Canon Or Panasonic

[niccam]

Hi everybody have narrowed my choiced down to either the Panasonic NVGS120 and The CANON MVX250i as a backup camera to my CANON XM2
The Panasonic has 3 1/16 CCDs and a 10X zoom
The Canon has 1 1.3 CCD and a 18X zoom
both same price
At the moment the Canon is winning but need to make my mind up soon
What is putting me off the Panasonic at the moment is when filming in not so good light conditions is the picture quality that I read in reviews plus the Canon has a 18x zoom
I will be filming pantomimes, rugby and weddings if I need to call upon this back up camera anybody any views. Thank you

If it's video quality you want, then the panasonic, I would have the panasonic as a wide master/safety shot (where the focus is less critical, going to catch more light - f1.6 at wide angle as opposed to f2.8 at tele) and let the xm2 do the close up stuff with its bigger zoom, 'brighter' ccds etc.

Incidentally it always gets my goat when folk moan about the low light performane of camcorders, if it's important, if you are charging money to do video work then USE LIGHTS, if you want to get professional results you need to do it properly.

A prosumer cam and an IOV membership does not a professional make!.

[niccam]

Thanks Roy I won't be using the two cameras at same time its just a back up. The zoom is quite important thats why narrowed it down to the Canon 18x and Panasonic of its 3CCD lens . Would there be really a big difference in picture quality between the two?
And as for being Professional I don't claimed to be in that bracket but I like to give good results. Thank you

if you are doing the pantomimes and weddings as a favour then you can probably get away with single camera shoots, as your punters have no right to moan.

If you are taking money for them then that puts you in the professional bracket, which means that you are up against the likes of me.

Personally speaking if the competition doesn't want to do things properly then I'm dead happy, just reaffirms my position and justifies my rates.

Professionally speaking, amateurs tarnish the whole videography industry and lower the value and perception of all practitioners, if you don't want to do it right, then please, DONT DO IT AT ALL!.

If its any use, the panasonic has a top loading tape mech, so if you use a tripod you'll find tape changes take half the time.