Which camcorder best fits my needs?
I`m going to do sort of a world tour and I wanna record High quality images for a documentary and artistic music videos
Even though im considering to take 2 cameras (one bigger in size and one smaller for certain occasions) I dont want to buy anything really big. Its a trip, after all
Ive come accross these models
pro
Canon XH-A1S 3CCD HDV
Sony HDR-FX7 3-CMOS
smaller
Sony HDR-CX130 Handycam Camcorder
Panasonic HDC-SD80K HD SD Card Camcor
Ive seen some people testing them on youtube but they all look good
any suggestions?
Hi Tiago:
Looks like you found some good models to consider. The first two (Canon A1 and Sony FX7) are both in the $2500 US price range, and are both mini-DV tape format recorders (which will give you excellent quality video files to edit with).
The Canon allows the use of pro-XLR audio connections for external mics or audio mixers, but the Sony does not. For music videos this might be a major selling point.
On the smaller cameras (Sony CX130 and the Panny SD80) the Sony has the larger sensor (1/4″ versus 1/6″ CMOS) and will also take Sony MemorySticks as well as SD cards (the SD80 is SD-only). Both are in the $450 US price range and have similar zoom-range optics (the Sony zooms out a little wider-angle: 29.8mm vs 33.7mm). Both use AVCHD file format for recording, and have Standard Def options. But the AVCHD compression used for flash-based recording might be a drawback for both models.
If I was planning to shoot and edit footage from two different cameras, I’d at least want the same file format (and compression codecs) used for all content. You might re-consider your model choices for the smaller camera you buy. Look at some models (possibly older, even discontinued models) that use the same mini-DV tape format as your larger camera will shoot. The quality of your raw video will be way-better to start with (less compression) and the end results will edit together much better.
If I have time, I’ll post a couple of models of small mini-DV camcorders (I’ve used both Sony and Panasonic in the recent past) that would still keep in the same size and price range as the others you looked at.
UPDATE Edit: Both Canon & Sony have HD-capable miniDV tape format small camcorders available (I’ve posted B+H Photo dealer pages for reference). The Canon VIXIA-series HV40 is in the $650 US price range (see: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/597424-REG/Canon_3686B001_VIXIA_HV40_High_Definition.html ). And Sony’s HDR-HC9 is a bit pricier at $1098 US, but is less than half the price of the bigger Sony HDR-FX7 (see: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/537980-REG/Sony_HDRHC9_1_HDR_HC9_MiniDV_High_Definition.html ).
hope this helps,
–Dennis C.
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