XA100 for a B cam

[Jim Stamos]

Im shooting with an ex1r and am looking for a good B camera as well as when I want to take a break at receptions and shoot with a lighter camera. I saw the 100 has 35/50mpbs. how well would this matchup with my ex1r footage. has anyone seen both?
I don't expect the lowlight to be that good on it compared to the sony, but its so cheap pricewise, hard not to look at . I currently use a sony cx550 for my second cam.it has the 1/3in single chip like the xa100 so im expecting the lowlight to be no better.
I like the fact that the cx has an iris wheel I can adjust as I need to vs the auto iris. does the xa have an iris wheel on it?
plus the auto focus on the cx is very good. does the xa have a good manual focus as well?>
input welcome

[Don Palomaki]

Are you thinking XF100?

[Jim Stamos]

I meant the xf100 but now im seeing the new xa20 , whats the main difference. both seem to be single 1/3chip
20 has a longer zoom, both do 35mbs
the 20 is 300 less I believe at 2199 other at 2499 or the other way around forgot.
they do look similar
im sure it being a canon , it may not match well with sony

[Mark Fry]

Originally Posted by Jim Stamos

I meant the xf100 but now im seeing the new xa20 , whats the main difference. both seem to be single 1/3chip
20 has a longer zoom, both do 35mbs
the 20 is 300 less I believe at 2199 other at 2499 or the other way around forgot.
they do look similar
im sure it being a canon , it may not match well with sony

XA20 uses an AVCHD (MPEG4/H.264) codec at various speeds, whereas XF100 uses an MPEG2 codec, so the XF100 will be easier to integrate with your Sony and your existing NLE. AVCHD needs more processing power to edit, grade, etc. so you'd probably need to upgrade your computer and/or software if you go for the XA20.

Although I've not yet seen a proper comparison, I think the XF100 probably has a sharper lens.

Otherwise the main differences are size and weight (XF100 a bit bigger), and perhaps "fiddle factor" getting at important things from the XA20 menu.

In the past, Canons have had a rather warmer look by default than the typically blue-green Sony look, and I assume that's probably true of these cameras, too. It reminds me of the diffrerence between Kodachrome and Ektachrome. However, both cameras have quite a lot of image set-up controls, so you should be able to tailor them to match your main camera fairly closely.

[Jim Stamos]

avchd is no issue for me , ive got a sony cx550 that im using now. edius handles it no problem. but I never have issues anyway with edius. all realtime, no rendering,been using it from the beginning

[Don Palomaki]

A couple additional points:

XA10 uses SD/SDHC/SDXC media, XF100 uses CF cards.

The CCD in the XA20 is slightly larger - nominal size (1/2.84 vs 1/3)

The LCD panel on the XA20 has more pixels.

XF100 uses a 4:2:2 codec, XA120 is 4:2:0

The XA20 is a new lens, and it is more difficult to make a quality 20x zoom than a 10x zoom, but that does not mean the lens is not as good (for HD video purposes) as the 10x used on XA10 or XF100.

You can compare th specs and features at:
Canon U.S.A. : Professional Imaging Products : High Definition Camcorders

[Jim Stamos]

sony doesn't have a comparable camera in this price range for the xa20 or xf100 with xlr, other features?
since my cx550 is same chipset, probably not a big difference in quality and I can buy the latest new one for 549.00 cx580v