Recommend camera
 

Already have a 7d 24-70mm Lens.. Want to pair with another cam definitely not another dslr due to the limitation they have. I was thinking Sony nx30. Just to cover events, nothing extraordinary like making an Oscar winning film. Hopefully get paid like majority of you guys in this section. TIA!

Re: Recommend camera
 

Try the canon xa-10, its a great little camera! Alot of features and xlr inputs! Great in low light, and an exceptional IQ. Small, light and compact. I could go on and on, and I'm sure there are other brands that have comparable cams but I feel this is the best overall camera in this sub $2k price range!

Re: Recommend camera
 

I've looked into that too but quite does not have the reach? I assuming the NX30 will have the reach.

Re: Recommend camera
 

I like the idea of the Sony, seems to be a potentially superior camera to the XA10, but it was pointed out somewhere else that it has no focus ring, which if true, would be weird. It looks like a very nice camera though, it's most definitely interesting at the least. I can vouch for the XA10. 10X is limiting, but I'm living with it fine, and I bought two of them, they match so well with my DSLR footage. I do like the camera very much.

I would look very hard at the Sony, but not just for the zoom. I'm interested in what the sensor can do in low light, anyone heard much about it?

Re: Recommend camera
 

I just want to point out that the NX30/CX760/PJ760 has 10x optical zoom just like the XA10. The 17X "extended" digital zoom is a gradual digital zoom that's applied more and more the tighter you zoom in when you have steadyshot set to active mode as it uses the crop for additional stabilization.

Here's a comparison with the NX70's normal zoom vs 14x extended. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nxc...ml#post1670039

Re: Recommend camera
 

Thanks for the info about the zoom Matt. If the zoom is 10X on both cams, then the sensor's quality is the primary thing, along with audio and the ease of use of the camera. I'm not looking at the camera hard because I'm not in the market, but I am following this thread with interest, looks like a very nice little camera.

Re: Recommend camera
 

Fred, just some general opinions.

Image quality is important but so is ergonomics. You may want a camera to run on auto everything. Pretty much all these cameras have that. What you may want to look at instead are the manual controls for when you, as the human, want to override the automatics and control the camera yourself. In particular, controlling exposure and focus are things you may have reason to control. Going into menus for controlling them is one thing, having well built knobs and buttons is another. Even in a locked down unattended camera, you may very well want the camera on manual focus or use exposure compensation to accommodate brightly lit brides that throw off the auto exposure. Good ergonomics makes that fast and reliable so you miss fewer moments.

One comment about zooms. The zoom capability of a camera is a function of the manufacturer's camera design. It's a judgement of "how far can the design be zoomed before the resulting image is too ratty?". You get what you pay for. You need optics, sensor and image processing technologies to all work together to create a nice image at long zoom factors. The various "intelligent" zooms past 10x these days are better than the old digital zoom but as was pointed out earlier, they are still digital zooms being done by hardware in realtime. Your NLE can probably zoom better. Just my thoughts. YMMV