My business is expanding, and I think it's time to buy more kit. In July, I'll be covering a week long disc golf tournament requiring multiple shooters and daily highlights. Among other things, this event requires a set of cameras to make it happen. Right now I run one XH-A1 and a 7D. To be honest, I'm getting really sick of recording to tape after using the 7D for several months, and the XH is losing value like nobody's business. Since edits will be happening throughout the day, I would really like to stay with a file-based workflow. Logging 10 hours of tape every day would be such a pain with the XH-A1.

I figure my options are:

1) Rent 2 or 3 cams (≈$3000-4000)
2) Purchase 2 more XH-A1 cams (sell one after tournament)
3) Sell XH and buy 3 new tapeless cams (sell one after tournament)

My business really only has the need for 2 cams normally, so if I purchased new cams I would sell one afterwards. I believe I can make 90% of my investment back selling used with minimal hours on a new cam –*cheaper than renting for sure.

So now it comes down to it. What cams should I be looking at? I really like the new Canon offerings, but they're just too expensive at this time. My budget for each cam is $3,000-4,000.

What I've looked at so far:
- Panasonic HMC150 (top choice right now)
- Sony NX5u/AX2000

Musts are decent low-light sensitivity, HD, file-based workflow, and manual settings. Thoughts?

Nate,
1 week of work may not be worth the trouble of buying three cameras and then selling one. I would look at buying what you want to keep and then renting the rest. If you only want 2 new cameras then don't buy three. (unless they are giving you buy two get one free deal)

Right, but renting will cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500 for 8 days. Half the cam? Is that worth it? I don't mind taking the time to sell if I can save some money, but we'll see where the budget takes me.

Sounds like your rental company is charging you way too much for a camera rental if the basic cost is in the $4000 range for purchase. You should be able to get a 4 or 5 day week from them.

Ok, cool. Thanks for the tip. I've never needed to rent before so I was just going by the internet rates.

Apart from the logistics of the whole thing, what models should I be looking for camera wise? Best choices currently? I really like the HMC150 but it is a little older of a cam.

Go to lensrentals.com - they have the best rental prices anywhere, and you don't need to put down a deposit. I have rented still photog gear from them several times and just rented an EX1 and other items a week ago. They have been amazing every time I have rented from them. My EX1 rental was for 4 days and I received a day early and was allowed to send back a day late with no extra fees. Its not always like this but getting extra day(s) has been more common for me. (although, I never rent the hot in-demand gear like Canon or Nikon)

Its good your event is in July because I will be renting from them again towards the end of June (EX3 this time so I can keep it in sync with my EX1).

For the price, I think you will like the EX1 the most. Probably so much that you might buy one afterwords.
Their EX1 comes with 2 batteries (4hr & 2hr), cables and a nice Petrol bag that can fit a lot of gear.

Each 16GB SxS cards gives you 57min of 35Mb HQ recording and 16bit LPCM audio.

FYI, I don't work for them but they have been the best company I have ever had the pleasure of doing business with (AbelCineTech is right behind them).

I'd recommend the Sony NX5 and a pair of AX2000's. That way all three cameras will match perfectly, and you can get a bunch of batteries/filters etc that will work on all your cameras. You'll have the extra features of the NX5 if you ever need them, and you'll save a bit of money on the AX2000's.

The NX5/AX2000 are sharper than the HMC150 and better in lowlight. They've also got extra telephoto reach which could be helpful for a golf tournament.

In your situation, I'd be inclined to buy three cams and sell one afterwards, because in Australia there is not alot of options for renting (Z1's only at most places). Things may be different for you so I would check out the cost of renting and also look on ebay and craisgslist to find out how much used XH-A1's are going for.

Good choices all around. lensrentals.com really does have great prices, I'll certainly be considering a full set of EX1s or HVX200s. Prices seem to be around $2500 for everything which is great, but the thing is, I'm in the market for at least a pair of new cameras. Since I'll be buying at least 2 cameras anyway, spending $2500 on rentals seems silly. I agree it is a great deal for renting, but that's about $2000 extra in expenses that I'll have nothing to show for in the end. I have a relatively large sum of money available for an initial purchase, and I doubt I'll have any trouble selling a $3300 camera for $3000 a week after I get it with 20 hours on the meter.

