Topic: Tips on Recording Live Shows?

[taktheride]

Canon makes the best lenses on dv cameras.  I"ve owned two.  a good decision.

is that just opinion or is that based on a technological fact?

It kind of sounds like it might have been based on good past experiences.  I could be wrong though.

I'd say a bit of both....  canon lenses have been glass for a LONG time, back to vhs days.  sony used cheap plastic, but they may have cleaned up their act recently (the most recent gen of 3 ccd cameras)  But those are wicked expensive.
i've used both and the canon is better... to me..

[hyperplane]

Canon makes the best lenses on dv cameras.  I"ve owned two.  a good decision.

that might actually be true, but i can say from experience that the Canon ZR70 i owned made shite picture quality compared to either of my Sony DV cams (one digital8 and one miniDV). sure, it had 20x optical zoom, but if the picture is utterly grainy, i could care less about how much of a close-up i can get. but then again, after having the misfortune of owning a ZR70, i read a lot of comments by other owners saying the ZR series Canons had poor picture quality in situations with low lighting (read: lighting without having a professional gaffer to set up before filming).

just my 2 cents. i'd rather have a sharper picture and have to get a lens doubler than a picture grainier-than-a-beach on the Atlantic coast while being able to see the pores on the singer's face.

[taktheride]

sure, it had 20x optical zoom, but if the picture is utterly grainy, i could care less about how much of a close-up i can get. but then again, after having the misfortune of owning a ZR70

Having not used that camera, I can't say anything about it.  But are you sure the digital zoom had not kicked in when it got grainy?  Optical zoom does not cause grain.   I leave the digital zoom on my dv camera turned off, I find it rather useless.  Unless the camera is on a tripod, digital zoom will make viewers sick cause often you can't hold it still enough with it zoomed out all the way and keep it from shaking horribly.

[Yeedog]

I have a canon and they are good cameras but they are not the best in low light situations from what i've seen with fan made DVDs and the few shows I've recorded.    I've seen alot better video come out of Sony cameras and have heard they do perform better in low light situations.

[wilsondmb]

my canon zr60 has done horrible in low light conditions very black.....looking at getting a sony pc100

[sabre]

Most camera's have built in AE settings which come in very useful. Use the "spotlight" AE setting when shooting concerts in low light conditions. Even if there is ample light, I still recommend using the "spotlight" AE setting.

There is another setting which is slightly better, the "Sunset & Moon" AE setting, but it forces you to use the manual focus. If you're competent with using manual focus then use this setting, otherwise the "spotlight" setting will be fine.

[dklein]

I'll agree with the above that Canons (and the Panasonic I tried) suck in low light and Sony (at least my TRV18) seems to do very well.

[Ed.]

I'll agree with the above that Canons (and the Panasonic I tried) suck in low light and Sony (at least my TRV18) seems to do very well.

i have a panasonic, it sucks in low light.  i can affirm that.  however, its all i got, and it still gets the job done until i can get something else.

[WolfmanDMB]

sorry to bring back the (almost) dead but i have a canon zr70mc and i taped a guster concert in what i consider to have been very low light and the video as well as the audio turned out much better than i expected. was worth the 320 for the complete package (extended battery, tripod, uv filter, bag, +++) on ebay. look for wiloughbys out of ny, ny if you are interested in a great refurbished camera at awesome prices.

[Ed.]

i think wiloughbys is where i got my digital camera from.  i ordered it about a week before christmas and it still hadn't came by the 23rd so i called them and they said there was a problem with my credit card, but couldn't get ahold of me.  I reordered the camera and they sent it out that day and i had it before noon on the 24th.  free of charge.  awesome service.

[GNRArnold]

I have used a Canon, Panasonic, and Sony dv cams to tape shows. The consumer Panasonic models(not the slightly larger 3ccd ones) with the 20x and up zoom have very lousy image stabilization- even some shakes on a rock solid tripod. You can achieve decent picture quality with the ZR70 by setting it to Spotlight mode and keeping the white balance at indoor/balanced. If the lights are really low at the show though, the spotlight setting will give you a dark picture. Sonys have excellent picture quality but their recent consumer end models lack popup viewfinders(a must if stealthing when security is walking behind you) and mic inputs.