hi,
i've been looking into buying a 3ccd dv out/in digital video camera. I'm an artist and
want to use it in a variety of ways - hand held, on a tripod, interior/exterior,
sound quality important. for documentation and artwork.I also want as
good a projected image as possible.
I've briefly checked out the panasonic mx300 and canon dm xm1 in a
camcorder centre, and am struggling to make a decision.
Any advice?
The picture and sound on the panasonic seemed just a bit punchier.
also it has the stills card and analogue input.
The canon footage had more of a 'film' feel to it though - which i like-
because of the optical stabilisation and the fluorite lens??
cheers
rosie

Go for the MX300 if I were you. Just bought one and it is an absolutely stunning machine. Forget the film look at the intial stage of shooting, this can all be done at the editing stage more effectively anyway. I've seen output from the MX300 projected on a 3 lens system to a 12ft wide screen, and I tell you this, its stunningly good in every detail. Bigger than that and it may start to look more digital but this machine is a great kit. Buy it online and you will save hundreds of pounds as well, its currently going for less than £1,300 on a number of sites.

golden fleece,
thanks v.much for your reply. my hunch was for the mx300, too. it's useful to
hear from someone who'susing the camera.
cheapest prices i've seen on the net are £1350.
can you recommend any sites?
what about the 'grey goods' issue?
cheers
rosiemoar

Go to this web site its £1,299 at present. Good site. They are based In Cornwall, Ive used them before, seems fine.

http://www.letsgodigital.co.uk

Grey goods issue, dont know about that. All I know is I have a first class broadcast quality cam that really does kick other ones into the weeds. For full reviews of this amazing cam check out

http://www.supervideo.com/mxhome.htm

it has a very good content on the Mx 300

cant fault this machine. Just seen output from a certain well known top spec CANON projected to 12 feet width screen and you can see PIXELS all over the place. No, the MX300 is a beast of a machine. ( I wonder if Panasonic will give me a job in their UK sales department!!)

Cheers

cheers,
i've checked out letsgodigital and i think i'll go with that
thanks v.much
rosiemoar

[Mr.D]

Originally posted by goldenfleece


cant fault this machine. Just seen output from a certain well known top spec CANON projected to 12 feet width screen and you can see PIXELS all over the place. No, the MX300 is a beast of a machine. ( I wonder if Panasonic will give me a job in their UK sales department!!)

Cheers

Possibly because there is less noise on the image compared to the panasonic rather than the canon being a lesser camera.

The frame mode on the canons has come in from some stick because its not a true progressive capture ( canons literature states its done by offsetting the green ccd by one line) What this means to me ( as I can't get it to make sense anyother way) is that the actual luminance channel ( the Y in yuv which is over 80% green info) is a near enough full frame capture but the colour info for every odd line is derived from every even line ie one field is used to generate the colour for both. As video colour is far from accurate on a line to line basis and DV compression floats colour all over the place additionally I don't see it as being much of an disadvantage relative to a real; prog capture. additionally the frame interpolation is carried out prior to DV compression so has to look better than most post deinterlace techniques which even with optical flow techniques are happening with a compressed image (not good).

I'm doing some tests with a PD150 and an XM1 to investigate if the frame mode is superior to shooting interlaced on a sharper camera and deinterlacing using a good deinterlace system. ( not a crappy inferno fieldsmerge) this is mainly to tell me if its worth me buying an XL1(s) specifically for the frame capability.

Also most of the negative comments with regard to the canon frame mode are based on NTSC versions with the aim of transferring to 35mm. This requires an additional stage of interpolation to cull 30fps to 24fps. Pal misses this stage just requiring a slowdon from 25fps to 24fps.

I suspect the frame mode on the canon to prove superior to shooting interlaced... but the tests ain't in yet.

I bought th MX300 from letsgodigital. Can't fault the service or the price, OR the MX300. 5 year extended warrenty for £100 isn't bad either. Compared to certain high street 'superstores'.

Mr D. I just luv it when you get all technical!!

Mr D. Phew, I thought I'd asked a simple question.....I look forward to the
results, when perhaps the mists will clear.
Has anyone any opinion on sound quality of the canon and panasonic?
cheers