Does anyone have any thoughts about what HD camera works best with Avid? (Range of $5,000.) I know Avid recommends the Panasonic AG-HVX200A P2HD Camcorder because of its P2 card. But I've heard from others that flash card drives are better than P2.

Any thoughts from anyone? Thanks.

Lou

I've been quite happy with the Sony EX-1.  Great image at a good price.  I've shot dozens of programs on it now and so far, so good.

crooner:

Does anyone have any thoughts about what HD camera works best with Avid? (Range of $5,000.) I know Avid recommends the Panasonic AG-HVX200A P2HD Camcorder because of its P2 card. But I've heard from others that flash card drives are better than P2.

Any thoughts from anyone? Thanks.

Lou

Who says Avid recommends the Panasonic AG-HVX200A P2HD Camcorder over any other camera? I have never heard of Avid recommending specific cameras. They support many camera formats on their software. Avid supports Sony SXS cards and Panasonic P2 cards. The only HD format that is a problem with Avid at the moment is AVCHD.

The problem with a budget of $5000 is that you have to budget for the card media as well as the camera. That can vary a great deal depending on your needs and the format.

Recommend may not be the best term: I think in one of Avid's pages it talks about how seemless Avid works with the Panasonic P2. So, I guess I need to know which is better the flash card or the P2? In terms of price and workflow? Thanks for replying.

http://www.avid.com/xdcam/index.asp

crooner:

Recommend may not be the best term: I think in one of Avid's pages it talks about how seemless Avid works with the Panasonic P2. So, I guess I need to know which is better the flash card or the P2? In terms of price and workflow? Thanks for replying.

Personally I would never buy a camera that way - work out the best camera you can get for the bucks and make sure Avid works with it. I think in your price range the EX1/3 would b e an excellent choice. Half inch chips give you that little extra depth of field to work with and the low light performance s superb  The HVX is an exellent camera but it uses image interpolation to get to full raster and is ony a 1/3" chip camera and P2 media was more expensive than SXS. The HVX200/A is also pretty old now. It realy isn't serious competition for the EX1.

If you want a proper ENG style camera and you can stretch the budget a little the JVC700 shoots in standard XDCAM and uses cheaper cards to record to and uses  a quite nice 14x Canon lens. It's 1/3 inch so I doubt low light performance is comparable to the EX1/EX3

Canon has a bunch of nice offerings as well.

As I said this is something you hve o research and choose the best camera for your shooting purposes, not Avid. The only camera I can tell you definitely has problems with Avid is the JVC 100/200/250 series HDV cameras which have problems with audio sync when digitising HDV off tape. They work well in SD and you can work around it, but you don't need the hassle.

I love the EX1 and here is too expensive at least for me.

Up to 7000 Euros. But it is great and it is qualified as true full HD camera from many broadcasters.

Mondo:

Personally I would never buy a camera that way - work out the best camera you can get for the bucks and make sure Avid works with it. I think in your price range the EX1/3 would b e an excellent choice. Half inch chips give you that little extra depth of field to work with and the low light performance s superb  The HVX is an exellent camera but it uses image interpolation to get to full raster and is ony a 1/3" chip camera and P2 media was more expensive than SXS. The HVX200/A is also pretty old now. It realy isn't serious competition for the EX1.

I agree that the HVX200 is an old technology, but the HVX200a is newer than the EX1. But I agree that the only upgrade is the sensor bloc (that is much better than the 200).

But there is also the HPX170 that share the same sensor block (with the HVX200a and HMC150) and get many new features. And it doesn't have rolling shutter issues.

A real competitor to the EX1/3 is the new HPX300. Full body 1/3" 3MOS sensors with interchangeable lenses, DVCProHD and AVC-Intra, etc.

MC will work well with DVCProHD, AVC-Intra and XDCAM EX.

So, look at all the reviews, etc. Try some. Then, choose the one that better suits your needs. It all depends on you need and budget.

If you're considering HDV then check out sony Z5 and Z7. I use the Z7 and love it. Both cameras record DV, DVCAM, & HDV on either/or tape and CF card. It's really a versatile setup - and you get a combination of auto and manual controls and interchangeable lenses...           sasha

I was considering both the Sony EX1 and the Sony Z7u.  I chose the Z7u because I could record to Compact Flash (m2t files can be dragged and dropped into bin for incredibly fast import times) and it gave me tape as an inexpensive archive system.  However, the EX-1 does offer SDI, larger sensors, better picture, and much better overcrank/undercrank capabilities.  It came down to archiving options as well as price and future costs (tape and CF cards vs. SxS cards)

I really like the Z7 and would recommend it, but if you have the extra cash I don't think you'll be disappointed with the EX-1.  (It records in the XDCAM format which can also be brought into Avid faster than realtime).

Dissapointed with EX1???

EX1 is a lot lot better than the HDV.

If someone has the money for the Z7 has the money for EX1.

sverkalo:

Dissapointed with EX1???

EX1 is a lot lot better than the HDV.

If someone has the money for the Z7 has the money for EX1.

sverkalo,

Sorry if you misread my statements:

"I don't think you'll be disappointed with the EX-1."

" the EX-1 does offer SDI, larger sensors, better picture, and much better overcrank/undercrank capabilities."

To address your statement on money: In the research I did, I found that the EX1 is $1,000.00 USD more than the Z7u, and SxS recording media is 8-times to 50-times more expensive than HDV media.

SxS Media (SBP-16) 16GB SxS Pro Memory Card - 1 hr record time = 530.00 USD

HDV Compact Flash Card 16GB Extreme III from Sandisk - 1.25 hr record time = 80.00 USD

(DVM-63HD) Mini DV/HDV tape - 1 hr record time = 10.00 USD

To recap, from a quality standpoint the EX1 is better than the Z7. 

I chose the Z7 because of the lower cost and the ability to archive to inexpensive/proven/effient tape.

Also, HDV is a format that several of my clients use and it allows me to share footage and work cooperativley with them.  It comes down to peace of mind and ease of use.  If I was working on my own projects, had a bigger budget, and felt comfortable with a harddrive or optical disc archiving system, I would have gone for the EX1.  There is no doubt that the quality is better in the EX1.

The EX1/3 can also use cheaper SDHC media using an ExpressCard34 adapter. See this link for details:

http://e-films.com.au/shoppingcart/pages/Frequently-Asked-Questions.html

There are other solutions as well - that's just teh first one I found on Google and it happened to be an Aussie :)

Mondo:

The EX1/3 can also use cheaper SDHC media using an ExpressCard34 adapter.

The same cards without the adaptor fit into cheap $40 card reader to USB adapters which is another saving when compared to the genuine Sony cardreader at $400.

Only possible draw back is filming offspeed is not really supported and card spanning may not be fully reliable. (I dont use either of those options regularly and have a couple of Sony SxS cards if the needed arises)