Second Camera

[Taky Cheung]

well, it's not for standing out. it's making sure other guests not using a camera looking more "pro" than yours. I got a lots of new business through people finding me at weddings. If they see me using bare tiny consumer camcorder, they will have second thought. Besides, the wide angle lens, lens hood, shotgun mic, video lights, all are necessary when shooitng wedding and receptions.

[Travis Cossel]

Taky, I understood why you're loading the camera out, and if it genuinely generates business for you then by all means keep it up. I just felt like that setup looked ... well ... somewhat obnoxious and obtrusive I guess, and I wouldn't take that approach myself just to make sure guests thought I was a professional.

For the record, we actually use an HV30 in addition to our XHA1's but don't feel the need to put all of that extra equipment on it. But again, if your approach is working, keep it up. I just wanted to provide a different opinion on that. Sorry to take the thread off topic.

[Taky Cheung]

Yeah it worked well for me. I was once at a corporate event conference with local TV station coverage. I was hesitated to setup my the second cam because of the nature of the HV30. I decide to have it up just for the sake of easy editing. Later on, I found the TV crew from that TV station gathered around it and commented how smart it is to put things together.

For now, I am using two XH-A1. My HV30 is as a third cam mounted on Merlin Steadicam.

[Dave Blackhurst]

The very real and somewhat scary fact is that "consumer" price/level gear is rapidly coming quite close to "pro" gear in image/output quality, especially to the untrained eye. An experienced operator can squeeze a lot out of a pocket size camera...

While I appreciate that "image" is sometimes "size related", the simple truth is that ultimately it's the shooter not the gear - it's the experience/professional skill/talent (not to mention the CONTENT) that will make or break the "output".

With the new Canon T2i, the journey continues... smaller, less expensive cameras that can produce simply stunning output quality HD video... I myself am shocked by how good the new little Sony P&S cameras are when shooting HD. This year's new toys, both big and small are pushing the envelope on both quality and price (that's technology for you).

One has to appreciate that you can buy/use a small camera for "second/third/fourth cam", it's just hard to sort out when the latest little monster "looks" better when you compare the output to something much larger from a couple years ago!

I've noticed more and more when watching video on TV that the "press pool" will have one or more "consumer" size cameras in use... so perceptions are likely changing, and I think we're seeing that more and more "news" or "event" type footage is being broadcast that was shot with small cameras, because the camera was THERE (cell phone video that's so horrible and pixellated it's "unwatchable", but it's making the news because it "caught" something newsworthy for instance).

[Taky Cheung]

I agreed very much consumer products nowadays are very capable. Also I know that the content and the professionalism is what it counts when the final product is delivered to the client. However, at location, that's how everybody perceive the image of the companby.

[Kiflom Bahta]

I am firm beliver of let your work speak for you, i am not too concern what the camera look like but what i like to know is how good is the hv30 or is it better to buy the hv40 or by pass both of them and go for hmc 150 or ax2000. It will be nice if ya can put your .2cent into this. thx (*_________*)

[Travis Cossel]

The HV30 has pretty good image quality, and actually fairs okay in low light situations as well. Personally, I would never use one as a primary camera, but they are awesome to have as back-up wide angle cameras (and great as a tape deck as well).

[Dave Blackhurst]

You've got a good "big" camera, a couple small ones for B/C cams are probably a handy thing. If you wanted to go tapeless, maybe look at Canon HF-S21 just released or the current HF-S10, 11, & 100?

A lot really depends on your budget, and you may find if you get a small cam of the latest generation, it starts to make your "older" camera look a bit dated, resulting in a more expensive "upgrade". You also may find when you go tapeless, you want to go 100%... just some things to think about.

I'm going to guess that the HV series (20, 30, 40) are going to be a better "match" simply because they are of approximately the same generation as your A1. You may not be thrilled with the low light performance - supposedly later cams have improved in that respect. I know Sony now makes cams that almost see in the dark, even in the small consumer packages.

Much depends on how you like to work, and whether you would find the additional cams (and how many) helpful to your workflow.

One other consideration is when you add a "different" camera to the mix, you have an entirely different menu/button/control set, which may not be a good thing when shooting under pressure... you really should try to get "hands on" ANY camera you're considering and see if you are comfortable with it.