Hello every one! I am new to this forum, and I am very excited of the perspective of making the acquaintance of experienced people in the field! I am not experienced at all, in fact the only camera I ever had was a Hitachi hi8 some 15 years ago. I enjoyed every bit of using it, but as all small things in my hands back then, they got very easily broken :S... In the meantime, I finished school, high school and college 
so I am pretty over with the more "immediate" stuff, and can enjoy my free time the way I really want to.
Ok so, I am on the verge on acquiring a camera, and don't yet know wich one to buy.. I have made some research over the years, and while I would love to get my hands on one of those RED's scarlett, I wouldn't really need all those megapixels for now.. Maybe the DOF but as I have heard, it is quite comparable to a 16mm camera.. so maybe other camcorders on the market can offer that kind of chip size.. I don't know, that's why I am here talking to you guys
I have narrowed my research to one of these two cameras: CANON HF10 and SONY SR11. Why?
- I am currently living in Shanghai, and would like to make some kind of video documentary on the city's architecture / public spaces / life style. I am also not going to stay here forever, maybe only until end of june. So I dont have enough time to save the thousands of dollars worth semi-pro equipment.
- I know that technology grows each year, so I think that these high specs popular models, will be more easily refurbished to others.
The indecision factor:
CANON HF10 strong points for me:
non linear recording
solid state drive. more reliable.
flash card recording. the future is here I think..
Progressive recording (1080 24p etc..)
good video performance for the price
cons:
manual focus sucks (joystick on LCD)
AVCHD sucks from what I hear.. but its the best alternative to nle I think...
LCD display not good enough for manual focus (if somekind of lens adapter is attached to it)
SONY SR11 strong points for me:
non linear recording
better manual focus than HF10
Good lcd (maybe good enough for lens adapter?)
Cons:
only interlaced frame recording... if only it was progressive.. I would choose this one..
AVCHD sucks from what I hear.. but its the best alternative to nle as I read... and the sony version is worse than the canon one as I've heard.
HDD recording.. 120 gb on the sr12 is really too much.. even 60 gb is dangerous I think. If the camera falls, and the hdd fails.. there goes my "unbackedup" films to hell.
Why don't I choose miniDV? because I hate tapes eheh.. Is quality so much better? isn't drop frames an issue while passing to the computer? I think I would choose miniDV if I was to buy a much more expensive camera, because the quality would really make a difference yes. but from a HV30 to a HF10 or SR12... I don't think it is that noticeable.
And to finish, my budget:
around 2000-3000 euros. including tripod, camera, mic, maybe a letus35 but in china I think that will be really hard to find.. ok, that's around it.
I am opened to suggestions, I didn't make a lot of research on more expensive cameras like sony Z1c or Canon XH A1 because they seem to be too expensive, but if someone can convince me that for 1000 more or so I can have a lot more quality, I am in to it.
Sorry for the long post eheh, I know you guys have more things to do, but believe me, this was a condensed post.. I have so many questions that I don't know where to start
.
Cheers!
Romain
EDIT: I have just realised that I posted this on "newbie".. I was to post it on technology.. my mistake. Admin, feel free to move the post to the technology thread. sorry
so I am pretty over with the more "immediate" stuff, and can enjoy my free time the way I really want to.Ok so, I am on the verge on acquiring a camera, and don't yet know wich one to buy.. I have made some research over the years, and while I would love to get my hands on one of those RED's scarlett, I wouldn't really need all those megapixels for now.. Maybe the DOF but as I have heard, it is quite comparable to a 16mm camera.. so maybe other camcorders on the market can offer that kind of chip size.. I don't know, that's why I am here talking to you guys
I have narrowed my research to one of these two cameras: CANON HF10 and SONY SR11. Why?
- I am currently living in Shanghai, and would like to make some kind of video documentary on the city's architecture / public spaces / life style. I am also not going to stay here forever, maybe only until end of june. So I dont have enough time to save the thousands of dollars worth semi-pro equipment.
- I know that technology grows each year, so I think that these high specs popular models, will be more easily refurbished to others.
The indecision factor:
CANON HF10 strong points for me:
non linear recording
solid state drive. more reliable.
flash card recording. the future is here I think..
Progressive recording (1080 24p etc..)
good video performance for the price
cons:
manual focus sucks (joystick on LCD)
AVCHD sucks from what I hear.. but its the best alternative to nle I think...
LCD display not good enough for manual focus (if somekind of lens adapter is attached to it)
SONY SR11 strong points for me:
non linear recording
better manual focus than HF10
Good lcd (maybe good enough for lens adapter?)
Cons:
only interlaced frame recording... if only it was progressive.. I would choose this one..
AVCHD sucks from what I hear.. but its the best alternative to nle as I read... and the sony version is worse than the canon one as I've heard.
HDD recording.. 120 gb on the sr12 is really too much.. even 60 gb is dangerous I think. If the camera falls, and the hdd fails.. there goes my "unbackedup" films to hell.
Why don't I choose miniDV? because I hate tapes eheh.. Is quality so much better? isn't drop frames an issue while passing to the computer? I think I would choose miniDV if I was to buy a much more expensive camera, because the quality would really make a difference yes. but from a HV30 to a HF10 or SR12... I don't think it is that noticeable.
And to finish, my budget:
around 2000-3000 euros. including tripod, camera, mic, maybe a letus35 but in china I think that will be really hard to find.. ok, that's around it.
I am opened to suggestions, I didn't make a lot of research on more expensive cameras like sony Z1c or Canon XH A1 because they seem to be too expensive, but if someone can convince me that for 1000 more or so I can have a lot more quality, I am in to it.
Sorry for the long post eheh, I know you guys have more things to do, but believe me, this was a condensed post.. I have so many questions that I don't know where to start
.Cheers!
Romain
EDIT: I have just realised that I posted this on "newbie".. I was to post it on technology.. my mistake. Admin, feel free to move the post to the technology thread. sorry
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