I looked at the AX2000 but I really dislike the 24p over 60i recording format. I use 24p most of the time, so having to do some voodoo to get true 24p seems like a real pain and a deal-breaker in addition to the crippled features and adjustments. Also, the $4000 for the NX5u is a little much right now when the HMC150 is almost $1000 less. I like the cam, but looking at comparisons online, the Panny looks plenty sharp to my eyes, not to mention I use a Canon 7D for most of my non "event" work. I'm not completely against the AX2000, but I'll need some pretty good recommendations to convince me the frame rate issue can be worked around easily. Perhaps I'll head over to the other forum. Also, the AX2000 comes with an additional battery from B&H right now, so it nearly makes up the price difference from the HMC150. Close enough.

Also at this point I'm pretty set on getting rid of the XH-A1 and going with some file-based solution. Going along with the renting/buying idea, I'd like to have a matching set of cams, so renting a more expensive cam like the EX1 doesn't really make sense because I simply can't afford one to own at this time. I don't mean to be stubborn, but I think it's really come down to the Sony AX2000 and the HMC150. Earlier someone said the Sony was sharper and better in low-light, but I've seen examples that seem just the opposite. Like I said before, ultimate sharpness isn't incredibly important to me since I deliver on DVD and primarily in 720p H.264. Is there a noticeable difference? Are the "pro" features of the HMC150 more important than the resolution and supposed low-light of the Sony?

What do you think?
Sony NX5U and Panasonic HMC150 on Vimeo

With a multi-cam shoot, do you have additional cameramen?

I ask because I have begun using a Sony xr500v alongside my EX1, and another option is to get an EX1r and a small Sony camcorder. The xr500v is absolutely amazing in low light - no other consumer cam can match its low noise, and it even rivals the EX1, albeit not as sharp due to in-camera noise reduction. I either set the xr500v to wide or zoomed in on a person. So far, it has been working fairly well.

Another benefit of the EX1 (and any XDCAM EX camera) is the Flash Band removal (using ClipBrowser). Flash Band removal has been working nearly flawlessly. I thought a flash while zooming in would really challenge it but it had no problem fixing the image.

In case you didn't know, Sony released a SD adapter and a Memory Stick adapter to work in their XDCAM EX cameras so there isn't the additional large cost of SxS cards anymore.

There are some good rebates available on Sony cameras when purchased with a Sony accessory.

Again, absolutely love the idea of an EX1, but I simply don't have the budget for one right now. I see where you're coming from for the xr500v, but I would much prefer a set of matched, professionally-configured cams as I do a variety of work at this time and will need them quite frequently.

I'm drifting towards considering the Sonys again, can anyone tell me more about the limitations of the AX2000 vs the NX5u? Specifically how the AX2000 handles the 24p footage?

What if (and this is really contrived) I purchased a NX5u for $4000 and did the rebate for the HXR-FMU128 flash module ($500 off a $750 item). Then sell the HXR-FMU128 for ≈$600, effectively making the "cost" of the NX5u $3650? This is foolish I know. What's the market like for Sony flash memory modules?

The NX5u can record LPCM uncompressed audio whereas the AX2000 can only record compressed.

Only the NX5u works with the HXR-FMU128 Flash Memory Unit.

Only the NX5u has HD-SDI.

The NX5U also has smooth gain and white balance switching, comes with a mic and larger battery, does 24p native( though personally I really dislike 24p) also records in 720P60. There are so many improvements over the AX2000 that the cost difference especially if one gets the FMU is very low to nothing. In Canada the straight price difference is I am sure less than the cost of the mic and the larger battery making the extra features free.!!!!

Ron Evans

I believe that the Von Lanken footage was supposedly affected by a backfocus problem (he had posted/discussed it another thread here, don't recall exactly how it worked out, but the general concensus was that the demo cam he tested had some issues).

