Best Camera for under 8K with auto focus/ auto zoom

[Aaron Bernakevitch]

Hello

I love shooting my epic but I am looking to invest in a non-cinema camera, something like the new version of the sony ex1 or HVX200. I have been renting the sony z5u but am only averagely impressed. I do like the 20x and that fact that the media is cheap, being that it records to SD cards.

Anything else i should test, I have been shooting a lot of single person crew where I need to shoot single system and have a quick turnaround time for media (ie I can't afford to have the drawbacks of shooting red)

Thoughts? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Nick Wernham]

If you're not fussed about having a large sensor than the Panasonic HPX250 looks like a decent option. It's pretty much the most modern version of the old HVX200. The issue is that it records to P2 cards which are not terribly cheap, but the camera itself goes for about $5,600 on B&H so you should be able to afford plenty of cards and batteries as well as a case and stuff if it's the camera that you want. If you need a larger sensor then the Sony FS700 with the upcoming E-mount servo zoom might be an option too.

I have an HPX170, but haven't used it since we got our Scarlet. It served me well for several years though.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

PMW-200

 

[Gabe Conroy]

I second the HPX250...it shoots to AVC-Intra 10-bit 4:2:2 100mbs, so you even have some room to work with in post. It's basically the HPX370 with a fixed lens and an HPX170 body.

 

[Steve Gibby]

Some good suggestions so far on this thread - HPX250, PMW-200. For the kind of work you describe you might also check out the Canon XF300 and even the Canon XF100. Both shoot in 4:2:2 colorspace at 50Mbps. XF300 has an 18x zoom and the XF100 has a 10x zoom. The Sony PMW-100 also shoots in 4:2:2 at 50Mbps, and has a 10x zoom.

Shooting in 4:2:2 in at least 50Mbps is critical if you ever want to broadcast the footage - most TV networks specify that in their Producer's Guidelines. Shooting in at least that color profile and bit rate is also better for green screen and graphics work in post.

Lots of good camera options for that type of lower budget, small crew, mobile EFP shooting.

 

[Tom Greenberg]

I second the Canon XF300 and XF100 recommendation...and we even have a Canon XA10 which is a great little 1080p camera...a bit consumerish with only 24Mbps AVCHD recording, but has XLR audio ins, records to dual SD cards, and looks great for what it is.

 

[Aaron Bernakevitch]

Great suggestion gents.

Will research all of these. I typically deal with cine equip so i'm out of the loop of the pro/prosumer cam's under 10K camera. Just so tired of sycning the DSLR and having all to do dads and add ons.

Cheers

 

[Brian Merlen]

If the turn around time/mag expense is all that makes you want to not shoot red I have a viable solution that is dirt cheap, probably cheaper then kitting out a non red. Shoot to a third party recorder that captures through HD-SDI or HDMI inexpensively in the codec you need for the NLE you need. You can implement a system like this relatively cheap compared to shooting raw 4k with the red. I am talking shooting on consumer cheapo SSD's (two if you need to cycle or get small ones, rather then big ones), a pix240 or equivalent. Boom badda bing reds dirt cheap to use, and its working smarter not harder, no transcodes needed jf you can set it up right per the NLE codec of choice, and it rolls on auto if you enable HD-SDI flags (while using that port, so it'll roll when you roll on the red itself). this workflow will also work well for if you need 4k too, you can record both on board to the mag and off board to the proxy editing codec at once.

so workflow wise this would speed stuff up, make footy cheap, and do most of what you want. its really a great way to skip needing lots of transcodes or using a red rocket (since you can do a 4k master and 2k proxy at once thus taking the red rocket outta the workflow entirely potentially.

ps this workflow sort of sucks for shooting offspeed since you need to do playback on clips on the red to then capture them on the external recorder at the slow speeds. at least that is what sucked the last time i used one, perhaps one of the models can now do off speed recordings without needing to do a playback to capture, not sure...

 

[Aaron Bernakevitch]

Hey Brian

I had considered that but I think I am after a camera with a auto focus/ zoom./ iris as well. Also would be good to have a cheaper camera working as sometimes the liability of having my epic out on a smaller priced gig just isn't worth it for me.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Aaron C Smith]

PMW-200 is almost 100% your best bet.. The EX1 is the best camera in it's class that I ever used (actually my favorite camera ever, to be honest)- the PMW-200 is the same except better. But again, as we've seen, technology is changing like a mofo so definitely expect that whatever you buy today will have a better alternative in the near future. My EX1's amortized themselves probably 5x over each, but times like that might be over.