Keep or upgrade?
 

Hello, i am starting to get serious with Videography mainly shooting Drag racing, burnout comps and LOTS of other types of "events", such as a 150th football anniversary match and the afterwards jersy auction and speeches (inside a hall), to Debutante balls, engagements, christenings, funerals....whatever people want filmed basically. I have the Panasonic ag-af100 and Panasonic HPX-372e and some smaller DSLR cameras. I have been using the AF100 at the drags and although i can use it on it's tripod, i like to use it hand held to try and get walk around shots, low towards the front of, then rising up going past a car etc. So quite a bit of moving around. I seem to naturally have problems with steadiness with handheld filming. I was thinking of selling the AF100 and maybe purchasing something else that has better built in stability. Thus, i am unsure how well this built in stability actually works in the newer cameras. I know the camera may have it built in or the lens might. The lens on the 100 has IS activated but as some others have found, this only seems to be for an already fairly steady shot to be of any use which doesn't help me at all. Are there any settings in the camera i should have ON or OFF to help with stability? Is it worth upgrading to another camera and lens? The auto aperture doesn't seem to be very fast on my camera which i need it to be and i need to zoom in and out quite a bit especially when shooting burnouts. I was looking at the Panasonic HC-X1000 and is the type of camera i would consider but the only thing i don't like is the sound of the low light response (or lack of). So i would like to hear some suggestions and questions if i have forgotten to add anything and\or a reccomendation on a new camera make and model. I would prefer the form factor of the X1000 and not a camcorder type as i like the size and a good bit of weight and especially the buttons\XLR\lens rings. Thanks all.

Re: Keep or upgrade?
 

I don't think there is a camera that can handle your type of shooting effectively that has a X1000 formfactor, the best camera's I know of that have very good image stabilisation are the sony ax33 and the olympus omd em5 II, but they are little camera's. your only other choice is to place the camera on a steadicam or these new 3 axis gimbals.

Re: Keep or upgrade?
 

Hi Gary

The sort of events you are doing need a fast aperture and probably a fast auto focus too which brings you down to a small sensor camera .. Forget the AC130 or 160 for that sort of shoot but the humble AC-90 might just do the trick as it has a 5 axis stabilizer built into the lens ..the auto focus is fast as well as the aperture control .. those are the upsides of course .. what makes it fast is the tiny 1/5" backlit sensors and I think that's where you will come unstuck in low light!!

As Noa says you can't have everything but the AC-90 seems to have an awesome stabilizer and auto ND filters too BUT I wouldn't take it into a dim interior and expect good footage!!

Maybe look at the JVC 890 series ?? They still use 1/3rd chips and have a BIG zoom on the Fujinon lens but they are fairly pricey for what you get ... it's a shoulder mount but I have no idea of whether it has a stabilized lens!!

You can't have everything so you need to decide where your priorities lie and what compromises you are prepared to make

Re: Keep or upgrade?
 

Thanks guys. Chris i sent you an email. Not sure if you got it or not.

Re: Keep or upgrade?
 

Hi Gary

Yep I sent one back to your email address but still post your questions you might have here as you have a massive number of professionals who will help you!!

Chris