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Now I know the question in a sense sums up what I want to know but I might as well add to it... right? Anyway, I need to get around four HD camcorders that will be used to film a total 98 hours of footage and then edited together for the final video> I would prefer the footage not to be compressed by the camcorder as to preserve quality and such. I have built a computer for mass amounts of editing(I won't list the full specs but I'll say it's powered by a Intel Core i7 920) with 4tb of storage(2x 2tb HDDs) so the uncompressed size of the source footage of the camcorders shouldn't be a worry.
If you need any more information or anything like that please just say, and I will be more then happy to add more.
Answer
1. you should have mentioned your budget
2. i have used all these HD camcorders in my lifetime and they shoot very professional footage
a. Sony Professional HVR-A1U CMOS High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ENON1A?tag=dcmb-20
Review: This camcorder is from the Sony Professional division with pro level warranty support. Sound is 70% of the experience and this camcorder delivers pro level XLR connectors with 48V power. For best sound results manually set the volume as high as possble keeping the peaks below 0db. The CMOS sensor produces amazing HD quality. A head shot of a person wearing a ball cap facing into strong direct sun with a deep shadow across their face does not blow out the highlights and shows full details in the shadow. I'm using Sony Vegas 7 to edit the results and I'm very happy with both the camcorder and Vegas.
This is bigger than the small consumer camcords but is about the same size as my old Sony Digital 8 camcorder and it's smaller than any other pro camcorder. Pro shooters are always amazed and comment on how small it is. Nothing produces this level of pro results without spending a lot more money.
While as good or better than the current crop of small HD consumer camcorders for shooing in low light there are better pro models such as the Sony Z1 and V1 for low light. The manual settings are via the touch screen and a not included PDA stylus is a must have to keep finger prints of the screen. 24fps can be done but you need Cineform Connect HD to do the pulldown from the Sony CF24 as the native CF24 is choppy until you use Cineform. If 24fps is a must the Sony V1 is a better choice.
b. Canon VIXIA HF S100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OI2YZQ?tag=dcmb-20
review:
The Vixia hf s100 is an excellent camera. I just got it and I spent the weekend testing it. I didn't find any precise review for the postproduction workflow on Mac so I wrote my own for shooting in 24p mode. You will need fcpro 6.0.5 or fcexpress4. Connect the camera, select log and transfer with apple prores codec. The files will go into the scratch disk under the project name (mine is vixia test). All the files will be 29.97 fps interlaced (as a result of the way the camera deals with 24p in 60i).
Download a software called Jes DEINTERLACER, it's a freeware. drag and drop the files from the scratch disk and then select inverse telecine at 23.98 with direct export to apple intermediate codec. it' really fast. You'find the telecined files inside the same folder with the same name followed by the word PROJ (added by Jes). now put all the PROJ files in a folder you want, create a new project with timeline settings 23.98 fps, apple intermediate codec, import the folder with the footage (the one with the files ending in PROJ) and that's it. Start editing. You can easily go to pal or ntsc (my Vixia is NTSC) if you shoot 24p. I suggest to keep the color mode on when shooting in 24p. I haven't tested 30p or 60i as I don't need it. Hope this helps. The camera is an excellent one, nice in low light, nice audio quality from additional mic (depends on your mic quality, keep the levels automatic, much better than manual). I am super happy with the camera overall (as always when there is too much light it won't look good, I suggest an ND filter). Remember that if you want to go full quality HD you will need at least a class4 sdhc card (no need for the expensive class6). Also from my tests VOLTAICHD doesn't work very well to do the telecine. It is very slow (like 10 times slower than the process I just described) and the footage looks not good at all. So save the 40 bucks they want for it and use the free JES (what a nice piece of software....). The only annoing thing is that following my process you will phisically need the camera to be connected to your mac and you won't be able just to drag and drop the footage from the memory card (to do so you will need VOLTAIC to batch process the mts files created by the camera). Well, I'd rater get another memory card for the same price of the software and import the footage after the shooting. Good job Canon! ciao
c. Canon VIXIA HF200 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 15x Optical Zoom
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OI2Z2I?tag=dcmb-20
d. Sony HDR-CX100 AVCHD HD Camcorder with Smile Shutter & 10x Optical Zoom (Black)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001PY41YQ?tag=dcmb-20
1. you should have mentioned your budget
2. i have used all these HD camcorders in my lifetime and they shoot very professional footage
a. Sony Professional HVR-A1U CMOS High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ENON1A?tag=dcmb-20
Review: This camcorder is from the Sony Professional division with pro level warranty support. Sound is 70% of the experience and this camcorder delivers pro level XLR connectors with 48V power. For best sound results manually set the volume as high as possble keeping the peaks below 0db. The CMOS sensor produces amazing HD quality. A head shot of a person wearing a ball cap facing into strong direct sun with a deep shadow across their face does not blow out the highlights and shows full details in the shadow. I'm using Sony Vegas 7 to edit the results and I'm very happy with both the camcorder and Vegas.
