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HDR Fx7 or Panasonic AG-DVX100BE?

arjen92

arjen92

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 9, 2008
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He,

A the thread already says, which camera should I choose. I'm choosing one for our school online newspaper. There will be interview but als a lot of formats (sort of cribs, cooking, short movies, summaries of an event). Or camera club bought a camera that was way cheaper, but I want a camera with more manual direct control (for example the zoom ring, I like it so much more, but also gain and low light capabilities). So I can't go too expensive. We also need to buy other equipment (stuff to edit, and to maintain our website).

So I thought I should take the Panasonic AG-DVX100BE or the Sony HDR FX7. I like Sony because I know them better as a professional camera manufacturer. But I heard the sound capabilities are pretty bad. I don't even know whether it's possible to attach my mini-jack mic.

The panasonic however looks a bit weird to me, but I'll get used to it. But the panasonic has 2 xlr inputs which is pretty nice, as we have enough xlr microphones in the music classroom. One for the interviewer, one for the interviewed. That's pretty nice I think.

So tell me, which one? Or is there a third option.

(p.s. do you think I can get discount when I call sony or panasonic, even with the fact we probably don't have to pay taxes, as our is school buys it?)
 
Having worked with the DVX 100 and the FX 1 (and VX1000 and 2000) I recommend the DVX, as the zoom ring and focus ring are really attached to the lenses, unlike with the FX 1 (and I think the FX 7 will do so too), where you just control a motor, that moves the zoom and focus.

Also, if the content is only viewed online, SD might be more than enough.

I don't know about the low light capabilities of the FX 7, but the DVX 100 is not as good as I expected.
I recently filmed in a big concert hall, and while I could see the musicians on stage without a problem, the audience was dark as the next hole in the night.
Of course, the audience was not even lit, as the musicians were, but I seem to remember that the VX 2000 gave me better results in low light.

Also the DVX is progressive, as the FX 7 seems not to be.
And the DVX can have the display on and at the same time even the viewfinder displays an image.

And from all the cameras I worked with til today (Sony VX 1000/2000, FX 1, DVCam shoulder camera, Beta SP, Canon XL 1, XM 2, Ikegami Digi Beta,....DVX 100BE), I liked the VX2000 and DVX the best with handling the camera, and the DVX surprised me with its really good zoom and focus rings. It was like using an SLR lens.

As for picture quality, I think the DVX surpasses the FX 1 (in PAL SD mode), but the colour seems sometimes a little bit lush (which can be changed via the software in the camera or the colour correction tool of your editing application - I use Avid).

And asking the manufacturer to give you a discount shouldn't be a problem, just ask, even if in the end they won't do it.

Have fun with whatever camera you go.

PS: You can use MRoogle to look for some experiences some users might have had with those cameras.

PPS: Avid Media Composer can be had for less than 300$ if you buy the student's version, which is a very good price.
Final Cut Studio costs around 800$ as an educational version I think, but it has a lot more to offer.
 
Thank you for your advice spinnerlys. I think I'll go for the panasonic then. I noticed a little delay when zooming in with a Sony FXE1 too, when manual.
I'm probably going to use Adobe premiere package. There's a special website for pupils where they sell software legally for almost nothing. The package will be around 300 euro's. (I'm from holland).

acearchie, thanks for the advice, but I think the canon will be too expensive.
 
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