Moving to pro/sumer cams

[Unframed Obituary]

So after seeing that xl1 a while back my want for a pro cam has come back.
I will soon be in the market to move up the ranks. However my dilemma lies in what cam? I love canon, the hv20 has been my best cam to date and I will never buy another Sony. When I get my next cam I want decent low-light performance and as much physical control as possible. Obviously a focus ring is necessary, but I also want a iris ring or physical control of sorts and a zoom ring or decent size zoom switch (whats it actually called?) . I also want to move from tape so SD or SSD. Now here's the fun part, I want to keep the budget around 2k AUD excluding postage. I wont be getting the cam for a month or so so if you of a cam soon to be released thats fits the bill I'm keen to hear.

Oh and if possible a PAL option would be nice.

Thank you all in advance.

[drapeama]

Question: what do you want to do/shoot with a prosumer cam (read: shorts, documentaries...)?

[Unframed Obituary]

I shoot body modifications and stunts. The stunts are shot at night on occasion much of which has poor lighting. As for the body modifications are in an easy to shoot environment, well illuminated slow moving subjects. I would also like to do a short Noir film in the future.

Oh and if you're thinking DSLR, I'd prefer not. I prefer the size and weight of pretty big cams and some of the physical controls I'd like are usually accessed via menus which I really don't want.

[mark84j]

Yes... I've recently shunned DSLRs. While I appreciate the sharpness and detail, it doesn't look like film.

[Unframed Obituary]

I've tempted myself to the DSLR front but I'm not forking out ~$1200 for something that doesn't do exactly what I want.

[Unframed Obituary]

Anyone know much about the Panasonic AG-AC7?

http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/broch_pdf/ag-ac7.pdf

[Mark G]

Well, there's the Canon XA10 which has great low light, wider lens, much sharper in detail, zoom ring and iris adj. But honestly, if you want some more pro features, you might consider a JVC HM150 which is a new cam, small in size but can shoot great video. There's the XF100 which will have the ND filters and more pro features, but it's outside your stated budget. Lot of people saying great things about the Panasonic AC130. Again somewhat outside your budget, but has all the great features. Personally, I find the XA10 lacking in some of the pro features compared to the larger prosumer cams. A lot of automatic settngs. You can tweak most everything, but you find yourself entering into the menu a lot. Still, if it fits your use and budget, it's a great cam. I use one.

[cgbier]

He got himself an XL already IIRC.

[fol1977]

So after seeing that xl1 a while back my want for a pro cam has come back.
I will soon be in the market to move up the ranks. However my dilemma lies in what cam? I love canon, the hv20 has been my best cam to date and I will never buy another Sony. When I get my next cam I want decent low-light performance and as much physical control as possible. Obviously a focus ring is necessary, but I also want a iris ring or physical control of sorts and a zoom ring or decent size zoom switch (whats it actually called?) . I also want to move from tape so SD or SSD. Now here's the fun part, I want to keep the budget around 2k AUD excluding postage. I wont be getting the cam for a month or so so if you of a cam soon to be released thats fits the bill I'm keen to hear.

Oh and if possible a PAL option would be nice.

Hi, I have the same intention, I've been using a HV30 for 3 years and I m thinking about a new prosumer camera.

I live in Italy and use the HV30 for little video like interviews and videoart like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gylMvGKvm_0

here's my question: I want a camera that in case i could use with a very low light shooting, in the video above you can see that, the lighting comes from the painting (it's based on a photoluminescent pigment) and the hv30 with darkness is not the best option.... so i would improve that.

So.... with quite the same range of budget i am looking at canon XA10 or JVC GY-HM150. The first one has the infrared shooting (but i am not sure i need that) and a quite big community of happy users, the second one seems a little more "pro" and a native .mov file recording for FCP.

any suggestion?

thanks

[cgbier]

Infrared is greyscale. You don't have any color information. If you opt for the JVC, then why go with the XF100 instead. They are on about the same price level. You still need the Log and Transfer thingie in FCP, but it has a solid codec.
There are two things holding me off the XA10: AVCHD and touch screen (got burnt by Sony here).

[fol1977]

Well, there's the Canon XA10 which has great low light, wider lens, much sharper in detail, zoom ring and iris adj. But honestly, if you want some more pro features, you might consider a JVC HM150 which is a new cam, small in size but can shoot great video..

I found this site http://camcorder-test.slashcam.com/compare.html to compare different cameras; if you try canon xa10 vs jVC HM150 you will see the canon seems to be the best one...

[cgbier]

Best one in what?

[Dr. Benway]

Best one in what?

Solid, Internet opinion that you can trust.

[peterarcson]

Yes... I've recently shunned DSLRs. While I appreciate the sharpness and detail, it doesn't look like film.
If you want to make it look like film, shoot film. In the 50's all the news was shot on 8 and 16 mm, somehow I don't hear people complaining about non film look of the news. When I see good film, with good story I don't dwell if it looks like film or not. The problem with most of the film makers trying for the "film look" is that they lack in every aspect of film making: story, acting, lighting except for the equipment. One of my most favorite documentaries, "the Bridge" was shot on XL1.