questions about cameras for action sports

joepo · Nov 14, 2006

I am looking to get deeper into filmmaking. I have alright camcorders right now, but nothing high end. I have made some small projects.I want to invest into filmaking. I'm looking for help as to what kind of cameras I should be looking into. Just a few questons. keep in mind This is for action sports.

Should I go with a 3-ccd like a canon xl-2, or Should I go into the realm of hd?

What is the difference between HD and HDV, which should I use?
I heard something from an unreliable source that if I use HD it would only be able to play for people that have HD dvd players and such, is that true or not?
Do you have any specific camera suggestions for this line of filmmaking?

I appreciate any help you can give me.

MarkG · Nov 14, 2006

What is the difference between HD and HDV

About $50,000

.

HDV is an HD format, but it's highly compressed to fit on DV tape. Formats like HDCAM use much lower compression and give a better picture, but are extremely expensive to buy and fairly expensive to shoot.

I'm not sure about action sports as I've never taped them, but personally I'd be hard-pressed to recommend buying a DV camera today with even Joe Sixpack starting to move to HD.

surjones · Nov 16, 2006

With sprots you want a couple things, control over shutter, exposure and FRAME RATES. Panasonics DVCPro HD Codec is one of the best. Two Cameras offer the wide variety one (VariCam) is 75k and the other (HVX200) starts at 5,600 and comes with a FREE 8gig P2 card. P2 is Technology that records to a memory disk rather than tape, better for weather, vibrations, etc. Also the no Post Capture needed. Both have the rare abilites of shooting FILM LIKE at 24p, which is as good as it gets, BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE. Variable frame rates and control of exposure time to a 350 degree shutter. I have shot football and scoccer for some test shoots and love the outcome. Although, I had no time to play around with settings, I was imensely impressed by the HVX responce to motion, at 720p/24p at 60fps (frames a seconds) With the free 8gig P2 card that Panasonic is offering when you buy from an authorized U.S. dealer. you can record 22mins of 720p/24p footage. and about 8mins of 60fps.

The only differnce between the VariCam and the HVX is the chip size, basically... HVX has all the frame rates it has, and also same exposure times. A lot of indy films get shot with the VariCam, NOW they are getting shot with the HVX. I know personaly that Peter Jackson is shooting something with them.

Doug.Mellon · Dec 20, 2006

It depends on what actions sports you are shooting... if its something like skateboarding or snowboarding then I would use the VX2000, vx2100 with the Century Death Lens for snowboarding / skiing or the Century Baby Death for snowboarding. Then if you are filming rollerblading then I would go with the GL2 just because I have talked to people who film fruit booting and they prefer the GL2 for some reason... dont ask me why.

Hope this helps... - Doug

surjones · Dec 20, 2006

I shot this a test, only took about 15mins. HVX is defiantly for sports specially at 60fps. I did not put much effort into it, it is just to show ya

element80 · Dec 21, 2006

As far as outputting HD onto an SD DVD, there's no prbolem. All you'll ahve to do is down-res it, and you'll be fine. The only issue with HD is the cost. THink about your target audience, and what they would prefer when deciding between HD and SD. As much as I like the Canon XL cameras, depending on what exatly you're doing, they might not be the best. The Canon GL, the Panasonic DVX-100, or the Sony VX-2100 are a little more compact and easier to use while your on a snowboard/skateboard/whatever else. The XL's are more for shoulder mounted/tri-pod shooting.