I'm upgrading to HD from a Canon XL2 and I've pretty much decided to get a AC130 to shoot dance and theater performances. But I have a couple of shoots where I use two cameras. One is locked down for a proscenium shot, and the other follows.

I like the AC130 for the 22x lens, so that's the follow camera. My question is, what is a good camera to pair with the AC130? Yeah, I know ideally, another AC130. I could rent a AC160, but it's pretty expensive, and I'm already on a pretty thin margin.

My most reasonable choices are a Canon XA10 or a Panasonic HMC40. For a little bit more I can rent a Canon XF105, but I'll also need to get the CF cards so it makes it a lot more expensive. I might also be able to rent a HMC150.

I'm pretty sure the performance of the XA10 will be fine, it's just matching the color, exposure, etc. to the AC130 I'm not so sure about.

And I'm more confident I can get a HMC40 to match the AC130, but I'm not sure the 1/4" sensors of the HMC40 is up to the task of the low light scenes I'll encounter.

Thoughts?

TIA,

=Dave=

Hi Dave

I have done a couple of recitals with my HMC82's which have the same sensors as the HMC40 and you will battle!!! I had to shoot from maybe 100' back and high up and the image quality did suffer..however the previous recital I was allowed to shoot just off centre and only a little way back from the stage and the images were crisp and perfect, the 2nd cam was again, way up with the sound and lighting booth and that struggled a bit. When I shot the recent ones I was at 12x zoom almost all the time with the 2nd cam!!

If the camera is likely to be used up high at the back then I would go for 1/3rd chips at least but 1/4" work well if you are close to the stage. The HMC80 is actually better value than the 40 as it has XLR inputs and really nice manual settings!!!

Yes, you really do need another AC-130!!! or at least another 1/3rd chip camera or better!!

Chris