for broadcast TV, and in 24p mode, can be used to make the footage look like ‘film-like’.

In my very personal experience (and not opinion because i tested them personally ) i chose Sony to Canon for this reasons :

1) better built and solid (and much less plastic than Canon)
2) easiness of use when you shoot manual and better placed imputs for both headphone and mic (check this out while you’re working and you’ll find out what i mean..)
3) touch screen, is useful more than i expected and even if i didn’t like the idea at the beginning i reconsidered this option after having used it (of course if you plan to eat lots of fish & chips during your shootings you may want to reconsider this option ;-)
4) if fyou cannot use ext. mic or some reasons, the one integrated in the Sony works better than the Canon one

Anyway they are pretty similar as functionality except for the 24p shooting option on the Canon, but need to see if you really need it, i find it great to have but at the moment i bought the camera i didn’t need that !
Hope it helps more.

Best,

Stefano :)