While I hesitate to recommend any other sites, you might take a look at this one - HD camcorder reviews/tests and comparison of Sony HDR-AX2000,Sony HXR-NX5 ( HXR-NX5E/ HXR-NX5U),Panasonic AG-HMC151 (AG-HMC151E/ AG-HMC150) a (http://camcorder-test.slashcam.com/compare-a1a234225c76b3f80a1fd37c5e29432d.html) - I set up the link for the three cams you are interested in (EU version of the 150), plus a little "wild card" for you to look over. Keep in mind that ANY test/review site may have flaws in their testing and/or conclusions, thus it pays to dig around on the web for actual user generated footage (hopefully properly done, YMMV). Of all the test sites currently out there, this one is pretty decent, although they don't seem to do actual footage...

If you are not having all the cameras manned, you could do a lot worse than what has been suggested - one "big" manned camera of your ultimate choice, and a couple of the smaller ones (I'd suggest the CX550V or XR550V if you went Sony, or the TM700 if you go Panny, just likely to be closer when matching, especially the Sonys). This also is true if your assistants are less skilled, as the auto functions cover many sins.

I know the smaller cams don't quite tick the "impressive" box size wise, but particularly if you need multi-angle footage (or a zoom and wide of the same shot from a tripod/bracket rig), they give a lot of bang for the buck and you won't probably notice a lot of fifference in the image quality. SO by buying one big cam and 2-3 smaller ones, you get more angles to chooe from for your edit, you keep your budget low, and you don't even NEED to sell the extra ones, they are there for other uses, or the next time you do a similar shoot. You'd be surprised at how effective this approach is.

FWIW, I don't even have a big cam right now, a flock of the small ones has been doing quite well for me (Sonys). I somply can't justify the price difference of the big ones based upon the image quality, which from all the research i've done is very small when placed in comparison to price (but I still WANT an NX5!).

When you do the math and realize that in a live shoot having more angles on the target may be more important than a lot of other factors, and you do the math (1 big cam $ = 2 to 4 small cams $), this approach starts to tick all your other boxes, so worth considering.

Oh yeah, if you decide to go with the small Sonys, be sure to budget for some good lens hoods... the new WA lens supposedly has some flare issues in bright outdoors conditions - I'll be checking this shortly when mine arrives.

Thank you for all the info.

I'm liking the small camera idea more and more. I actually found the Panny TM700 today; it seems very comparable to the Sony XR550, and shoots 24p to boot. Both are about $1000.

I think I've decided on the HMC150 mostly based on price. It does everything I need it to for $700 less than the NX5u. When I look at footage on youtube/vimeo etc, it looks pretty darn good. The resolution might be a little less, but I can live with 720p, and if someone asks, it can always shoot 1080p.

Since I use FCP, the AVCHD workflow is a bit of a hassle right now with all the ProRes transcoding. I can see major revisions in codecs/software in the next couple of years, and when I can afford it, I would love to move up to something a little more robust and editable, like the new Canon XF300s.

While it would be perfect for the disc golf tourney, don't want a AX2000 for other projects, so I'm not going to waste my time with it. If the NX5u had a better (faster) AVCHD workflow than the Panny, I'd be all over it, but it doesn't, and I see both these cams (panny and sony) as temporary solutions.

I think what I'm going to end up doing is buying a full set of 3 HMC150s for the tourny, used if possible, (I really do need 3 solid cams for roving shooters), then sell off 2 of them afterwards. After that I'll pick up a small cam to cover the wide angle of mulit-cam events, which aren't frequent enough at this time to warrant another large camera purchase.

My one man multicam shoots are NX5U, SR11 and XR500. The NX5U does the closer up shooting in full manual and the other two are often fixed shot one full stage the other where I know the main action will take place. So I have the close up that I do, medium from the SR11 and full stage from the XR500. The SR11 and XR500 are set manual focus ( set with spot focus function on the Sony's) and with exposure at AE shift -3 or -4 depending on the lighting. I have to admit that some of the time the XR500 has a cleaner and sharper image than my full manual attempt with the NX5U!!!!

