Best HD camera for weddings?

[Chris Medico]

Tapeless.. That is a double edged sword..

I've gone tapeless but its not for everyone. If you are doing events and don't have the need for long term archiving of RAW video then tapeless makes very good sense. If you want to keep the video around for a while tapeless is not as appealing until less expensive archiving methods are mainstream.

Your budget puts you into a HDV or AVCHD Prosumer class of camera and takes the EX1 out of play. The EX1 is about the best camera for the money out there. To get an one you need to push your budget up to about $9k for the camera and accessories.

With the existing HDV cameras you can get a FireStore or nNovia DVR and go tapeless at any time. I personally use a V1U and DR60 combo and those two work seamlessly together. My only reservation with recommending the V1 is its short on low light ability (compared to the EX1). In full light the picture is very good.

Do you have any thoughts for size or weight? Do you want to use the camera with a stabilizer rig?

More questions.. Sorry. I only ask because I've been going down this road for the last couple of years. I ask myself a lot of questions.

[Jimmy Moss]

Noa and Bill,

I have a camera light in my kit but I avoid using it at all costs. I tell the client up front that low light is going to look bad and anything important needs to happen where there is strong light, even a floodlight. If they have a wedding planner work with them so they set up the mood with plenty of lights.

I use Final Cut Pro, but all that footage was untouched by color correction. I used shutter priority mode, set it at 1/48, made sure to disable auto gain compensation and set it in the menu so I had -3db gain. Then I used the VIVID RGB preset from Stephen Dempsey.... I think its on the Canon Thread on this forum. Its good stuff. I think his setting removes noise in the blacks a bit and crushes them too. I would have to look again to be sure.

[Mike Bisom]

Well for my .02, I would choose the Panasonics. We are leaning towards the AG-HPX170 and a AG-HMC150, with the 170 being the main camera. Then supplementing this with cheaper consumer cameras. In any event, We like the 170 (and the 200a) because they are NOT long GOP captures (the 150 is). And, the captured material is 4:2:2 as opposed to 4:2:0. And, they use CCDs instead of CMOS. We are just starting to play with Color in FCP and I would love to see what 4:2:2 looks like!

Mike

[Marc Trainor]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Moss

I use a Canon XH-A1 and it gets really good low light stuff as long as you know how to set it up. -3db gain, with the VIVID RGB preset. Samples here:

David and Jessica's Wedding Video March 15th 2008. on Vimeo

I also have an Xha1 and I really like it. That was some terrific footage of the wedding. I haven't shot much in low light yet, mainly outdoor stuff, but so far I like the camera. Marc Trainor.

[Danny O'Neill]

Wow, nice to see these posts from 2008 getting resurrected :)

[Craig McKenna]

Originally Posted by Danny O'Neill

Wow, nice to see these posts from 2008 getting resurrected :)

Really interesting! I like the way the story was told in the Vimeo link and was really surprised that the video was still available to view! The cake moment was funny and it was just a nice highlights film... compare it to one from today, and the wedding industry has surpassed expectations by a vast amount - if this was your typical wedding film of yesteryear.