Help me decide

[Cieonatechori Michelieve]

Hello friends,
I've decided to buy Panasonic DVX100a [which is going to be my first camera]. The stuff I'll shoot is going to be for DVD.

Would the users of DVX100a come forward and express your views the about what you like and dislike about this camera and what are the things that you sometimes wish could be there but you find missing.

Are they any major hinderence in creativity that sometimes come in while using it(Like you want to do something but it's pretty time consuming or not there).

What thoughts you have about the quality for DVD?

And I'm having some conflicting views about how it handles the low lights. Some says it's great, others say it's not good on that.

As I'm a beginer in this field, I dont have much knowledge about the cameras. Please help me decide so that I wont regret my decision later.
Thanks.

[Ken Tanaka]

Welcome Cieonatechori!
I'm glad this is the Internet because I would be extremely challenged accurately pronouncing your name!

The DVX100A is a wonderful camera, a real innovation for amateur filmmaking. I think it will keep you challenged and interested for a very long time. Perhaps the only significant practical limitation in this camera is its relatively short telephoto range. Since the camera is oriented more toward filmmakers its wider lens is much more useful to most owners than a long, 16-20x lens would be. But it also means the camera is not appropriate for applications such as wildlife and sports shooting where a long lens is essential.

I'm sure you'll get good responses, and there are also already many, many posts that would be useful to you here. To get you started as a new shooter I recommend that you not initially embed yourself in all of the camera's imaging options, particularly if you're relatively new to photography. Instead, begin your exploration by using a basic shooting mode (Scene File 1) and concentrate on understanding how to focus and compose your frame. The DVX100A requires that operators take a bit more control over basic focus and exposure than most other cameras. This may seem inconvenient at first but it actually encourages you to master some of the basics of photography before moving on.

When you're confident that you understand and can adequately control your focus, your iris and your framing you're ready to move on to the next level of exploring the camera's imaging options.

In my opinion, aside from the lack of very long telephoto lensing, the camera offers more possibilities for creativity than any other camera today (setting aside the forthcoming XL2). The camera handles low-light very well, better than many would expect from such a modest little camera and very comparably to the former king of darkness, the Sony PD150. But light is the medium of filmmaking and videography. An endless line of camera buyers have such poor understanding of photography and of electronic imaging. Consequently they expect a camera to automatically make them Sorcese in any situation. Good imaging from any camera requires light and skill.

Have a ball with your camera!

[Cieonatechori Michelieve]

Hello Ken,

Thanks for the reply. It's pretty good to hear from the experienced person. I hope more friends out here would like to share their views about this camera and give me some more insight into it's working.

You are right about the lightining, but I ask because I will be doing some stuff that will require the natural lightening around.

As for the zoom feature, do you think it would be good to get a telephoto lense to make up for the lack of great zoom in this camera? If yes, would I be still able to use the normal filters when using the telephoto lense!!!

Thanks again.

[Aaron Shaw]

Well I suppose you could get a telephoto lense if you absolutely need it. I would be tempted just to forget it and use the camera as is. What sort of work are you going to be doing though? Clearly you will be outside?

Depending on your budget, time constraints, and needs the XL2 might be the better way to go (if you need telephoto over wide angle) as it comes equiped with a 20x lense standard.

[Ken Tanaka]

I agree with Aaron's remarks. Adding more glass to the front of the DVX100 is not the way to go, particularly some sort of telephoto adapter.

[Cieonatechori Michelieve]

I'm going to use this camera for doing some music videos and documentaries(this particular documentary will involve working in low natural light conditions). I was very much inclined towards XL2 till I came across DVX100a. The price difference between these 2 is what is making me go towards DVX(almost 1/2 price). But do you guys think that there is some good amount of picture quality difference between these cameras!!!

Will XL2 will be a good choice in the long run for this kind of work?

And if I should choose XL2 over DVX, what should be the reasons for that?

Thanks

[Ken Tanaka]

The XL2 is not in our hands yet, so image remarks would be speculative.

In general, if you want a modular camera able to handle a wide variety of situations the XL platform would win hands-down. But it will be more expensive than the DVX.

If your budget is tight, and you're not realistically going to be compensated for your work to recover costs, the DVX is probably the more rational choice. It's not a once -in-a-lifetime decision and it's certainly not worth bankruptcy.

As we often tell the (literally) hundreds of people who come here each year asking "What should I buy?", you have to make your own decision.