Semi-Pro AVCHD - Buying and editing

[Dr_Dont_Know]

Hi there, would appreciate some help with buying my first Video Camera.

I have a fair bit of experience with non-HD kit, but have never owned my own camera. I will mainly be using it for making short films - for my own amusement, rather than any commercial applications. I can afford about £1000.

I am considering the following, in this order of preference..
Canon LEGRIA HF S10
Panasonic HDC-HS300
Sony Handycam HDR-XR520

These are all AVCHD. I plan to do my editing on Sony Vegas Movie Sudio 9.

My PC is pretty good (Quad core, 4GB Ram, Vista 32) but I am concerned about the editing of AVCHD compared to other formats. Dont really want to have to spend hours converting all the video into another format to edit it, both from a time point of view and a loss of quality.

So my main questions are:

1. AVCHD or another format if I am doing lots of editing? Is it MUCh slower to edit AVCHD or just a little bit slower?
2. Should I ignore the sony camera due to lack of manual focus? (I guess so?)
3. Any other cameras tha I should consider? I dont want to buy aother camera for a good 3-5 years! I dont have a blue-ray burner, but I do have PS3 and can watch HD movies on it. I will probably get a blue ray burner in 18 months time when they are cheaper..
4. I am spending too much for these cameras. I kind of guess I will get more longevity out of a more expensive camera, but this may be a false economy?

Thanks.

Dr D

[chrishull3]

[QUOTE=Dr_Dont_Know;9440570]Hi there, would appreciate some help with buying my first Video Camera.

I have a fair bit of experience with non-HD kit, but have never owned my own camera. I will mainly be using it for making short films - for my own amusement, rather than any commercial applications. I can afford about £1000.

I am considering the following, in this order of preference..
Canon LEGRIA HF S10
Panasonic HDC-HS300
Sony Handycam HDR-XR520

These are all AVCHD. I plan to do my editing on Sony Vegas Movie Sudio 9.

My PC is pretty good (Quad core, 4GB Ram, Vista 32) but I am concerned about the editing of AVCHD compared to other formats. Dont really want to have to spend hours converting all the video into another format to edit it, both from a time point of view and a loss of quality.

So my main questions are:

1. AVCHD or another format if I am doing lots of editing? Is it MUCh slower to edit AVCHD or just a little bit slower?
2. Should I ignore the sony camera due to lack of manual focus? (I guess so?)
3. Any other cameras tha I should consider? I dont want to buy aother camera for a good 3-5 years! I dont have a blue-ray burner, but I do have PS3 and can watch HD movies on it. I will probably get a blue ray burner in 18 months time when they are cheaper..
4. I am spending too much for these cameras. I kind of guess I will get more longevity out of a more expensive camera, but this may be a false economy?

Thanks.
These are all very good cams and no two people would pick the same one .You must go through ALL the specs and see which one may suite you most.As far as avchd editing goes although i have powerful pc i can not make a 1920x1080 fully edited film so i convert to mpeg2 for that and i also burn 1920x1080 files to BLU RAY for my full resolution discs.[you may have more luck]making full resolution avchd edited films,good luck with your choice and film making.As for lenghth of edit 1920 avchd takes twice as long as mpeg2 to burn on BLUray but avchd on dvd discs do not take that long.The other option you have is hdv and the best cam there is the canon HV30 now being replaced by the HV40.

[A n d r e w]

The Sony XR520 has manual focus, available by using the camera control dial next to the lens.

None of these camcorders are "semi pro" - all are consumer level camcorders. But as you say you are making movies mainly for your own entertainment, this is unlikely to be an issue.

As Chris has pointed out, HDV (high definition recorded to tape) is an easier proposition for editing than AVCHD, so if you're considering doing a lot of editing, you should add some HDV camcorders to your shortlist.

[senu]

Originally Posted by A n d r e w

The Sony XR520 has manual focus, available by using the camera control dial next to the lens.

None of these camcorders are "semi pro" - all are consumer level camcorders. But as you say you are making movies mainly for your own entertainment, this is unlikely to be an issue.

As Chris has pointed out, HDV (high definition recorded to tape) is an easier proposition for editing than AVCHD, so if you're considering doing a lot of editing, you should add some HDV camcorders to your shortlist.

All True
The cost at £1000 doesnt make them Semi Pro. Most Higher end prosumer ( usually HDV cost 2-3X that amount but are OTT for Home movies in the main)
There are one or 2 anecdotes where the HF10 and XHA1 have been used in a sa scale production

As it happens AVCHD seems to be largely a consumer format although Panasonic has some higher end ( and costly to boot) AVCHD models

Wat you might find is that even a Quad core PC is not going to make mincemeat of AVCHD . Some folk are using i7 systems
Also , nothing wrong with Vegas movie Studio . the full version gives you a bt more but I would suggest you get hold of some AVCHD material and have a play on your setup and see

[Dr_Dont_Know]

Thanks for your advice chaps. All I meant by "semi-pro" was that I am not after a £200 camera from the high street..

Your tips are very helpful, am thinking that AVCHD is going to be a much trickier prospect to work with than I had imagined.

