Which of these camcorders would be best feature-wise for shooting an independent film?

Question

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8741196&type=product&id=1202648528788

or

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8696645&type=product&id=1198888991521

Answer 1

You have so many variables floating between these two...

Personally, I would not use either. But rather than compare just these camcorders, let's include what makes a camcorder good along with what these camcorders bring to the party...

1) Video storage uses least amount of video compression.

Video compression = discarded data = reduced video quality. AVCHD compression uses a LOT of compression when compared to HDV. What will you be editing with? Not all video editors that claim AVCHD capable can edit AVCHD from all manufacturers. (The exception is Apple iMovie or FinalCut, but there is an extra step to get to the video.) The JVC does not save using AVCHD (YAY! JVC!!!). HDV can be imported and edited by any video editor that can edit HDV.

2) Ease of transfer, and video archiving. Firewire is required on the computer to import DV/HDV using a firewire cable that connects the camcorder's firewire port to the firewire port of the computer. Click Import. The tape is the archive - no extra step. In the case of the JVC, it imports from the hard drive using firewire, but you still need to take the "make an archive" step below.

USB is used to copy the video files from the SR12. When the files are copied, step 1 is to make a back-up of the files to another drive or burn to disc. Then the editing process can start. Without this, you risk losing the video which could mean re-shooting.

4) If the camera is dropped/broken: With miniDV tape, take the tape out of the camcorder and get another camcorder. With a hard drive based camcorder, hope these folks http://drivesavers.com/ can recover the data files not yet transferred - or the scenes will need to be re-shot.

5) Mic-in Jack and manual audio control.

The Sony and JVC cams you listed each have a 1/8" mic-in jack... but they do not have manual audio control Sony's control is a single switch - "Normal" and "Low" (for loud noise environments). Read their manuals. And with a 1/8" mic jack, the only "good" mic I can recommend would be Sennheiser wireless lavalieres. Otherwise, you should investigate wired mics that use XLR connectors - so you will need an XLR adapter like those from BeachTek or juicedLink. Like the Audio Technica or Sennheiser shotgun mics.

6) CCD vs CMOS. The value is in the total surface area of the imaging chips. If the 3CCD camcorder's chips are little, a single large CCD or single large CMOS chip will outperform the 3 small chips. CMOS uses less power. When Standard definition video of the same subject was compared by a few film class instructors (they were helping edit a project), my single CMOS Sony HDR-HC1 was as good as a 3CCD Canon XL2.

Take a look at what the big dogs use:

http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/categ...

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadca...

http://www.panasonic.com/business/provid...

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/contro...

For the most part:

No internal hard drive.

No AVCHD.

Save to DV/HDV.

Mic-in Jack with manual audio control.

You may not be a pro, but you can use the same tools most of them use:

MiniDV tape storing DV/HDV.

Rather than leave you with no alternative, I would suggest you take a look at the Canon HV20, HV30, Sony HDR-HC7 and HC9... and while these may be consumer grade miniDV tape camcorders, what they capture is the same as the pro-grade versions just listed. I strongly suggest leaving the consumer grade hard drive camcorders to the consumers.