[clim920]

Okay so there the same price on bhphoto right now and I don't know which way to go? I like photography and it's very fun but cinematography is great too. I want to know some of your opinions, some have said go pentax kx due to the way better dof. Tho the hv40 seems to have fine dof and you could always get the jag35pro? Im so lost every hour I change my mind HALP!


1st post btw


Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : VIXIA HV40

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Last edited by clim920; 07-22-2010 at 03:59 AM.

[twitch]

I wouldn't buy the K-x if you want it to do duty as a general family camcorder that's for sure. I find it a royal PITA to use for movies having been so use to AF handycams in the past. As a DSLR for stills though, it's exceptional.

You'd be far better off buying a dedicated camcorder, and a dedicated DSLR for stills. At least for this generation of DSLRs.

[KxBlaze]

Those 2 items are completely different so you have to decide what you want/need more. A good camcorder that takes ok stills or a good camera that takes ok video.

I have the Kx and love it and also find the video to be pretty good but definitely not for an everyday camcorder.

[clim920]

Well I think I will be going on trips and taking photos and then taking videos of the people taking photos? If that makes sense. I also want to do nice shallow dof short films, but the internal mic for kx is not the best. So what do you think?

[LeeRunge]

I own a Canon HF S10, a 1080p camcorder. It's video is jawdropping for such a small camera. I can't imagine a SLR competing with a dedicated camcorder so if you are out to produce video you may want to get the proper tool. If it's casual video your KX would probably suit you fine once you got used to it.

The HF S10 also takes pretty decent stills for a camcorder although it is a point and shoot with no manual control.

The video it produces is amazing. The downside to 1080p is you need a serious computer to edit or even playback video. I use a Core 7 975 (3.33 ghz) 6GB RAM pc to deal with that part of it. Don't underestimate how demanded HD video is on a computer and factor that into your decision.

720P should not be discounted as it takes up far less space and video requirements while still looking "great" for everything but a really nice large TV.

We are in the realm of "too much" in a lot of megapixel/pixel ratings for what most everyday content is consumed in.

1080P will eat a hard drive in no time.

[clim920]

Oof yeah good point :P but with hfs10 can you still just do the 720p?

[LeeRunge]

Oof yeah good point :P but with hfs10 can you still just do the 720p?

Yes,

It has been replaced with a HF S11 which has better image stabilization, not that the 10 was bad.

The video it produces is very high quality, it is also made mostly of metal if that matters to you and has a high quality build. The stills it produces are of very good quality but it cannot compete with a SLR for total control and image quality in stills.

The HF S10 I believe has a max aperture of 1.8-3.0 depending on zoom, it zooms from @40-400mm. Mine performs pretty well in low light as well.

I don't know the price on a HV40 but the retail on the site seems to be fairly close.

Also it uses SD cards along with a built in 32GB flash memory.

At full resolution you get @ 1.5 hours per 16GB so it will burn memory at max settings. I think the max for 32 GB is around 12 hours at lower settings.

I have not used video on my K7 yet so I can't speculate as to the difference. I guess I should probably take some just to see what I think of it.


Also a camcorder is just better all around for video, ergonomics etc. I use a Manfrotto monopod (with a mini tripod base) with fluid head and it works very very well for video as you can move about quickly and take smooth panning shots.

The choice for me would come down to priority of stills of or video. Either will excel at it's purpose and be OK for the other. I have both but it I had to pick one it would be SLR because I take far more pictures than I do video, video is a massive time sink to get a nice result, then you have to have someone watch it where a picture can take minutes to post process and only a moment of someones time to take in. Also 1080P is only at it's full potential on a large TV which limits how much you will show it off. And the streaming internet factor mentioned is also something to think about, it takes a lot of bandwidth to watch and I have yet to see "full" quality in a streaming video as you see captured from the camera.

If your going with video be sure to find something like a "steadycam" if your going to be moving during shots as shaky cam will kill anyones attention and is painful to watch.

[clim920]

I can get the hv40 for 629$? good?

[Rondec]

I think in general a dedicated camcorder will perform better than a dSLR at video. The K7 does have the option of hooking in an external microphone (which the kx doesn't have). The one thing that a dSLR does give you is the ability to experiment with narrow depth of field.

That said, I end up using my K7 more for video than my camcorder, purely because I have it with me more. It does require manual focus, but that is fairly easily learned.

[clim920]

Alright thanks guys I decided to go with the kx and will just get a Zoom H4N down the road, But now which lenses to get? I heard great things about the old pentax 50mm 1.7 M Prime lens? Any suggestions?

[Entropy]

I think in general a dedicated camcorder will perform better than a dSLR at video. The K7 does have the option of hooking in an external microphone (which the kx doesn't have). The one thing that a dSLR does give you is the ability to experiment with narrow depth of field.

That said, I end up using my K7 more for video than my camcorder, purely because I have it with me more. It does require manual focus, but that is fairly easily learned.

The lack of an external microphone jack of the K-x kills it for anything but basic video purposes (unless you go through the hassle of a separate audio recorder and syncing in post...)

As to the HV40 - I would not recommend any tape or hard drive based unit - go with the HF series (Flash memory based.) Usually the double-digit HF series units have internal flash memory and the triple-digit model numbers don't. Often the price delta between the double-digit version and the triple-digit version (e.g. HF10 vs HF100) is greater than the cost of an SDHC card of that size, but not always.

Edit: FYI I have an HF100 and a K20D. If I had done the camcorder shopping a bit later I might have just gone for the K-7, although without HSM/SDM glass a dedicated camcorder is still probably better in most scenarios.

[clim920]

Ahh I just heard tapes had way better video quality and length, Is what a friend told me. S which would you recommend Entropy?

[sagiboy]

I have an HV30 and the video quality is out of this world..nice crisp HD video!! Tape quality is way better than HDD or flash memory as they compress the video a lot. Consider this, a 60 min Mini DV tape can hold over 13GB data and most of the HD camcorders with built in memory has 32GB or 64GB ( in the affordable range) and boast of recording up to 12 hours or more. It compresses the video so much that you can see the loss in detail when blown up on a 52" TV.

[LeeRunge]

I would not use tapes they are an added step in processing video.

Compression, yes you can compress (and add artifacts, cut quality) your video recorded to an SD card. BUT this is not mandatory. This is the recording times for a 32 GB card

32GB internal Flash drive
LP (5 Mbps) 12 hours 15 minutes
SP (7 Mbps) 9 hours 35 minutes
XP+ (12 Mbps) 5 hours 45 minutes
FXP (17 Mbps) 4 hours 10 minutes - Allows 1920 x 1080 Full HD Recording
MXP (24 Mbps) 2 hours 55 minutes - Allows 1920 x 1080 Full HD Recording


As you can see max settings are not "compressed" much at all. Using around 11 GB per hour to record.

You need to use a class 4/6 card which is not bad at all expense wise vs something like a class 10.

Editing video is very labor intensive vs pictures as well. Get the KX you won't be sorry.

[RolloR]

DSLR shallow DOF and no autofocus can actually work against you.