Panasonic and Canon
 

Given these two options: GL2 or Panasonic AGDVC30
which would you prefer to buy, assuming that you have the money for either one, and your intended audience is general broadcast, ie network television. I've talked to a producer who says it really doesn't matter as a lot of things can be done in post. What are your opinions, pls limit to these 2 cameras, thanks.!

Whichever one you prefer! The producer is right, when you get to a certain grade, the cameras at the same price point aren't generally going to be much different so its really down to the user and what they want. If its a broadcast quality camera, its broadcast quality.. so whilst you're gonna get differences in tone and features, you need to find out what you prefer out of the two. Test drive em both and see which you're happiest with..

If you don't have that much time in post production or if they don't know how to process the footage right, then a camera like the DVX100 will shoot better looking footage in-camera. The DVX100 has the adjustable gamma controls that mimic film gamma and generally makes things look better (more control, filmier saturation).

In post you can adjust the gamma curve on most but not all NLEs... although your post production people would have to know what to do.

Film-like gamma in-camera makes correcting white balance harder though. If you know extensive tweaking will be done in post and white balance may not always be accurate, then shoot don't shoot with the film-like gamma.

The DVC30 might have a film-like gamma mode. Looking at the brochure for it, it has 2 modes whereas the DVX100 has a bunch more.

2- The DVX100 also shoots 30p, which you may prefer over the 60i look. On static shots the difference is incredibly subtle, but look at handheld work where the cameraperson is moving and you should easily be able to tell the difference.

You can do this in post with loss of resolution. Cameras like the GL2 can shoot frame mode, which gives 75% of the resolution of shooting true progressive as far as I know. I think the DVC30 shoots frame mode too.

hi folks thanks for the responses, really helps. I'm opting for the agdvc30 because of its lower price mostly, but the GL2 is one hell of a contender. We'll see.

Dunno if you bought the camera already or not but I had the same dilema some time ago and opted for the GL2. Here's my 2 cents...

GL2 has better zoom (20x), allows you to take high res photos (1488 x 1128), has manual audio controls, lightweight. However it is made of plastic and has a consumer camera look to it.

DVC30 has cinegamma modes (albeit not as good as the DVX100 ones they are still quite nice), it's very robust and has infra red mode. However it has a multifunciton ring (you have to switch to zoom OR focus), and features seem more consumer oriented than the gl2.

IMO they both are very similar (along with the VX2100) and it's all about the small differences that might be more or less convenient to you.

hey guys thanks for all the info, i haven't bought the cam yet, hopefully this month. I had to ask this though, if given the option, would any of you opt for a Sony PDX10? I just found out about this camera, the native xlr and true 16:9 are some big features on it! Any thoughts?

GL2 has 1/3 ccd's compared to the Panny's 1/4 I believe.

GL2 has 1/4 ccds as well... :)

hey guys thanks for all the responses. I finally decided to go wi/ a vx2000 for now. I figure that a lot of shooting that I will do will be impromptu and at times, i might have no control of the lighting situations. So i went wi/ the larger CCD vx2k, to solve the xlr problem i'm getting a beachtek dxa-8. Hopefully this setup will serve me well, can't wait till i get my hands on it!