XA10 owners, what camcorder did you upgrade from?

[Mark Goodsell]

What did you upgrade from and why did you choose the XA/G10?

I had a Canon HV30 that had some trouble and I needed a small cam for a shoot. I also use a Sony Z5. What I liked about the XA10 was pro features in a small package, convertible enough to break down to a consumer-looking cam for descreet shooting conditions. Low light and wide lens were two of the most important features.

[Steve Struthers]

I upgraded from the HF-M41, one of Canon's consumer-grade cameras that sports the same CMOS Pro sensor found in the XA10. The reasons why I went with the XA10 and not another camera were compact size, ability to convert quickly to an inconspicuous-looking camcorder if need be, overall image quality and low-light performance. And there was one other big reason, too: price. A local camera shop had some XA10's on sale for $1799. The regular price was $2199.00, so it was a deal I just couldn't pass up.

Before I got the XA10, I was seriously considering getting either a Panasonic HMC-40, or a JVC GY-HM100. I dropped the HMC-40 from consideration because of reports about its low-quality viewfinder. One other factor that steered me away from the Panasonic is that it doesn't come with XLR audio inputs. To get the XLR attachment, you have to fork over another $300-400, depending what part of the world you're living in. The end result was that I could have bought an HMC-40 for about the same money as the Canon (if I bought the HMC-40 in the US), but then would have had to pay extra for the XLR block, thus pushing the total cost of the camera to $700.00 more than the Canon, after sales taxes were added in.

The JVC lost out because of its low-light performance. Plus the fact that I was a little cheesed off about JVC deciding to fix the HM100's problems by introducing the HM150 (which is more or less the same camera as the HM100) and then demanding $600.00 more for it over the price of the HM100.

So far, I've been happy with the XA10. I'm looking forward to shooting some video with it tomorrow if the weather holds.

[Don Palomaki]

Takes the place of an HV40 (which I still have and use for capture of HDV tape from an XH-A1, and as a back-up camcorder. The HV40 replaced an HV20 that died.

[Jonathan Schwartz]

Don,

I too have the XH-A1 and the HV40. One of my gripes with the HV40 is the lack of lanc control. Is the XA10 lanc control as responsive as the XH-A1? Can you control the zoom with the lanc while you control the iris with the lens ring? THanks for your help.

[Jeff Harper]

I chose the XA10 because it is the best low light cam for the money and it has XLR. I'd buy a G10 in a heartbeat, and might do so for use only for ceremony, waiting to see what else comes out this winter before committing.

[Don Palomaki]

Have not really used the LANC on the XA10 yet. But a quick test with the Canon ZR-1000 Indicates that the rocker zoom works at variable and fixed speeds, the Standby works as does the start/stop and manual focus. I have not tried in conjunction with iris control.

[Ryan Chaney]

My XA10s replaced the Panasonic HMC-40s I used for last year's wedding season and I haven't missed them! The XA10s are a ton better in low light (which was far and away my primary reason for replacing the Pannys), but they also have a much better LCD screen, cheaper third party batteries, built-in flash memory, and built-in XLR... all for about the same price. In my opinion the XA10 was clearly the best bang for the buck camcorder that was on the market when I needed one, so it was a pretty easy choice to buy. In fact I liked my two XA10s so much that a few weeks later I bought a couple G10s as well and they're equally fantastic (minus the XLR inputs, but I only use the G10s as secondary cameras and haven't needed XLR for them anyway). If only they shot 60p I'd be in heaven!

[Buba Kastorski]

in my case HF G10 was/is a replacement for HFS21,
can't wait to replace it with the next, hopefully larger sensor, camcorder

[Todd Mizomi]

When my Sony HVR-Z1 died minutes before the start of a wedding, I finally gave up on tape. Since I couldn't find the Xf100 in stock anywhere at the time, I picked up the XA10.

I shot several wedding with just that tiny little camera mounted onto my DV Multirig. It literally blew me away when I compared the XA10 footage to what I was getting with the Z1. The difference was like night and day.

Since then, I've also picked up the XF100 and now shoot all my weddings with both cameras. Still need to find a good color setting for both so that they match better (the colors on the XF100 just seem to "pop" a little more than the XA10).

[Maurice Covington]

I guess I upgraded from the Canon HF-S20. I wasn't a very good investment thought to move from the HF-S20 to the HF=G10. I could have saved my money and bought the XF300 instead. There just doesn't seem to be enough to justify the additional $1,500.00.

[Don Palomaki]

Wow, the XF300 would be a lot more saving and a different league to boot. Any reason to skip over the XF100?

[Maurice Covington]

@ Don Palomaki...I think that the answer will vary depending on who provides the answer. For me in my situation looking at what I have, The XF100 would be a good upgrade but the XF300 would be even better. As I've been reviewing the forums and thinking about the investment, I actually thinking that if a videographer already has a good solid profession HD camera or one of the high end consumer models, it might makes sense to keep what you have and join the world of the HDSLR. I'm saying this with the understanding that in this scenario, one would shoot primarily with the camcorder and get their "B"-roll with the HDSLR and combine the footage. In my small world, most people aren't asking for Blue-Ray so there getting a DVD which is not going to show off my investment in terms of quality anyway. But I'll be honest, I do want or at least I did want the XF300 until I saw Canon new C300. This camera is simply amazing but is not for someone like me just getting started unless someone wants to get me one for Christmas. :-)

[Jeff Harper]

Maurice, don't forget to look at the Panasonic AG 130 and AG 160. Newer sensors, better low light, they say. The guys at Tapeworks got their hands on the 160 a few months ago when a rep brought it buy. The Tapeworks guys sell and like the XF100 and 300 very much, but they were blown away by the Panasonic. And it has a 22x zoom. That camera, to me, is a total no brainer.

I'm not speaking from experience, so bear with me, but my understanding is that the file size of the clips of the XA100 are larger, as it runs a higer bit rates, and the MMX files are broken up into pretty small chunk when you download the footage, giving you the potential for say, 10 different clips for one hours worth of footage, due to the file size limitation. But I don't care for that concept much, I have enough on my plate without having to patch files together in that quantity when I have hour and hour of footage.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you buy.