Comparing XHs to the Panasonic AG-HVX200 and Sony HDR-FX1

[Steve Madsen]

David, I can offer you you a lot of subjective observations, but with technical details I won't be of much help. Have you tried a search on "pixel shift"?

[Philip Williams]

Originally Posted by Mathieu Ghekiere

Hey Philip, good post, but one little notice: the A1 and G1 should have the same sensor block as the XL H1, so that should be 1/3 CCD's.

Best regards,

I was referring to the new Sony HDV cam :)

[Philip Williams]

Originally Posted by David Liu

Thanks for ur reply steve, but what does

the HVX's 500K pixel each (Uses pixel shift to achieve higher resolution)
really means?

compared to the XH and XL H1 are 1640k pixel

David, head over to www.dv.com and look through their articles archive. There should be several articles by Adam Wilt that you'll find very informative. Specifically I believe there are two articles about HD camera comparisons (that include the HVX and XLH1) and individual reviews for the HVX200 and XLH1 (both products got 4.5 stars, by the way). Consider reading the HD100 review while you're there.

Also download some of the XLH1 samples from this site and the HVX samples located around here and on dvxuser.com.

I think after you've digested all that material and reviewed the different pieces of footage you'll be ready to answer other people's questions about these cams :)

www.philipwilliams.com

[David Liu]

hey philip, thanks alot, really appreciate it!
*continues reading...*

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by David Liu

the hvx gross pixel per sensor is 500K pixel each (Uses pixel shift to achieve higher resolution)...Where else the A1 and XL H1 are 1640k pixel, how significant is the difference...

In reviews comparing the XL-H1 to the HVX200, the actual resolution of the former is listed at around 800 TV lines while the latter is under 600 lines (barely better than a good SD camera). The catch is that HDV compression doesn't hold up as well for moving subjects as DVCproHD does, so depending on your subject matter that resolution difference may be negated somewhat. Also, DVCProHD records more color information, which also gains you something in terms of perceived image quality.

In practical terms, any of the low-cost HD cameras is capable of producing a nice image when used properly. They also have the advantage of having widescreen sensors like your XL2, so would make a good complement in that regard. Buy an HD camera and you could run it in widescreen SD mode for now until you figure out whether you want to go all HD, at which point you just need to get one more camera for a two-camera shoot. I recommend that approach unless you decide to just get another XL2.

Another advantage of sticking with Canon is that you might be able to share batteries with your XL2, assuming Canon hasn't changed their battery design for the XH-A1.