Are there HDV camera that use a HDD? Or any other formats on HDD that can compete with AVCHD, but are easier to edit?

Thanks

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by Dr_Dont_Know

Thanks for your advice chaps. All I meant by "semi-pro" was that I am not after a £200 camera from the high street..

Your tips are very helpful, am thinking that AVCHD is going to be a much trickier prospect to work with than I had imagined.

Are there HDV camera that use a HDD? Or any other formats on HDD that can compete with AVCHD, but are easier to edit?

Thanks

Its avchd or hdv tape for hd video.

[ade4all]

just throwing in bit of a red herring but may be worth thinking about -
if you can handle avchd & have a £1000 to spend i would wait a month or 2 for the panasonic gh1 - it's actually a dslr photo camera but from all the reports shoots beautiful 1080p video onto sd cards - benefits of this are you then also have a great photo camera that will accept any slr lens, & with its huge sensor (in video terms) the low light quality will beat any video camera even close to your budget - you will also have great control over depth of field (much coveted by film makers giving your images a very cinematic feel)
it may seem a weird suggestion but dslr's are where it's at in video development at the moment, i know I'm getting 1 soon as its out & 90% of the reason is for its video capabilities

[senu]

Originally Posted by chrishull3

Its avchd or hdv tape for hd video.

Some JVCs do actually record HDV to HDD

[Dr_Dont_Know]

Originally Posted by ade4all

just throwing in bit of a red herring but may be worth thinking about -
if you can handle avchd & have a £1000 to spend i would wait a month or 2 for the panasonic gh1 - it's actually a dslr photo camera but from all the reports shoots beautiful 1080p video onto sd cards - benefits of this are you then also have a great photo camera that will accept any slr lens, & with its huge sensor (in video terms) the low light quality will beat any video camera even close to your budget - you will also have great control over depth of field (much coveted by film makers giving your images a very cinematic feel)
it may seem a weird suggestion but dslr's are where it's at in video development at the moment, i know I'm getting 1 soon as its out & 90% of the reason is for its video capabilities

This sounds like a nice plan, but I am not really in need of a new dSLR. Out of interest though, what is the sound quality like from the gh1? will check out this option in any case. I still think that the AVCHD cameras above are the way forward for me. I guess I just need to keep getting better computers over the next few years.

[Dr_Dont_Know]

Originally Posted by ade4all

if you can handle avchd & have a £1000 to spend i would wait a month or 2 for the panasonic gh1 - it's actually a dslr photo camera but from all the reports shoots beautiful 1080p video onto sd cards

OK. I have seen the Panasonic press release here...
Panasonic premieres DMC-GH1 with HD video recording: Digital Photography Review
this camera looks amazing and would probably fit the bill. The pictures show that it can take a seperate microphone onto the adaptor shoe, (albeit in stereo only).

Only problem with me is that I need this camera before July!

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by senu

Some JVCs do actually record HDV to HDD

MM but i dont want to confuse our friend any more,some semi pro cams record tape and memory stick but consumer cams are now virtualy all avchd exept for one hdv model each from sony and canon.

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by Dr_Dont_Know

OK. I have seen the Panasonic press release here...
Panasonic premieres DMC-GH1 with HD video recording: Digital Photography Review
this camera looks amazing and would probably fit the bill. The pictures show that it can take a seperate microphone onto the adaptor shoe, (albeit in stereo only).

Only problem with me is that I need this camera before July!

Be prepared though if this camera is like the canon EOS 5D MK2 which takes great footage by all acounts it is very much more difficult to film video than with a video camcorder and the canon allows 20 minutes per card so i am not sure how the gh 1 compares with this, it is interesting .
http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_G...692/index.html

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Pa...hands-on-11524
Going by the zoom lenghth you would need some more lenses and dont forget its avchd editing,it looks a nice piece of kit though

[ade4all]

there is no limit to how long you can keep recording for, (this is only dictated by the size of the sd card)
so far as audio, it is likely to be similar quality to most consumer camcorders, with 3.5mm jack mic input for an external mic such as the rode video mic - to be honest i need xlr inputs which this doesn't have though this is hardly surprising - i will be attaching a zoom h4n to the hotshoe so that i can connect my xlr mics & sync in post - not ideal but for this compromise the incredible low light ability, use of all my old slr lenses & complete control of the image manually & 35mm filmlike depth of field make it all worth it
I don't think this camera is for everybody, but for the price it is an amazing video & stills camera all rolled into 1
check out Phil Bloom's site for a little look, he's a very talented videographer

Philip Bloom » Blog Archive » Panasonic Lumix GH1 first impressions and first footage

[ade4all]

Only problem with me is that I need this camera before July![/quote]

it's due for release here on 1st of june

as regards zoom length, the stock lens that ships with it is 10x, to be fair unless you are using a tripod that is about as far as you can push it handheld anyway for anything watchable, the beauty being that you can add relatively cheap photo quality lenses if you need longer reach or wider angle

[ade4all]

[quote=ade4all;9459768]i think the limit on recording is 30 minutes in 1 continual shot


reports are now that there is no limit to how long you can keep recording for, (this is only dictated by the size of the sd card)