Ron Evans

Nate,

I know of a Panasonic dealer with several HMC150 dealer demos available for around $500 off. Supposedly they are in like new condition in the box with all accessories, but only a 90 day warranty. I'm also looking at getting an HMC150 but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Maybe you can get an even better deal since you're buying three.

I don't want to post the name of the dealer or price, since they're not an advertiser here. Shoot me an email if you're interested and I'll let you know who it is.

Ron, these small cams are sounding great for the type of shots you're describing. You seem to be getting good results with stage shows. How are the cams (the xr500 particularly) in other, less luminous situations? Weddings? Indoors?...Outdoors?

The new Sonys with the "R" sensors look nice, any thoughts on a Panasonic TM700, and if it would match the HMC150 any better?

EDIT: Just found slashcam and figured out what it's actually for. Gosh that Sony Handycam is sharp and clean!

I only do stage shows so have no idea about weddings ( other than my daughters where the XR500 produced a brighter picture than reality !!!) I use the XR500 for all the family stuff it has virtually no time limit on power or video( battery I use runs for 6 hours and the hard drive is good for 14 hours I give up long before!!!) It has a cleaner image than the NX5U and is very sharp. I think the latest version the XR550 or CX550 are a good choice. I am waiting to see what the Pro version of the CX550 will actually have as firmware changes before I get my next upgrade.

Ron Evans

Nate, even though I haven't completely sold you on an EX1.... yet :p , would you like to see a comparison of EX1 and xr500v? The video I have is indoors with ok lighting; IIRC, EX1 was set to 3db, f2.8. The xr500v had no problem producing a noise free image.

The 500/520 series from last year have been replaced by the 550's in the Sony line - the XR550 and CX550 have a different lens range (more "wide", but lose tele in the process), more manual controls, and a bigger LCD, plus the CX for the first time sports a viewfinder. The guts (sensor block and electronics) are basically pretty similar, but the OIS supposedly gets a bit better, and a faster AF - I should know shortly...

The MC50 "pro" version of the CX550 is a bit of a wildcard right now, as the initial posted specs were wildly inaccurate, and no official details seem to be coming out, but it may well offer a compelling package - probably not soon enough if you need to buy right away.

When you activate the low lux function, these Sonys with the "R" sensor can "see" better than the naked eye (or at least the "old naked eye"...). I've come to the conclusion they can match or beat the sharpness and low noise/clean image of just about any of the bigger cameras under those tough light conditions.

From what I've seen from various posted samples the new 700 series Panasonic is sharper in good light, but loses some of its sharpness to noise and softer image when the lighting gets low. Still looks like a very sweet camera in this years lineup. Not sure about the color matching, some of the posted samples I've seen from the 700seem a bit odd color wise, but this is one of those areas where I think an experienced operator should be able to coax more out of the camera.

I'd lean towards the Sony, but I doubt you'd kick yourself saving a couple hundred $ on the Panasonics.

With the $ you save over a bigger camera, you can always trick these little guys out with a basic shoulder mount, shotgun mic, a lens hood, and maybe a light so they look a "little" more impressive. In the end, the footage you get will be great.

I put together a little video showing my EX1 and xr500v. At first, I left each video at 100%, and then I scaled the EX1 up to match the size of the xr500v. Then I scaled the xr500v down to match the EX1.

EX1 vs xr500v on Vimeo

It is clear that the EX1 blows the xr500v out of the water in every aspect. Whats really amazing is how much more detail & resolution the EX1 has when scaled up.

FYI, I used 'STD4' gamma in my Picture Profile and left everything else at default settings, which very few EX users do because you can get so much more out of the EX cameras by adjusting the PP settings.

Anyone that might think the xr500v is not focused accurately - it is because the camera's face detection was on and had a box around the girl's face.

Hi Steve -
Good comparison, I think they both look pretty good... might be different if they were both individually blown up full frame, but here they both performed well in Vimeo window and full screen.

