I just scanned all the threads and couldn't find one on this topic. I hope it hasn't been covered before. Has anyone done a comparison of this new Panasonic to Canon's XL-1s? I don't want one of those, "It blows the XL-1s away totally cuz it rocks dude!" type of comparisons. My biggest concern is with the 30p mode and if it is noticeable better than Canon's frame mode. I would also like to know if is 60i mode is much better (sharper, better tonal range and color resolution.)?

I have a ton of XL-1 accessories so I would like to stay Canon, but picture quality is very important. I want 30P for compositing and rotoscoping purposes. It is much easier to do this sort of thing with non-interlaced footage.

Lastly, I use a Sony GVD900 and need tapes from this camera to work in that deck.

Thanks all.

Greg Matty

Greg,

I cannot comment on the picture comparison to the Canon XL-1, but here are a couple links to assist with your decision making.

My appologies if you have already seen these, but I think images often times speak for themselves. The first two links are from my DVX100 (no croping or color correction), and the second two links are from a gentleman in DC who recently went to Vietnam with the DVX100 (images have been cropped).

http://www.spencedesign.com/DVX100/
http://www.spencedesign.com/DVX100/page2.htm

http://www.phocinema.com/preview/index.html
http://www.phocinema.com/preview/Page1.html

I hope you find these helpful.

<<<-- Originally posted by Aric Spence : Greg,

I cannot comment on the picture comparison to the Canon XL-1, but here are a couple links to assist with your decision making.

My appologies if you have already seen these, but I think images often times speak for themselves. The first two links are from my DVX100 (no croping or color correction), and the second two links are from a gentleman in DC who recently went to Vietnam with the DVX100 (images have been cropped).

http://www.spencedesign.com/DVX100/
http://www.spencedesign.com/DVX100/page2.htm

http://www.phocinema.com/preview/index.html
http://www.phocinema.com/preview/Page1.html

I hope you find these helpful. -->>>

Thanks for posting those. There were a lot of nice images there.

I really like the progressive mode for stills. I have grabbed stills from my XL-1 but I think Final Cut Pro only grabs the dominant field unless I apply a de-interlace filter. I hate to do that as it forces any image to be rendered.

I would love to get a sample tape of some 30P footage. Are you interested? I will send you one of my travel DVD's for Costa Rica and Belize.

I am looking at a new camera for my next travel video and there are two features I would really like to have. A camera small enough for an underwater housing and of course the underwater housing itself. And second, a camera that takes great 30p images. I have not seen such a housing for this camera and depending on its, size, it might be prohibitively expensive. A GL-2 and housing would run about the same price as the Panasonic by itself, but it won't do 30P. Also, I don't think the images are up to the same standard as the DVX100.

Thanks for the help. I will look for a thread about suggested accessories to see how much money this thing will really cost me.

Greg Matty
www.rk-productions.net