smaller HD camcorder for travel

[Stephen Sobel]

Have any of you used the HF S21?

[David B. Sanders]

Hi Steven,

I have the XHA1s and also wanted a companion camera that I can take on hikes (travels) and be able to stay with the same media (miniDV) and have similar frame rates, etc. So I got the Canon HV40. I added the Canon DM50 microphone and also a LCD hood, which makes it easier to monitor in the sunny outdoors. I also added a lens hood to protect the front of the lens barrel as I’m out in the field. It has manual focus and now someone is marketing a focus-wheel knob for it. That may be worth looking into. I like the color that the HV40 produces and the ease of use.

Sample videos:
http://www.vimeo.com/videos/search:C...%2040/3f30b179

Dave

[Randall Leong]

Originally Posted by Stephen Sobel

Have any of you used the HF S21?

That is an AVCHD camcorder, not an HDV camcorder. Two totally different animals.

[Stephen Sobel]

Originally Posted by Randall Leong

That is an AVCHD camcorder, not an HDV camcorder. Two totally different animals.

Yes, I understand that. I'm willing to consider starting dowm the tapeless path, and as part of that consideration I'm interested in hearing from any one that may have experience with the XH A1 and HF S21, as well as other options people have suggested.

[Scott Squires]

Like David I have the XHA1S and also use an HV40 for traveling. Last year I was in New York City shooting a video of the city while on vacation for two weeks. My XHA1S went down during day two (blown main fuse). I ended up going to B&H and buying an HV40 and finished the rest of the video with the HV40. I found it to be a great street camera and use it all the time now along with my XHA1S. I have the LCD hood, Canon DM50 mic and the Canon Wide-Converter WD-H43. I call it the mini Pitbull!

Scott

[Jim Bucciferro]

I have the Canon VIXIA HF200. It will record in 1440x1080 HDV mode so that it is compatible with the A1. I use it all the time as a companion to my A1. The picture quality is very good for such a small camera. It's not great in low light, but with enough light the images are very good.

[Mark Fry]

And another vote for the HV20/30/40 series. Whilst I take the points made earlier about not messing with tapes when on the road, I prefer the HDV and tape format because:
1) tapes are their own archive - very important for me
2) unless you take a PC with something like a Blu-ray burner with you (which negates the size/weight advantage of the little cameras), you have to take enough cards to last the whole trip, which could be very much more expensive than tape. For example, on a recent 10-day holiday, I shot 10 hours and my companions 8 and 12. How much would 30 hours of SDHC cards cost?
3) One set of formats for both main (XH-A1) and lightweight cam - no odd compatibility niggles;
4) the card cameras are AVCHD, which is more difficult to import and edit than HDV. I know my system is getting a bit old now, but I shoot, edit (using Avid Liquid) and export (to Blu-ray) 25Mbps MPEG2 with very little transcoding;

Everyone has their own priorities, I know, but this is the way I find I work best at the moment. My views may change once we see what the XF100 can do ;-)

[Richard Lucas]

One more vote for the HV. If you want to stay tape, it's the best option. It also matches extremely well to the A1. I do have a two year old Canon HD tapeless camera that I used once as a b-camera and it did not match anywhere nearly as well. Could it be the difference between HDV and AVCHD? Dunno but it was what I was left with after I eliminated most everything else.

If you want to go tapeless, Canon make a bunch of units across a wide price range that you will likely be happy with.

[Stephen Sobel]

Has anyone used both the HV-40 and the HSF-21?

[Allan Black]

One aspect to consider before you go tapeless is, if you have a library of valuable DV family tapes maybe keep your last tape camera in good condition to play ém.

ie: don't run it into the ground then go solid state. The other option is to copy them but it seems most ppl seem to keep putting that off till next week.

Cheers.