State of our industry - gear-wise

[Yang Wen]

I'm currently arriving at a milestone of going complete from SD to HD. I've sold my GL2 and already purchased 2 HV30s + Letus Mini but I still have my old DVX100 as my primary cam. I want to upgrade to HD but I want to take a quick poll on: out of all the 3-CCD prosumer High Def cams out there, which one is still favored for event videography? Setting the price to below $4000 USD, I'm guessing the Canon XHA1 is the best option out there? Coming from the DVX100, I'm accustomed to and prefer shooting in 24P mode, so having that feature is a must.. Given that, are there any significant shortcomings with the A1 that would make other models look enticing?

Thanks

[Patrick Moreau]

With 24P, XLR inputs (since your also shooting with HV30s without them), and your price range- I would say the A1 is the best bet and you might just be able to sneak in two used ones. An A1 with a brevis would fair much better in low light than an HV30 and letus mini- so I would also think about where you want to use the tools throughout the day.
Patrick

[Alan Robinson]

Originally Posted by Yang Wen

I'm currently arriving at a milestone of going complete from SD to HD. I've sold my GL2 and already purchased 2 HV30s + Letus Mini but I still have my old DVX100 as my primary cam. I want to upgrade to HD but I want to take a quick poll on: out of all the 3-CCD prosumer High Def cams out there, which one is still favored for event videography? Setting the price to below $4000 USD, I'm guessing the Canon XHA1 is the best option out there? Coming from the DVX100, I'm accustomed to and prefer shooting in 24P mode, so having that feature is a must.. Given that,

Thanks

For under $4000, the XH-A1 about your only choice, but its a good one. You can get the Sony FX1 for less, but it doesn't have 24P, or XLRs, and is much less configurable.

are there any significant shortcomings with the A1 that would make other models look enticing?

Not at that price point. The XH-A1 doesn't do as well in low light as some of the more expensive Sonys like the Z7 or EX1, but it isn't bad (about the same as the FX1 or Z1). I shot a wedding last weekend in a very dark church. Using 24f, +3db of gain and 1/24 sec shutter speed, I got beautiful footage. You can push the gain to +6db without getting too grainy (I do that all the time at receptions), and even to +12 in a pinch (I wouldn't go higher though).

What really makes the A1 shine are the custom presets. You can tweak just about anything that you want. All those settings can be a bit intimidating at first (the defaults are not really optimal), but you can find a lot of good presets on the XH-A1 forum here at dvinfo.net.

[Matthew Ebenezer]

Another vote for the Canon XH-A1. I use two of them plus a HV30 and I've been super happy with how the footage compares.