Hey guys. I have looked through couple of the threads on here but had to be a noob and ask the question.

$5000 max. Closest to film quality (before editing). What camera?

I have been strongly considering the AG-DVX100A. I know minDV can only go so far and in the end its not film, but I want a camera that will produce as close as posible. I have done a fair amount of research and between Sony cams and Canons XL cams, this seems the best.

Right now the DVX100a will be your best bet. It produces fantastic images. But you should probably hold off for a few months until their new HD cam (the HVX100) comes out.

It will be under 5k?

I wouldnt hold your breath on the HVX. It will probably be just at or over $5K, plus the extras needed to shoot HD. Yes - the cam will be the best case scenario for 24p HD, and closer to film, but unless you are considering doing an actual transfer, your money may be better spent on the DVX or the XL2. If you can go for $5K i would spend the cash on the XL2 plus some extras and you'll be in very good shape. And I'm a DVX user! It all comes down to what you need really...so, what is your timeframe and whats the scope of the project?


FYI on the HVX - unless the firewire HD recording capability is true (and it has NOT been completely confirmed yet), the P2 cards needed to record HD are in the thousands for a few minutes of footage. Not really ideal for independent films. You'll wind up shooting DV on a $5K HD cam.

Not to get entrapped in a camera discussion (recently, I've been very good at avoiding them), but I've been looking at the HVX very closely for myself. For me, it's the increased color space that is the key feature. I'm just so sick of 4:1:1 footage. Also, the HD resolution will be nice when doing compositing where you might need to reframe in post (like motion stabilizing). But, I actually can see myself using HD as a final format.

And, at the risk of throwing more speculation into the rhetoric about the cam, I imagine as 3rd parties start making p2 cards and the consumer base for them grows (especially with this cam), they will significantly drop in price. P2 cards have been successfully used in broadcast applications for some time now, and I'm stoked panasonic used them to bridge true HD to a consumer market.

I can't wait for a camera to come out that all u have to do is hook a hard drive up to it.

Joren, i totally agree about why non-HDV Hd is exciting - even if you are outputting SD, the HD raw footage should produce far better results. I'm really curious what the second gen will bring about.

Re: the hard drives, the bigger issue i see, regardless of whether it actually works or not, is finding a battery powered external HD enclosure that can support a 7200 rpm 3.5" drive. Firestore is an option, but again, expensive. I'm still convinced though that tapes, while they may not fully dissapear for a while, may be come the exception instead fo the rule over the course of the next few iterations.