I noticed the XR seemed to be handheld, while the EX was on tripod - may have caused some slight blurring? There also may be a factor of where the sweet spot of the lens range is, since they were a little different framing - I find even between my "identical" XR and CX cams, you can get some variation depending on where you are in the zoom range, not very noticeable, but I've run into it - probably a function of lens focal depth changing and auto iris adjustments.

Ron's suggestion of setting the AE about -2 to -4 would have helped a bit here - the little blowout on the boys' fur collar would go away with that adjustment - most people who have used a Sony over the years will recommend that tweak. That and a tad of WB adjustment (skintone looks a little cold on the XR) and I think these would be even closer. It's possible to tweak the little Sonys a bit to improve the performance, and I think it would have closed the gap.

In all honesty, if this were "double blind", I think the only "clue" I might have noticed is the red shift in the black sweatshirt...

I think the only question is whether the image from the EX1 is 5x "better" - with the EX1R showing $6300 at B&H, and the XR500, if you can find one, being about $1200 (roughly the same for a CX550V)? Particularly when camera buying budget is limited, the bang/buck ratio skews towards these smaller cameras if you can live with the limited manual controls and learn how to "push" the camera to get the best results. And more importantly to the OP, with very little tweaking, I think it's safe to say these would intercut well to the average viewer.

Not saying the EX1 isn't sweet, it definitely is, wouldn't mind having one myself, but "beer" budget... I'm guessing Nate would rather not shoot the whole upgrade budget on one camera... particularly when 3 cams are needed for coverage. I'm in the same boat, I prefer to shoot multicam, and 3-4 cameras add up fast when you are talking a 3-5x multiplier on the base price.

Steve I agree that the EX series will be better. It ought to be its at least 5 times more expensive. The fact that face detection was on the girl will throw the whole picture out of focus and exposure other than for the girl, that's what face detection does. A better comparison may be to compare with face detection off, using spot focus and exposure on the same point as the EX with the same framing. Having done several multicams with my SR11, XR500, EX3 and my NX5U I can say that at wide angle shot of the stage it is difficult to tell them apart other than the XR500 is clearly cleaner. The "R" sensor is better than the others. For closeups the EX3 is the clear winner with more colour and depth to the image and the NX5U is sort of in between. Almost exactly what one would expect from the cost of the equipment. It is unfortunate but one usually gets what one pays for!!!! There is a big difference in ease of operation though. EX3 and NX5U require some attention the SR11 and XR500 do very nicely by themselves much better than the automatic operation of the expensive cameras. So each has its place. The combination I have of SR11, XR500 and NX5U is still less than a EX1 and I get three views and chance of getting different shots and exposures.

Ron Evans

My comment about the EX1 being far better was a bit overzealous due to the fact that I didn't expect such a large difference.

Dave, both cams were on tripods. In the video, both images begin at 100% and then I adjusted scale in the last 2 segments.

Dave, I assume the red shift you referred to was concerning the EX1. I actually had a Tiffen T1 IR filter on during most of the event but it causes almost a stop of light loss so I removed it.

My favorite 'feature' of the higher priced cams is wider dynamic range.

For event work, like I said before, another very important feature that comes with the EX1 (and all XDCAM EX cameras) is Flash Band removal using Sony's ClipBrowser program. Cameras with CMOS sensors have their issues, including flashing lights.

Nate, you haven't had to deal with flash band with your Canon camcorder but check it out with your 7D. You asked about weddings, and FB has been a big concern for wedding videographers.

I did see the dynamic range - which is awesome, considering how good the "R" sensors are in that regard. Just wondering if your OIS was on, I know you're supposed to turn it off on tripod, but I usually forget... just noticed a bit of movement in the frames, and seemed to blur a bit. The OIS will tend to over-emphasise moves.

Yep, I was sort of joking, since I know the minor shift to red seems to bug some people - both images looked plenty good to me, wouldn't be embarrassed by either one. In some ways I liked the XR, but the skin tones were better on the EX.

I'd imagine the flash band removal would migrate down to either Picture Motion browser or Vegas or both, but even when dealing with live events with a bazillion parents' flashes going off, I've not found banding to be a real issue, though I know it bugs some people.

