Cost prohibitive, you might think?

or buy it, rent it to others, and take the depreciation
anyone got 30 grand?

The cheapest HD I've seen is the Panasonic, around $60,000. By the time you get lenses and everything, that would put it in the $100,000 range. I believe the low end Sony is around $70,000, but I could be wrong. They have been coming down in price some.

That sounds high for personal use, obviously, but for professional use, it's not bad. When I bought a BVW300 in 1989, the list price was $42,000 for the package. That would probably translate to closer to $60,000 or so in today's dollars.

Chris is right in that most are in rental stock these days. That will probably change as things standardize and prices drop eventually. Right now, I think about the dumbest thing to do would be to buy into Digibeta. It costs close to what HD does. On the other hand, most video is still SDI. A couple of studios here have HD cameras, but from all I've heard, they aren't doing very much with them.

Do any of you no what the deal is with Sony’s new MPEG IMX (DV50)? Most people in the industry don’t seem to existed about it. Most of them think it’s a waist.

Alex

I think it's Sony's attempt to get back into the broadcast game with a Betacam cassette type camcorder. They've been losing ground to Panasonic in the DV25 world...and Digibeta costs almost as much as HD, so when people want a DV50 format, they seem to go to Panasonic. It may be a marketing decision that is about 3 years too late.

Supposedly, you can captor it in to the Sony Edit stations at a 2X speed, so if you were capturing a hour of footage it would only take ½ hour. That could be handy in the broadcast world wear “news is now not later”

Alex

This is a great thread, because Im shoppin..

Im looking for a DV that will produce damn good looking DV25, and add in high bit sound

When do you think DV25 will be obsolete?

I only have a lowly Sony TRV230, and a portadat for now to practice with.

DV25 will be around for another 4+ years I figure. The big manufactures are still pumping out new products. Most cameras will go 2 to 4 years before they ripples them (that is just a ruff number). What are some of the cameras that you are considering? What is your Budget for a new camera?

Alex

<<<-- Originally posted by Alex Ratson : Iv seen Digi-Beta start higher then that price. (Digital Beta cam is DV90). I thout the “entry-level” HD cameras were about100K. I might be wrong but 30K is kind of low in my mind.

Alex -->>>

Alex, Chris is pretty close to the mark. Out of boredom I checked out prices on HD cameras just after the last time I bought a lottery ticket. There was one or two in the $40,000 range, I can't remember but I think one was an Ikegami. Anyway, for that price lenses are not included, it's pretty much body only!

HD lenses are vary expensive, along with there battery’s. It’s hard to price just the body.

U can’t drive a car without wheels :)

Alex

Ain't that the truth!
However, once you've added glass and gear, you'd be in the $60k range.

I'm considering any of the prosumer Dv25's, whatever looks good, Im in no hurry (sometime this year) so Im undecided about price,

XL1S/GL2/VX2000 leaning towad GL2

Maybe the JVC GR-HD1 Vaporcam...
or perhaps wait for another itteration of releases

Depending on your market size and type, I wouldn't give DV more than 2 years. In smaller markets and for certain types of work (event) DV will have better staying power. But I think NAB should bring some exciting products, with a definite shift away from DV. Not with new products (wait until next NAb) but lower pricing for existing products.

Those are all wonderful Cameras Robert. I found it quit fun prodding throe all the information on different cameras when I was looking. If you are in no big here you should hold off for a year because Sony and Canon should both have new models out before the year is over.

Good luck on finding your Dream Camera

Alex

If I had to buy a camera right NOW, I'd buy a used XL1, or PD150. As good a deal as I could find. That way I could sell it for close to what I paid for it and buy one of the great new toys that will undoubtably come out within the next year or two.