camera - HDV vs. miniDV

ok, if you were going to get a camera for current day to day use with fcp and you did industrial, commercial, guerilla entertainment videos. who out there would reccommend and HDV camera and who would go the route of say an XL2?

Industrials-HDV
Commercials, anything with a more filmic look, with the interchangeable lens system and the possibility of using 35mm film camera lenses, the possibilty to play with DOF and use Follow Focus, definitely the XL2.

I would avoid HDV and go with the XL2, or Panasonic DVX-100a. Or you can wait until next year and get the Panny P2 and use it to shoot DV, until you can afford the hiddeously expensive P2 cards (8 min for $2Gs....what are they THINKING?)

P2 is cheap if you deduct the cost savings of not needing to digitise tape.

To answer this question more completely you would need to define the end usage of the footage.

HDV is a wonderful technology for those of us who dearly want to present a HighDef picture. There are many cameras coming and the ones that are here today are great.

Sonys top o' the line HDV camera is very versatile and can shoot HDV or DV. It is the only one in it's class to do 1080i as all the Pana and JVC cams use 720p.

The new Sony single chip CMOS HDV camera is interesting (from a cost standpoint) but it is not shipping yet. Neither are some of those to be WOWed cameras either.

So, do you want good looking 720x480 or 486 or 1920x1080?

I never consider that wasted time. If I have to hire an assistant, then yes, that is money saved, but typically on my FCP projects I am my own assistant and when I log and capture I familiarize myself with the footage I have and soak it all in. it is time well spent, and time I would spend looking at the footage had I not watched it as I captured it.

XL2...variable frame rate...and 24P

Sony's HDV...two rates...720P and 1080i. And don't go NEAR the cine settings. They will make your image into cra...er...garbage.

Not that I am biased or anything...OK...so I am.

shane viewing footage while digitizing is so slow, once it is digitized you can rapidly move through the footage.

Time is money once you have worked in a tapeless work place it is realy frustrating to go back to tape so for many of us P2 or xdcam is not expensive in a pro enviroment.

The new Panasonic hd camera is the best of all worlds , it is standard def or high def DVCPRO100 720p ,1080i and it has a DV tape transport so no need to buy P2 straight away if you cannot afford it.

Sony's XDCam destroys the P2 with cost effectiveness of camera, storage media, and deck.

Andy

I work in Pro environments. I guess I am too used to working in pro envirnonments that skimp on way too many things. Cable channels that don't have huge budgets...well, they do, but it is spent elsewhere like using the Varicam or hiring name talent. Oh, that and Kidnapping Insurance in Mexico. That ate a lot.

does anybody know why Panasonic doesn't annonce 720p in Pal for it's forthcoming Hdv camera ?

is there a limitation ?