HM 100 for SD ENG work?
 

Hi! I am considering a HM 100 for ENG work and documentaries. I have had a Canon A1 before which I liked, but sold it because I didn't use it enough at that time.

I like the following with the HM 100; Cheap SD cards, 2 XLR, size, Full HD, Quicktime recording.

I have some questions about it - if any with practical experience using it could sort it out I'd be grateful.

1)1/4' censor - how does it look in interviews? The depth of field must be huge and not so nice, or?

2) My clients mostly still want SD but HM 100 doesn't shoot it. I don't mind recording in HD - good for archives, but how is converting HD to SD in a Macbook Pro - how does it look? What is the rendering time for a 2 min story?

3) How is the low light HD converted to SD?

Thanks Erik

Using the HM-100 as a primary ENG camera would (in my opinion) be limiting, but possible. I shoot news in the UK (SD) and use the HM-100 as a b-cam for stuff that would be impossible to do with a big camera. I shoot 720/50p and edit the files on an SD timeline in Final Cut. Rendering a cut sequence doesn't take long and the pics look great.

If I was tied down and had to have one camera, no way would I choose the HM-100 - far too limiting. But with 2 cameras, the HM-100 would be my first choice as a 'second' camera. My SD camera is a DSR-450, and when it comes time to lose that, and replace with HD, then I will be looking for an EX5 ! Or possibly XDCAM. There are just some things you can't do with a small camera...

To answer your questions - HD pics downconverted in FCP look just fine. There are many ways to skin a cat. My advice - don't pixel peep too much - it can get you down ;-)

Cotty