Best MiniDV Cam

[CgFX]

Originally posted by NeoAnubis
hey,
I'm planning to buy a digital camcorder. Does anyone know what's the best MiniDV camcorder that's under $2,000? I am going to do a bunch of tracking and compositing stuff. Also does the number of CCD's make a big difference in picture quality.

Yes, 3 CCD's makes a big difference in the color resolution and accuracy.

There are a good number of 3 CCD cameras now under $2K.

I would also tend to stay away from "mega pixel" cameras since they tend to have smaller CCDs where each element grabs less light than their larger counterparts. The main benefits to megapixel CCDs in a video camera are for still photos or if they don't have optical image stablization. I would rather have 3 large CCD's with large ~340K elements each and optical image stabilization.

You may also want to look at some new miniDV cameras that are starting to do HD. This may be a big help if you are doing motion tracking and compositing. JVC has a new camera that is able to do 720p (compressed obviously) on standard miniDV tape (not in normal DV format mind you).

[derelict]

get canon and nothing else.

[meats]

I use a Canon Gl2 and highly recommend it. It shoots in 30 fps progressive mode, which produces nice full frames (non interlaced) that are great for motion tracking. I got mine for a bit above $2200 - worth every penny. It also has a 1.7 megapixel still camera built in, but I don't use it...

[CgFX]

I agree with the Canon endorsements as well. I love the color produced by mine and the normal great Canon image stabilization performance.

note: Canon's progressive is not a true 60p or 30p progressive. They do interpolation from the CCD. A couple of the Panasonics are the only true progressive scan CCD MiniDV cameras under $2,000 that I have found.

[dmeyer]

Originally posted by CgFX
You may also want to look at some new miniDV cameras that are starting to do HD. This may be a big help if you are doing motion tracking and compositing. JVC has a new camera that is able to do 720p (compressed obviously) on standard miniDV tape (not in normal DV format mind you).

I was thrilled when i heard about the new low cost 720p cam from JVC...but it seems the tech is still highly proprietary and immature (in this price range, i mean).

http://electronics.cnet.com/electronics/0-6342639-1304-20817405.html?tag=prmo1

It's a great first step though, to getting affordable HD equipment out there. Here's to the second (or third) rev. :beer:

[alphatron]

I recommend the Sony VX2000.. I prefer it over the GL1 and GL2. If you want to spend a bit more, I'd go for the Panasonic DVX100 which can shoot in true 24p (advanced and standard mode) as well as true 30p. The Canon cameras fake it and you actually lose some lines of resolution in the process.

I've shot short films and docs with the VX2k, GL1, XL1, and DVX100, and the DVX100 comes out on top in my books.

[elvis]

i'm no camera expert, but i recently bought my girlfriend the SONY TRV22E. it was dirt cheap, but does a fairly good job.

the model up (TRV33E) seems nice. again: no expert, just sharing. :)

[dmeyer]

Well compositing footage shot on even the highest end of miniDV cam's is pretty painful. The 3 chip cam's do make it much easier, but the video is still knocked down to the 4:1:1 compression of miniDV.

[alphatron]

It's not so much the comping overall, but sepecifically pulling a key that's the real pain. It helps a lot more when the signal is progressive (a la DVX100), but he 4:1:1 limitation often rears its head. THere are workarounds for this however in most compositing apps.

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