This is bigger than the small consumer camcords but is about the same size as my old Sony Digital 8 camcorder and it's smaller than any other pro camcorder. Pro shooters are always amazed and comment on how small it is. Nothing produces this level of pro results without spending a lot more money.
While as good or better than the current crop of small HD consumer camcorders for shooing in low light there are better pro models such as the Sony Z1 and V1 for low light. The manual settings are via the touch screen and a not included PDA stylus is a must have to keep finger prints of the screen. 24fps can be done but you need Cineform Connect HD to do the pulldown from the Sony CF24 as the native CF24 is choppy until you use Cineform. If 24fps is a must the Sony V1 is a better choice.
b. Canon VIXIA HF S100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OI2YZQ?tag=dcmb-20
review:
The Vixia hf s100 is an excellent camera. I just got it and I spent the weekend testing it. I didn't find any precise review for the postproduction workflow on Mac so I wrote my own for shooting in 24p mode. You will need fcpro 6.0.5 or fcexpress4. Connect the camera, select log and transfer with apple prores codec. The files will go into the scratch disk under the project name (mine is vixia test). All the files will be 29.97 fps interlaced (as a result of the way the camera deals with 24p in 60i).
Download a software called Jes DEINTERLACER, it's a freeware. drag and drop the files from the scratch disk and then select inverse telecine at 23.98 with direct export to apple intermediate codec. it' really fast. You'find the telecined files inside the same folder with the same name followed by the word PROJ (added by Jes). now put all the PROJ files in a folder you want, create a new project with timeline settings 23.98 fps, apple intermediate codec, import the folder with the footage (the one with the files ending in PROJ) and that's it. Start editing. You can easily go to pal or ntsc (my Vixia is NTSC) if you shoot 24p. I suggest to keep the color mode on when shooting in 24p. I haven't tested 30p or 60i as I don't need it. Hope this helps. The camera is an excellent one, nice in low light, nice audio quality from additional mic (depends on your mic quality, keep the levels automatic, much better than manual). I am super happy with the camera overall (as always when there is too much light it won't look good, I suggest an ND filter). Remember that if you want to go full quality HD you will need at least a class4 sdhc card (no need for the expensive class6). Also from my tests VOLTAICHD doesn't work very well to do the telecine. It is very slow (like 10 times slower than the process I just described) and the footage looks not good at all. So save the 40 bucks they want for it and use the free JES (what a nice piece of software....). The only annoing thing is that following my process you will phisically need the camera to be connected to your mac and you won't be able just to drag and drop the footage from the memory card (to do so you will need VOLTAIC to batch process the mts files created by the camera). Well, I'd rater get another memory card for the same price of the software and import the footage after the shooting. Good job Canon! ciao
c. Canon VIXIA HF200 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 15x Optical Zoom
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OI2Z2I?tag=dcmb-20
d. Sony HDR-CX100 AVCHD HD Camcorder with Smile Shutter & 10x Optical Zoom (Black)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001PY41YQ?tag=dcmb-20
camcorder?
Q. wats the least amount of money i should pay to buy a good camcorder?.....it doesnt have to be like super hi-tech or anything, but i want the video and image quality to be good. also, wats a good brand of video camera to buy?
Answer
Personally I like Canon, Sony camcorder. You can try Canon DC210, it is 35X Zoom. I find a review for it,
http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/11928/canon_dc210_camcorder/
A pretty price I can find for it is only $279.
http://dealstudio.com/searchdeals.php?deal_id=69291
Personally I like Canon, Sony camcorder. You can try Canon DC210, it is 35X Zoom. I find a review for it,
http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/11928/canon_dc210_camcorder/
A pretty price I can find for it is only $279.
http://dealstudio.com/searchdeals.php?deal_id=69291
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