Toby Eggitt
Novice Member
Hi all,
I'm looking for a low cost camera capable of these features. I'd like to get something used/pre-owned/open-box to minimize the cost, and of course there are so many options out there, it's hard to know which might be good. In particular, one feature is rarely documented in my experience, and since it's one of the non-negotiables, I would greatly appreciate help!
It must have:
- Full time, 1080, 30 fps *progressive scan* HDMI output, that can be configure to be entirely free of any overlays or other decorations. I'm not using this output to monitor the picture, rather I will record directly from this output, rather than to whatever internal card the thing might use. (I will note this is the thing that's hard to find and seems to be rarely documented. Virtually all the Canon Vixia series--I currently own two Vixia HF R300s--a) do their output as 60 interleaved, and b) the manuals don't document the output, they just say "go to this menu entry to find out what the output format is", plus, the mode cannot be changed on these).
- decent output quality from the system as a whole (i.e. decent lens, decent sensor, and decent quality signal sent to that HDMI output.) For comparison, the output of the Vixia HF R300 is totally adequate with the sole exception of the fact that it's interleaved
So near, yet so far!
- a manual focus mode
- a manual exposure mode
- a manual white balance mode
- a 1/4" tripod mount
- either a modest zoom in the range of what I might call "70mm in 35 mm full frame equivalent", or be capable of accepting a Nikon F mount lens via an adapter.
It would be nice if it:
- retains its zoom and other manual settings when turned off
- isn't huge, the palm-sized camcorders are great for this purpose, but a full-size professional camera would be useless.
I will note, for context and perhaps to broaden the thinking, that I'm currently using two Sony A6000 with Nikon lenses, and these fit the bill nicely. I have seen these for around $300~$400 used, though it would add another $100+ for an adapter and another Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, but am hoping I might be able to halve, or even better, that cost; the Sonys are awesome, and it's nice to have one to carry around when it's not needed for its primary purpose, but a third doesn't add anything!
Edit: It occurs to me I should explain my issue with interleaved scan. I don't care what the electronic standard is, I care about the tearing effect, as my subject matter has very clearly delineated vertical edges that move horizontally. So, 60i output would be fine, if the two fields are taken from a single exposure. What's not acceptable is one field being output, followed by another that's taken at a later instant. That, however it's presented, looks awful. Similarly, it's no use to me whatsoever to try to de-interlace this material.
Many thanks in advance,
Toby
I'm looking for a low cost camera capable of these features. I'd like to get something used/pre-owned/open-box to minimize the cost, and of course there are so many options out there, it's hard to know which might be good. In particular, one feature is rarely documented in my experience, and since it's one of the non-negotiables, I would greatly appreciate help!
It must have:
- Full time, 1080, 30 fps *progressive scan* HDMI output, that can be configure to be entirely free of any overlays or other decorations. I'm not using this output to monitor the picture, rather I will record directly from this output, rather than to whatever internal card the thing might use. (I will note this is the thing that's hard to find and seems to be rarely documented. Virtually all the Canon Vixia series--I currently own two Vixia HF R300s--a) do their output as 60 interleaved, and b) the manuals don't document the output, they just say "go to this menu entry to find out what the output format is", plus, the mode cannot be changed on these).
- decent output quality from the system as a whole (i.e. decent lens, decent sensor, and decent quality signal sent to that HDMI output.) For comparison, the output of the Vixia HF R300 is totally adequate with the sole exception of the fact that it's interleaved
So near, yet so far!- a manual focus mode
- a manual exposure mode
- a manual white balance mode
- a 1/4" tripod mount
- either a modest zoom in the range of what I might call "70mm in 35 mm full frame equivalent", or be capable of accepting a Nikon F mount lens via an adapter.
It would be nice if it:
- retains its zoom and other manual settings when turned off
- isn't huge, the palm-sized camcorders are great for this purpose, but a full-size professional camera would be useless.
I will note, for context and perhaps to broaden the thinking, that I'm currently using two Sony A6000 with Nikon lenses, and these fit the bill nicely. I have seen these for around $300~$400 used, though it would add another $100+ for an adapter and another Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, but am hoping I might be able to halve, or even better, that cost; the Sonys are awesome, and it's nice to have one to carry around when it's not needed for its primary purpose, but a third doesn't add anything!
Edit: It occurs to me I should explain my issue with interleaved scan. I don't care what the electronic standard is, I care about the tearing effect, as my subject matter has very clearly delineated vertical edges that move horizontally. So, 60i output would be fine, if the two fields are taken from a single exposure. What's not acceptable is one field being output, followed by another that's taken at a later instant. That, however it's presented, looks awful. Similarly, it's no use to me whatsoever to try to de-interlace this material.
Many thanks in advance,
Toby
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