Your comparison definitely did well by the EX1, some things I've seen didn't do it justice!

"I'd imagine the flash band removal would migrate down to either Picture Motion browser or Vegas or both"

C'mon now, we are talking about Sony here :) They will use it as a way to keep people buying the more expensive cameras. Not to mention, if FB was easy to correct, then everyone would have it in their software. Only one camera that I know of has it built in, some ENG Panny.

I think Sony make sure the cameras fit the marketing segment with as little overlap as possible. The automatic features on the consumer cams are better than the Pro cameras just like the manual controls are not included on the consumer cameras. Nothing to do with whether its possible to include either feature on either range. Using an EX or NX5U at a kids party in automatic against the Sony consumer XR5XX etc the consumer cam will win on a number grounds. I have this comparison all the way from my VX3 Hi8, FX1 and now the NX5U. At a staged event its the other way around. The pro cameras are biased to full manual control and the consumer to full automatic control. The consumer camera automatic controls are getting better and better but the pro controls stay much the same but with the high end camera controls moving down to the low end of the pro range. The NX5U is an example of some strange marketing conflicts. It clearly has the same touch screen as the consumer models yet limits the functions to one menu screen!!!! It has the Bionz processor but doesn't implement any of the touch screen function of the consumer cameras!!!! The touch spot focus function would be great on this camera as its something I use all the time on my XR500 and SR11. I am sure its in the firmware just not turned on. Next year model maybe!!!!

Ron Evans

I think a lot of the "feature" limitation comes down to SIZE. I just got the CX550V in hand - there's no "real estate" to put any buttons on it really... beyond what few it already has. But the one control wheel/button is responsive, as is the touch screen, and now it can access the shutter and iris, although it looks like it's one or the other... but it's SOME manual control, have to play with it more to see...

The answer probably lies in a slightly larger camera with room for proper manual controls, but by the time you do that, you've got a "big camera" to allow focus/zoom/iris rings to not be too fiddly. Now you have something that you don't want to lug around with you everywhere you go (meaning it's "out" for the average consumer).

The small "semi-pro" cameras, with their top notch image quality are in a odd spot, to be sure (and that new interchangeable lens Sony is even stranger, IMO...). They are caught between having image quality that keeps up well with the more expensive cameras, but having limited controls so they aren't "too complicated" for the consumer.

Making it even more interesting is the "P&S pocket cam" that can shoot "adequate" HD quality, and is even more "convenient". For knocking around, the little TX7 is actually pretty good - 3-4 years ago the image quality would have been near the top of the heap, now it'll definitely "do" for casual video.

The gap in image quality between "pro" and what you can get out of a consumer level "kit" is becoming rather small, and this raises some interesting challenges for the future. It's much like how "Word" altered the publishing landscape permanently - the "price for entry" is coming down rapidly.

And you can bet that if the consumer becomes aware of the "need" for flash band removal (right now I doubt they care...), it could be implemented and released as a patch in a couple weeks. I remember rattling Sonys cage about the LANC function on the A/V - Sony US seemed completely clueless, but it wasn't very long after I told them I'd hacked it, that they had adapted their existing LANC products to use the A/V jack... maybe coincidence, but I think they do respond to market pressures.

I wouldn't go nearly so far as to say that the image quality between pro and consumer is rather small.

About Flash Band: if it was so simple then Sony would have released it months ago for the Z7/Z5/NX5 because these cameras are in the price range most demanded by wedding videographers. Just imagine how many sales Sony has lost due to FB.

And remember that we are discussing 'Professional users' and not consumers.

Sorry, but this has gotten completely off-topic.

Bringing us all back....

What we've realized is that there are a few new cameras out there that are capable of doing very nice jobs in some specific situations. These cams are also priced very reasonably. I've certainly considered purchasing one myself as a complementary camera to a model with more professional features.

I'd like to thank you for all your input in helping me make my decision on the HMC150 and xr500/tm700, you've gone above and beyond (but that's half the fun!).

