Higher end consumer camera recommendations appreciated
 

WOW... this forum is impressive and overwhelming to me as a total newbie.

I'm interested in your recommendations for a higher end digital consumer/prosumer video camcorder to use in conjunction WITH my 5DII. Would like to know if there's anything around $1000 that will be a worthy partner to what I can do with my 5DII.

Some background. I've been a pro still photographer for many years. For the last 12 years or so my specialty has been high school senior portrait photography.

Recently I awakened to what could be done in the way of "filmic" artistic/fashion-themed movies with the 5D/7D, so I added a new 5DII to my stable (joining the 5D I've been using for the last 3 years.)

I am just beginning to use the 5DII for moving portraits... some call them fusion. Basically I'm beginning to do senior portraits, in motion, with an artsy, fashion-ad, music video look and feel using my 5DII, Z-finder, RRM eyeSpy rig, and a host of lenses.

Obviously, the 5DII is a relatively cumbersome camera for movie making, but the results can be quite spectacular. But I was wondering if there is a prosumer video camcorder (possibly the Canon HF S100 or something in it's price range) that would be a good companion camcorder to the 5DII. I would use the camcorder for applications where the 5DII is not suited and perhaps use footage from each camera together... if that can be done and still look good. I'm so new to this I really need some guidance.

So... what should I look for in a "companion" camcorder to a 5DII? Any particular models in the $1000 realm that you would recommend?

Thank you, in advance.

If you want to shoot 1080p24 or 1080p30, I suggest you look at the Canon HF-S10. It's probably worth the extra hundred bucks more than the HF-S100 for the 32 gigs of internal flash memory (a 32 gig SDHC card will cost close to that anyway). If you want to shoot 1080i60, I suggest you look at Panasonic's HDC-HS300 or HDC-TM300. If you don't need the ability to connect a mic, the HDC-HS250 is a heck of a value at $600 (B&H).

Thanks, Robert.

Is the 1080p24 option going to give me a slightly more "filmic" look due to the frame rate? (Assuming the other production values are filmic in their execution - lighting, etc.)

Would it make sense to pick the model with the largest sensor to help the ability to attain minimal depth of focus? And, choosing a model with a faster lens in addition to a larger sensor should help with being able to minimize depth of focus as well, right?

Can one change frame rates and shutter speeds on these cameras we're considering to obtain a different "feel" in the footage? Again, I'm wanting to pick a camcorder which will allow the most filmic appearing footage.

24p is part of the "film look". If you want shallow depth of field, I believe the Canon HF-S10 (or HF-S100) will give you the largest sensor of any consumer camcorder (but I'm not absolutely sure of that without checking). Of the consumer camcorders, the aforementioned Canons offer the most variety of frame rates (24p, 30p and 60i). I don't think any other frame rates are available on any consumer camcorder, and most consumer camcorders don't even offer all three. These are consumer cameras, not professional cameras with lots of manual control and features. I wouldn't even bother considering if a consumer camera has some sort of cinema gamma mode or anything like that. Just get a good clean image, and do that stuff in post.

Is it cumbersome because there's alot of unintended movement as a result of operating it handheld?