[Kevin Dunahee]

I told myself I would never request help on selecting a camcorder but here I am anyways.

I originally decided on one on my own but now a new deadline has appeared and I only have about half the funds that I intended to have. I need to purchase a camcorder ASAP with at least these requirements.

-High-Definition
-XLR Audio In
- Zoom and Focus rings would be nice
- 24P mode would be awesome but I could probably manage w/o if I had to
- 1080p instead of 1080i would be prefered as well
- works on Mac OSX

My budget is about $2,000 to $2,500


If anybody has a camera that they own and would like or recommened or maybe just has suggestions, I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks so much.

-KD

[sonicularulus]

in that budget range, good luck on finding a high definition camera...
heck, the only cameras in that range i could think of is the sony hdr-hc3 (actually its @ 1399)

if you want a camera with those feartures, you have to kick your budget up to $5000 and take a look at the pansonic hvx 200.

if you dont need 24p or 1080i, take a look at the new canon xh a1 or xh g1. im not sure if they carry the xlr feature.

my main suggestion is to kick up your budget because at that range, you have a really small chance of getting what you want.

[Kevin Dunahee]

I know there are at least a handful of HD's for two grand and under. That's not a problem. My problem is deciding.

It's funny you should suggest that A1. That was my original selection but my budget wont allow that. Another reason I couldnt purchase that camcorder is because it doesnt come out until the end of October and I need one by the 28th at the latest.

Thanks for your input though.

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by Kevin Dunahee

I know there are at least a handful of HD's for two grand and under. That's not a problem.

You might have a few choices in 720 for your price range, but you wont find anything in 1080 for $2500.

Like sonicularulus said, real HD is going to start at $5000.

[Kevin Dunahee]

So something like this Sony - High-Definition MiniDV Handycam Camcorder - HDR-HC3
would probably perform like garbage?

I figured. Sounds too good to be true.

[Kevin Dunahee]

Or even this would be crap?
HDR-HC1 HDV 1080i Handycam® CamcorderHDR-HC1
It's just another one of those that feels too good to be true. Dang, I hate that phrase.

[sonicularulus]

for the hc1
no xlr
no zoom ring
no 24p

[dlefebvre]

I love the HVX-200 from Panasonic, but I only have 1 problem wih it. About 12 minutes of 1080/24p fit on a 8Gb P2 card. If you want to keep your footage, what do you do? You buy 15,000$ worth of P2 cards? You buy an external HardDrive for every project you shoot? You buy/rent a DVCPRO-HD deck to make copies of your footage? You get a LTO tape back-up solution.

Even if HDV is MPEG-2 and is less nice than DVCPRO-HD, it cost 10$ for a good DV tape and you can keep 1 hour of HDV on it. So for now HDV is the most cost effective solution.

Beside the expensive Canon XL-H1 camera, the HDV camera out there are not great for that 24p film look everyone seems to want. Most of these camera use some sort of "ciné-motion-crapalike-look".

But the "available in December" Sony HVR-V1U is looking very promising.

3 Full 1920 x 1080 CMOS (no 1440 x 1080 CCD here)
Real 1080/24p (also 1080/30p and 1080/60i)
2 XLR inputs
"Smooth-slo" feature for real fluid slo-motion.

[Kevin Dunahee]

Really? How much will that thing run?

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by dlefebvre 

I love the HVX-200 from Panasonic, but I only have 1 problem wih it. About 12 minutes of 1080/24p fit on a 8Gb P2 card.

I'm planing on tethering the hvx-200 to a firestore 80gb, then possibly, if I run out of hard drive space on my storage server, I could burn the footage to a dual layer Blueray disk.

AG-Hvx200 $5299

firestore hard-drive $1800

Blueray burner $800

The whole shebang will still come under the price of a Canon XL-H1

[dlefebvre]

Originally Posted by Kevin Dunahee 

Really? How much will that thing run?

Something like $4,800

[Kevin Dunahee]

...Wow...

I...words...can't....speak...

[Kevin Dunahee]

As of right now, what would I be better off ordering.

The Canon XH-A1 which comes out in about a week I think.
Or the old reliable workhorse Canon XL-2 (cheaper) and sacrifice high def.

I am kind of worried about learning how to work with high def so soon. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks once again guys.

[Kevin Dunahee]

Can the XH-A1 record in standard definition as well? I assume so, but just checking. Thanks.

[dlefebvre]

Originally Posted by Kevin Dunahee 

Can the XH-A1 record in standard definition as well? I assume so, but just checking. Thanks.

It can record in regualr standard definition DV format as well as HDV.