For Documentary work, A1 or HV20?
 

If most of the footage will be outdoors or indoors with good lighting, does it make sense to get the A1 over the HV20 if they have similar picture quality?

What advantages would the A1 have that can be justified?

Also - which is better for this style of film - 24p or 30p? Will it cause issues later converting 30p to film?

I'd be editing on Vegas 7e

Thanks

Are you talking about 16 mm or 35 mm motion picture film?

A1 can do this with the touch of a button. the HV20 cannot:

http://www.planetestudios.com/bhutan.html

the image Sensor!
better colour

but it depends on how low budget you are

but if you are putting it onto film later

I personaly would go Xh-A1

Well, if you could fit it into the budget, I'd grab both an XL-H1 & an HV20.

This would be great for documentary work because of the fact that you'll have a shoulder-mount cam for much more stable run-and-gun shots, along with a pocket cam for any obscure or lowkey shooting environments. Plus, you can use the HV20 as a tapedeck and save the heads on your XL cam.

But, if it comes down to the XH-A1 or HV20, go with the XH-A1 only because of the image control you'll get with it over the HV20. Plus, you'll really wish you had a 20x zoom lens after you start applying the camera in the field.

as a cam, the hv20 isn't too good. compared to the A1 it's a toy.
however, i am using both of them right now. the hv20 is great as a deck and
down-converts very well. honestly, buy them both.

The HV20 is very concealable... This is good if you are trying to film in an area that is restricted from filming.. The A1 just by itself with no accessories is not discreet and usually attracts attention but yields a very high image quality over the hv20... Each has pros and cons but if I was picking and it was in my budget I would go with the A1 first and later on get the HV20 for use as a deck...