Topic: seeking upgrade to high def advice

[firmdragon]

so currently, my main camera is a sony trv950.  standard definition, circa 2003 cam. 3ccds. think of it as the bridge between 1ccd and 3ccd back in the day. i think it was replaced by the hc1000 (panasonic's equivalent would be the gs400?). pretty solid and definitely no regrets buying at the time.  now adays, I have two or so issues with it that have been making me look towards upgrading to HD.

a) it's not HD. (looking towards the future)
b) it's fairly large.  i do mainly handheld, ~front row and after an hour, the hands really start to feel it.

i've got a little $$ kicking around, and have been looking at some of the newer hd cams and have thought about upgrading.  keep in mind, i'm not looking for a large +$2k cam.  while it would be nice, i think it would become too bothersome for the audience members around me. and issue b).   a buddy of mine rocks the sony hc1 and i like the size of it.  and i do like the way the cmos sensors apparently avoid the vertical smearing that the ccds often have.  however, is it me or are the colors not as good (vivid?) as a regular 3ccd cam?  the hv20, was also another i was looking at.  can anyone comment on the colors that one has?  ideally i'd like to upgrade to HD, but not if it'll be with a 1ccd equivalent cam.

sorry for the length and probable confusion along the way,  i guess my question is do you think i should pull the trigger now, or wait until a 3-cmos (is there such thing?) hd cam at the consumer level comes along, however long that may be.  EDIT: or if you could think of a cam that a) is hd b) 3ccd like color c) small, lmk.

[NOTHINGFAN]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/555544-REG/Canon__VIXIA_HV30_HDV_Camcorder.html?kbid=1173

[Josh P]

I was going to say get the HV20, but that HV30 looks even better.

And FYI, it's the CMOS sensors that suffer from occasional vertical smearing, not CCD.  But unfortunately it looks like most things are going CMOS, like the HV20/HV30.  I'd still get the HV30 though and just deal with the smearing.

[firmdragon]

isn't vertical smearing when you have the vertical lines a la:

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,38177.0.html

if so then it is CCDs.  i haven't really seen what kind of artifacts cmos sensors introduce.

[wilsonedits]

CMOS sensors and flashing lights just don't work...here is an example of a 30k CMOS camera... and what happens
the strobes look horrible...hard to watch
http://web.mac.com/fini1/iWeb/Site%20135/4k%20Red%20Camera.html

CCD-CMOS Info
http://dvxuser.com/jason/CMOS-CCD/

[firmdragon]

CMOS sensors and flashing lights just don't work...here is an example of a 30k CMOS camera... and what happens
the strobes look horrible...hard to watch
http://web.mac.com/fini1/iWeb/Site%20135/4k%20Red%20Camera.html

CCD-CMOS Info
http://dvxuser.com/jason/CMOS-CCD/

that is an awesome read +1.  looks like the cmos sensors can be problematic themselves.. ie lots of people doing flash photog around you.
*sigh* i think i may have to sit on this for a bit and see what other cams come out in the near future...

[davefrr]

Hi,

I own this HV20, and I have to say I'm really happy about it. Going from my old low-cost DV to this model was a revolution.
You can manually control exposure, shutter speed, gain.... I believe if you don't want to spend more than a thousand dollars, you can't have a better camera today.
The main difference between HV20 and HV30 is the 30p mode (only US model if I'm correct). It seems to be easier to edit.

I just filmed a live show the other day, I can upload so clips or at least some screen caps if you want. I was very happy about the result. There was no flashing lights so I can't confirm wilsonedits post.
But yeah once again, for this pricerange, it's a little wonder!

[stantheman1976]

Please do show some clips.  I think the more footage we can see the better we can all judge if this camera is right for any of us.

I'm hoping to get enough extra scratch this year to upgrade to an HV20. 

[davefrr]

Here's 3 screen caps (full size).
It was shot in 25p (I live in Europe), cine mode.
They turned almost all the lights off for the second half of the show as you can see in 3rd picture, but the it's still quite sharp (relative term compared to 3000 $ cams uh).

I will upload a short clip later this weekend, I want to show you a non-lossy file, so it will take some time to upload. Filesize for HDV is the same as DV (13Gb/hour).

[davefrr]

A 30s clip:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S130E30P

[wilsonedits]

Please do show some clips.  I think the more footage we can see the better we can all judge if this camera is right for any of us.

www.vimeo.com    search hv20 there tons... although alot of them are poor attempts at movie making or have 35mm adaptors but you can get the idea