From here, let's just see where the conversation goes.... :)

My NX5U is the worst auto focus camera I own. I have a lot of Sony camera's. The auto focus is slow and inaccurate. So if Mark used the autofocus to set up the shot I can see how its out of focus. I have to use manual focus with the expanded focus button to get an accurate focus. One shot or full auto focus is totally unreliable. The camera seems to think that if its in the depth of field range its OK !!! I have sort of verified this by finding the sharp focus then pressing the one shot auto button--the camera confirms the position and stays there. If I move just slightly off focus its still happy!!!! If I do a one shot focus ( exactly what I would do with my FX1 or any of the other cameras )and then check with extended focus etc its always off by quite a bit.
When its in focus its beautifully sharp just like the XR500( which gets there very quick).
I will send mine in to get the firmware upgrade and ask to have the autofocus checked but for now I am busy over the next few weeks.
However I can easily see how the NX5U can look out of focus.

Ron Evans

Back to the poster's main question....Some are pushing the EX camera and yes, it has been the key, under $10,000, 3 chip camera for the last 2 years or so. But if you are planning to get a camera in the next month or two, the new Canon XF300/305 recording at the higher 50mb/ 4-2-2 color codec would be a better move.......If you can wait.

Jim Martin
Filmtools.com

Another consideration is how your NLE handles the video. The small Sony cams are avchd BUT use m2ts whereas the 5d/7d are avchd using quicktime wrapper. Also, the small Sony cams are 60i and using 24p & 60i in the same timeline might require additional steps.

I don't know whether the HMC150 is m2ts or qt.

I use Premiere CS5, and it is very simple to put my 29.97p xdcam footage on the same timeline as the xr500v 60i. I have even been told that using an interlace sequence, when mixing interlaced and progressive, is the best way because the interlaced video won't lose any resolution. Apparently, putting interlaced into a progressive sequence causes half of the fields to be discarded, thus causing a loss of resolution.

Furthermore, Premiere can handle each codec native; thus no transcoding.

One more consideration is whether you computer can handle all of the avchd layers.

I totally forgot to ask whether you have tripods and have you considered the cost of batteries and recording media ( and anything else you might need for each camera, such as shotgun mic)

MTS files for the HMC150. Final Cut Pro doesn't handle them natively, but converts to ProRes on transfer. I would rather not edit in AVCHD, so this isn't necessarily a negative, and 2-3x realtime conversion speed ain't bad compared to tape. I'd rather not go back to Premiere either to be completely honest, and the AVCHD in CS5 leaves some to be desired in my opinion. As I don't do multi-cams frequently, 24p over 60i on the consumer handycams will be workable when the situation arises.

Yes I've figured in accessories for the Pannys. Thanks for the reminder.

I'm not sure if I already said this, but I view these next couple of years as a transition period. Codecs and NLEs are likely going to be changing quite dramatically soon (as they always do), meaning more robust and native options will be coming to the table.

Canon seems to have started this with the XF300 cams, and I would expect more to follow. I would love to get a XF series machine, or a EX, but budget simply does not allow for a cam that is twice the price I can spend right now, especially when my plan is to upgrade again in the next 2 years. Going into debt for 4:2:2 color space isn't on my to do list. People are happy with my XH-A1 right now, I'm just so sick of tape.

Nate, have you considered a firewire recorder for your Canon and just keep the tape as a backup? And there is the nanoFlash if your canon has HDMI or HD-SDI. The nanoFlash is costly but will work with whatever higher priced camera you get in 2 years.

I was thinking the same thing. A nanoFlash would add tapeless workflow and better image quality.

"I'm liking the small camera idea more and more. I actually found the Panny TM700 today; it seems very comparable to the Sony XR550, and shoots 24p to boot. Both are about $1000. "

$810 at B&H

Panasonic | HDC-TM700K High Definition Camcorder | HDC-TM700K

And at that price, there's almost an extra half a camera in the price differential between the TM700 and the CX550V ($800 vs $1150). Competition is good!

Would anyone be willing to rent me their HMC150 for July 25 - Aug 1st? I would be most grateful and guarantee your baby would be safe and sound.

-Nate