DV Info Net - Under $5K Camera Suggestions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Horwitz (Post 1735904)

I think what I'll do is give our media manager these 4 suggestions and have him read this thread:

1. XF100
2. XF105
3. XR-NX5U
4. AG-AC130

If the EX1 is $5900 I'll suggest it, but I'm not sure we'd want to spend that much.

It would be money well spent....... ! It's worth considering that the XDCAM EX codec needs less processing effort to deal with than AVC-HD - that can translate to needing a less powerful editing system for the same performance, and possibly a money saving in itself. The alternative is transcoding - but that can add a time penalty, is it worth it over the lifetime of the camera?

The PMW100 is a slightly strange product, in that it looks like the front end is likely to not be as good as the EX1, but to have a fully broadcast compatible codec. I think it's aimed fair and square at broadcasters who are looking for a B camera to their PMW500s and PDW700s, and insist of the 50Mbs codec. I doubt I'm alone in wishing that Sony would just put that codec into a camera that otherwise is an EX1, but hey ho......

That said, for your purposes, I suspect the EX1 is better for your purposes than the PMW100. The EX codec is more than enough for your purposes (and better than all the AVC-HD options) but it's the 1/2" chips that are likely to make the difference.