Decent Video Camera Recommendations?

[David Peterson]

I recommend get an app to put on their iPhones / androids, and they can film with that.

[David Peterson]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

I am amazed that Sony haven't produced a Pro version of the AX100. This NX100 looks to be the same 1" Exmoor R sensor & the same 12X zoom lens 29-348mm (full frame equivalent) F/2.8-F/4.5 as the AX100 but without 4K. The NX100 looks a great little camera at the price but I will wait for the inevitable 4K version to be released.

The Sony X70 is their pro 4K version.

[Michael Silverman]

From what I've seen, the Sony RX10 II produces some amazing footage that I think beats out the AX100 and the X70. The RX10 II footage looked very similar to the A7S and while I don't have any Sony cameras I'm very interested in the RX10 II.

For someone looking for a camera with a relatively large sensor, XLRs, power zoom it looks like the Panasonic DVX200 is pretty great. The footage I've seen looked like it could have come out of a GH3 or GH4 and the convenience of having a fixed lens with power zoom, NDs, and XLRs makes it very appealing.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

I am amazed that Sony haven't produced a Pro version of the AX100. This NX100 looks to be the same 1" Exmoor R sensor & the same 12X zoom lens 29-348mm (full frame equivalent) F/2.8-F/4.5 as the AX100 but without 4K. The NX100 looks a great little camera at the price but I will wait for the inevitable 4K version to be released.

Originally Posted by David Peterson

The Sony X70 is their pro 4K version.

The X70 is pretty much the AX100 with XLR audio interface & dual card slots. It's not a patch on the NX100 as a proper 'Pro' camera. The X70 s half the weight & much smaller than the NX100 & only has one control ring versus the three on the NX100.

[Kyle Root]

and doesn't the x70 only do 4K at 60 mbps?

I like the size of those for portability in my case, as well as the cost, and would imagine the pictures would line up nicely with the NX100 since it's the same sensor (likely).

[Michael Silverman]

Originally Posted by Kyle Root

and doesn't the x70 only do 4K at 60 mbps?

There are many X70 users that are quite upset by such a low bitrate for 4K when they've been eagerly awaiting the upgrade. Check out this thread to see what I mean (I haven't read through it all but I've seen quite a few posts where people are not pleased with Sony because of this decision)

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-pxw...-industry.html

One person pointed out "even Sony's tiny "Action Cam" records 4k at 100Mbp/s." However, my guess is that the low bitrate doesn't make it a bad camera or make the 4K upgrade worthless. It probably mostly means that if you need to color correct a shot it's not going to look as good as if it were a higher bitrate.

I still think the Panasonic DVX200 produces MUCH nicer footage than the X70, has better dynamic range, and will be much easier to grade/color correct if needed. Here's a look at some footage from the camera:

KYOTO - A Panasonic AG-DVX200 short film on Vimeo

I think you could fool most people into thinking this was footage from the GH4. While the GH4 is less expensive, this camera has a power zoom lens which is equivalent to a 29.5 to 384.9mm on a 35mm camera, built in ND filters, built in XLRs, dual record slots, 4K 60p, SDI output, and 5 axis stabilizer.

[Clive McLaughlin]

I know what you are saying, but that last sentence seems weird! Why would anyone want to fool people into thinking they are using a camera thats a quarter the price? lol.

[Steve Burkett]

Originally Posted by Clive McLaughlin

I know what you are saying, but that last sentence seems weird! Why would anyone want to fool people into thinking they are using a camera thats a quarter the price? lol.

Matching footage generally. If I owned a DVX200, I could well be shooting with that and a GH4. Hence fooling people thinking they're both the same camera. I've seen some dodgy attempts with a couple of Canon's, where one was a 1/3" sensor and the other a 5D. Client complained cameras didn't match and wanted me to fix it; I said no.

[Michael Silverman]

Originally Posted by Clive McLaughlin

I know what you are saying, but that last sentence seems weird! Why would anyone want to fool people into thinking they are using a camera thats a quarter the price? lol.

I suppose you wouldn't need or want to convince someone that the footage is literally from a GH4. But so far there hasn't been a fixed lens camera that can provide both a shallow depth of field and high dynamic range until the DVX200. While cameras like the Sony PMW-200 are very nice, it's very difficult to achieve a shallow depth of field with it (compared to a large sensor camera). With a camera like the Sony X70 the large sensor makes it fairly easy to get a shallow depth of field but the dynamic range is not very good and the highlights blow out in way that looks very unappealing. The DVX200 has 12 stops of dynamic range in VLOG, has a M43 sensor, and has pretty much everything else that the Sony X70 and PMW-200 have.