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Firewire 800 Video Cameras
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TheGreatButcher
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Oct 27, 2004, 05:25 PM
 
Are there any DV cameras that have Firewire 800 that aren't selling in the 10s of thousands of dollars?

I've enjoyed working with my Sony Digital8 camcorder, but I am now at the level where I'd like a camera with higher resolution - looking to spend around 2.5G tops. Anyone know of any solutions?
     
brianb
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Oct 27, 2004, 05:41 PM
 
Firewire 800 isn't prevelant in Camcorders because it isn't needed at this point in time. All of the DV camcorders out there in your price range are recording DV25 codecs (DV, DVCam, DVCPro -- The last 2 being more for Professional cams). The IEEE1394 Spec has more bandwidth than is actually needed. As far as Resolution you will not see cameras with a real resolution jump till you start looking at HD Cameras that strat in the 60K range. For all other cameras they are based off a resolution of 720x480 in the case of DV. There is no changing around that Standard Deffinition Video is a set Resolution. Period end of discussion.

As far as better quaility camcorders there are 2 things to consider

1 Lenses - GLASS makes all the diffrence in the world. Cheap lenses look cheap. Good Glass is a major advantage.

2. Chips - 1 CCD vs. 3 CCD cameras. In this case 3 is better than 1. with 3 chips you have that many more sensors picking up on the diffrent parts of the light spectrum to produce your image. It also helps with extreme lighting conditions.



With that being said the best 2 cameras for you to take a look at are the Canon GL2 and the Panasonic DVX100a Both are great miniDV camcorders and both are right in your price range. As you probally guessed both are superb in the above categories. The Panasonic though has a little higher price tag at around 3500 compared to the GL2 at around 2400. THe Panasonic though does have more features and a Quote "High Def." unquote picture. talk to me off the list if you wanna here that one.

brian
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MaxPower2k3
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Oct 27, 2004, 07:02 PM
 
Originally posted by brianb:
As far as Resolution you will not see cameras with a real resolution jump till you start looking at HD Cameras that strat in the 60K range.

There's several prosumer HD cameras for under $5,000, including JVC's (the first one). I can't say what kind of quality they have, though.

"I start fires!"
     
brianb
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Oct 27, 2004, 07:29 PM
 
Take a look at the specs a 480p is hardly what I would call High Def. And 1 chip High Def like the JVC, is a joke. The DVX100a is also touted as a High Def cam by Panasonic but playing a game with frame rates and giving you 480p is not a big gain. Especially when playing back on Consumer monitors. To see the clarity and just how awsome High Def is you need to be spending big bucks for the camera right now (not to mention Glass)
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TheGreatButcher  (op)
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Oct 27, 2004, 08:01 PM
 
Well does anyone know of cameras that will take my Canon SLR lenses?
     
brianb
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Oct 27, 2004, 08:32 PM
 
the Canon XL2 will accept EOS SLr lenses with an optional adapter. and if you have something like a canon 600mm f4 I can't tell you how much I would love to test that out.
The price difference between the Canon Gl2 and XL2 is about $1500. the XL2 was just released by Canon a couple months ago and has some pretty nice 16x9 features. Plus loads of accessories.
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dlefebvre
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Oct 27, 2004, 08:32 PM
 
Originally posted by TheGreatButcher:
Well does anyone know of cameras that will take my Canon SLR lenses?
There is an adaptor to fit Canon SLR lenses on the Canon XL1 DV camera.

For DV camera the Panasonic DVX100A and the Canon XL2 both shoot in 24p for a more cinematic look. In a lower price range the Canon GL2 is a very good option, I own one and I'm very pleased with it.

As far as Prosumer HD Camera, I would stay away from the JVC camera. It doesn't work natively with FinalCut Pro. Sony is about to release a HDV camcorder. It looks very interesting. The HDV format is a new standard suported by many companies (including Sony, Canon, JVC and Sharp) as oposed to JVC original HD DV camera.
     
brianb
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Oct 27, 2004, 10:15 PM
 
Just a side note the Reason I was Talking about the Canon XL2 is the XL1 is no longer in production it was End of Lifed about 2 or 3 months ago
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TheGreatButcher  (op)
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Oct 28, 2004, 12:00 AM
 
$5000 is a lot compared to $2000 - is it really all that worth it?
     
brianb
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Oct 28, 2004, 12:19 AM
 
Is it worth it??? good question. The XL2 has a little better glass standard on it. The best part of the XL2 is the ability to change lenses. Otherwise the camera image quality is about the same. For me no I wouldn't buy one but then agian if I was in the $5000 market I would be looking at the JVC GY-DV5000 but that is almost 8 grand with a good lens on it. For my money I would look at getting the Panasonic DVX100a Great Camera that has very good optics (carl-Zeiss) produce a fantastic image. And has a lot of add on accessories to really help it. RETAIL for the DVX100 will be around 3500

If you are going more for just an expensive family video camera I would go with the Canon GL2 (my first choice in a camera that I would want to get to video tape the kids) if the money is there to Blow


Another Note: I work for a company in Minnesota that is a Major reseller of Canon JVC Panasonic Sony and Ikegami cameras. The first question that I will always ask someone is what is the intended use. Give me 5 different scenarios and I'll recommend 5 different cameras
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