Which camcorder is better for a documentary pansonic pv-gs500 or canon hv20?

Question

which video camera would you say is better to make use for a high school senior project documentary? please give me some tips i really think that these 2 are my best options in my price range. and they both seem pretty good but which one would you say is better?? and why?

Answer 1

i personally like canon hg10 more than hc 20

Answer 2

The Panasonic PV-GS500 is a good camcorder - but comparing to the Canon HV20 is not really fair...

Specifically, the HV20 can do high definition and the GS500 cannot.

Both have:

mic-in jacks

good manual controls for zoom, focus, exposure, audio

use MiniDV tape

In addition to the HV20's HD capability, it also shoots in a pretty interesting 24p format.

You would do well with either camcorder. But if these are the two to choose from, I have to give the nod to the HV20 - which was camcorderinfo.com's 2007 camera of the year...

You should also consider mics, boom, sturdy case, tripod, rechargeable high capacity battery... and make sure your computer has a firewire 400 port because you will use the DV port on the camcorder (4-pin) to the firewire port on your computer (could be 4 or 6 pin). And you will need that firewire (IEEE1394, i.Link) cable because they are not included in the box with the camera.

Heads up: standard def video uses 13 gig of hard driv space per hour of imported video. High def uses 44 gig of hard drive space per hour of imported video. You may need an additional (external is OK) hard drive.

The included USB port will be used ONLY to transfer stills from the memory card.

Repost here or email me when you want to discuss mics.

Answer 3

I can't say on those cameras, as I don;t use them. However, have you looked at the Xacti HD700 - HD1000. They record HD, and the video quality blew me away. I actually did an entire project film with the HD1000, a good camera stabilizer, and a good audio recorder.

Just an idea.