XL1s or Panny dv200?

[Henry Czuprinski]

Finally picked up a GL1 and have been planning to get the XL1s as a primary cam late this winter and...now
I see the Panny DV200 is now quite close in price to the Xl1/man lense setup.
I've rented the XL1/XL1s a few times and love the overall design/ergonomics and have seen some things done with it that looked really fine, and some things looking, well, a whole lot less than fine.
Just for discussion sake- would anyone not choose a 1/2 in camera such as this for doc/narrative projects. I really want an affordable!, manual lense cam.

[Chris Hurd]

Why you would not want a Pana200:

If you already have a GL1, the XL1S is a perfect match for it right out of the box. Video from the 200 will not match the look of your GL1.

The 200 is a professional camera requiring professional accessories, which is a whole new level of expense. Zoom & focus controls are about $1000 on the Pana200. Power supply, batts, etc. are expensive whereas batteries are interchangeable between your GL1 and the XL1S.

There's a manual lens for the XL1S that's about as good as the Canon or Fuji lens that comes with the Pana200.

Those are a few reasons I can think of...

[Henry Czuprinski]

Chris,thanx for the note of sanity. I've rented the JVCdv500 a couple of times- Loved using it (having total manual control, and it's not ungodly huge or heavy- didn't really like it's colorimetry though)
I'm planning on renting the Panny this long weekend to see how it works(4days for 1day fee)/ Entirely agree on your points regarding Canon compatability (that little voice in my head keeps pointing back to the XL1)-I know its weight/size,and great stabilization can't be beat- yet a 1/2 inch cam with a Pro viewfinder for just under $5g is really alluring too-
I expect once I've lugged the Panasonic around a few days I'll know what's best for me. Only wish I could get my hands on a Xl1s with man/16x lense to play-with- that'd probably settle the issue. The sensible thing is probably to rent a pro/ENG camera on a need basis- it's still a hell of a lot cheaper to rent a dsr500w than shoot 16mm. What a great time to be a filmmaker.

[DVSHOOTER]

Morbius*

I could find some good reasons to go with the panasonic.I have a xl1(pal) myself and some times I get a little disappointed with it.So I remember it's price/performance ratio and it reminds me that the camera does a very good job.I've been looking at the dvc200 since it's release but I never had the opportunity to try it.I live in a small town,not a lot of video rent houses down here ,but i have done some research on the camera.Some good advantages over the xl1 are:

The resolution of the lens which is said to be 800 lines so you could shot those outside scenes being sure you would get enough detail, (the xl1 is really limited on this part,if you want to do outside shots for dramatic productions[movies] it's just not enough resolution for wide or panoramic shots[ i know no video will have film resolution/detail but the more detail the better uh!]so you would need to rent a camera for those shots ,match the pictures [xl1 pictures is quite different from most of those bigger cameras]

The extra weight/stability(wich could be a bad thing depending on your needs)and construction.

The bigger sized CCDs and number of pixels(quite frankly i'm not really sure about the efficiency of the pixel shift in order to supposedly match quality of 410k CCD cameras) providing better low light performance and color fidelity.

Longer recording time(270 min.)

And of course all the professional functions of a broadcast quality camera.
The disadvantages are the already mentioned ones,more expensive accessories and supplies,too bulky(if you're trying to get away with a not authorized shot or prefer/need lighter cameras) and so on but everything in this business have it's trade-offs.Now that the dvc200's price is coming down and getting close to the xl1's it's quite hard to resist the temptation of having a professional/superior camera for around the same price of a prosumer one.I almost got a panasonic aj-d215 before get my pal xl1,but in that case i didn't think the extras & trade-offs were worth the money since it is in essence a xl1 in a bigger body and a few pro functions.But the dvc200 is a whole different level.
Don't get me wrong here, i like my xl1 very much. I know it's limitations are well understandable for it's price range and i've got awesome shots with it.I wouldn't trade it for any other prosumer.But since humanity is about evolution we should always try to follow this path and the dvc200 is surely a good step up from our already spectacular xl1.

Stay tune!