G'day,

Will soon be looking for a full HD handcam, and was looking at Sony because that was my pref at uni, though admittedly that was all pro-level cameras... (also had a PC104E 7 years ago which I loved)

As I've learned, this path can cause some pain importing into Final Cut... (5.1 currently)

As the Sony CX550 has been deleted and the 560 is not yet here in Oz, I've been looking at other options...

Canon's range use the same file format as Sony yes? So there's no benefit in going Canon over Sony in that regard, yes?

Is there any other more agreeable HD file formats that Final Cut plays nicely with?

Thanks


Travis

The Sony & Canon camcorders you mentioned all record using AVCHD.

- Officially FCP 7 only supports AVCHD by transcoding to ProRes.
- Another option is ClipWrap, which can re-wrap your AVCHD files into a Quicktime container, editing performance will depend on your hardware setup.


Please note: FCP X is supposed to be released this June 2011.

I found the Panasonic TM-700 and it's 3-chip design to be a great b-cam for the EX-1r. the TM-900 is the current model. Sony's 1-chip NX-70 is supposedly good as well.

The file format isn't what I would look at to pick an AVCHD camera. AVCHD is a good and necessary approach to providing the high quality full HD we want in a handycam. Converting it to Prores during ingest is a good and decent workflow... something you'll have to do with any of the modern AVCHD cameras. But if you are bent on a camera that records in a native FCP format, there's the JVC HM100 but that's a bit old in the tooth and your money will go much farther in one of the latest cameras.

Hi Lee,

I've turned my obsession over from the Sony to the Panasonic xx-900.

The big problem is, according to a local vendor, only 16 of the xx900 came into Australia a few months ago, then the Japanese tsunami has ceased further stock...

It also appears that Panasonic only sell the SD900 here, not TM900... minor difference (internal memory card on the TM), but I know I would prefer the camera to have 1 card built in...

The 3D option is tempting too, even though I have no 3D playback devices... kind of offers a "future" to the device, even if it is apparently considered quite a rudimentary 3D camera.

I was able to find a SDT750 to have a play with at one vendor... I gather the TM900 is of similar size/feel... If so, it felt very nice in the hand... something I can't say about many handcams I've used/owned...

Hopefully after tax time stocks will be available and I can pick one up... (That's July here in Australia)

As Michael said though, FCPX is suppose to be out this month and is suppose to play nice with all formats??? We'll see.

Seems FCP X is getting very mixed reviews!

Can't believe Apple released it so "early", given what I've been reading about lack of functionality...