What's the short list of great tiny camcorders?

Michael Wisniewski · February 7th, 2011, 07:20 AM

The new Canon Vixia HF G10 is getting very good low light reviews. Per some of the reviews, it has the best low light performance they've seen for consumer camcorders in that class. Definitely perked my interest.

Daniel Larson · February 14th, 2011, 08:16 PM

I ordered a Sony CX550V and it arrived last week. The quality is very good. On Wednesday I'm going to produce a three camera interview shoot with the CX550V as a closeup camera. The others are a F335 and an EX1R. I'll encode the CX550V to 1440x1080 and edit with multi-cam. From the tests conducted over the weekend, I think it's going to cut together very well.

Dan

Jay West · February 15th, 2011, 12:58 AM

"I'll encode the CX550V to 1440x1080 and edit with multi-cam."

What Is the reason for doing that? Are you also encoding the 1920x1080 footage from the EX1? Why encode rather than just putting everything into a timeline using a 1920x1080i preset?

I ask because I have never had any problems mixing "square pixel" HD footage with rectangular pixel HD footage in either PProCS5 or Avid MC5. I regularly mix multiple HDV cam footage (1440x1080) with AVCHD footage (1920 x 1080) on "1920" timelines when doing multi-cam edits. Because there really is no perceptible difference in resolution --- only different pixel shapes --- it has never occurred to me that I should try to encode everything to 1440 or 1920.

Daniel Larson · February 28th, 2011, 06:04 PM

Hi Jay,
I've found in my FCP multicam workflows that all camera sources have to be the same format. The F335 will only shoot 1440 P or I. The EX1R is capable of 1440 or 1920 P or I. And the CX500 is only 1920 I, so converting the CX500 to the common 1440 for FCP multicam editing is the solution. I edited the three camera program before going on vacation and it looks great. The white balances matched well and I all I had to with the CX500 closeup camera was convert to 1440 I in Compressor and then sharpen the footage a little in FCP. I used a still camera flash to sync the cameras at the program start. Let me know if you have a muticam workflow for FCP that will let different formats cut together in real time. I brought the CX550 on vacation to Hawaii and it has been working great. While out on a whale watching boat I managed to get a fairly close shot of a whale breeching and can't wait to get home and start looking at the footage on an HD monitor. I'm very impressed with the CX500 and will keep it in the kit as a B or C camera, especially in situations where it is wise to be discreet.
Dan

February 7th, 2011, 07:20 AM	#31
Michael Wisniewski Wrangler Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Makati, Metro Manila Posts: 2,706 Images: 32	The new Canon Vixia HF G10 is getting very good low light reviews. Per some of the reviews, it has the best low light performance they've seen for consumer camcorders in that class. Definitely perked my interest. __________________ "Ultimately, the most extraordinary thing, in a frame, is a human being." - Martin Scorsese

February 28th, 2011, 06:04 PM	#34
Daniel Larson Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: De Pere, WI Posts: 47	Re: What's the short list of great tiny camcorders? Hi Jay, I've found in my FCP multicam workflows that all camera sources have to be the same format. The F335 will only shoot 1440 P or I. The EX1R is capable of 1440 or 1920 P or I. And the CX500 is only 1920 I, so converting the CX500 to the common 1440 for FCP multicam editing is the solution. I edited the three camera program before going on vacation and it looks great. The white balances matched well and I all I had to with the CX500 closeup camera was convert to 1440 I in Compressor and then sharpen the footage a little in FCP. I used a still camera flash to sync the cameras at the program start. Let me know if you have a muticam workflow for FCP that will let different formats cut together in real time. I brought the CX550 on vacation to Hawaii and it has been working great. While out on a whale watching boat I managed to get a fairly close shot of a whale breeching and can't wait to get home and start looking at the footage on an HD monitor. I'm very impressed with the CX500 and will keep it in the kit as a B or C camera, especially in situations where it is wise to be discreet. Dan

February 14th, 2011, 08:16 PM	#32
Daniel Larson Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: De Pere, WI Posts: 47	I ordered a Sony CX550V and it arrived last week. The quality is very good. On Wednesday I'm going to produce a three camera interview shoot with the CX550V as a closeup camera. The others are a F335 and an EX1R. I'll encode the CX550V to 1440x1080 and edit with multi-cam. From the tests conducted over the weekend, I think it's going to cut together very well. Dan

February 15th, 2011, 12:58 AM	#33
Jay West Major Player Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Red Lodge, Montana Posts: 889	"I'll encode the CX550V to 1440x1080 and edit with multi-cam." What Is the reason for doing that? Are you also encoding the 1920x1080 footage from the EX1? Why encode rather than just putting everything into a timeline using a 1920x1080i preset? I ask because I have never had any problems mixing "square pixel" HD footage with rectangular pixel HD footage in either PProCS5 or Avid MC5. I regularly mix multiple HDV cam footage (1440x1080) with AVCHD footage (1920 x 1080) on "1920" timelines when doing multi-cam edits. Because there really is no perceptible difference in resolution --- only different pixel shapes --- it has never occurred to me that I should try to encode everything to 1440 or 1920.