Upgrading from a Panasonic NV-DS65

argento · #1 (**permalink**) 09-28-2004, 10:37 AM

I've been using this camera for about a year or so - Not really happy with the picture quality (or sound quality for that matter) - In a lower light setting (ie - a church) picture is awful, full of miss-coloured grain blobs. In the outdoors, the colours appear too bright - OTT - for lack of a better expression. Backlighting cause lens flare about as big as a Death Star blowing up etc....

Basically - I've a £1000ish budget to improve this situation - Features I'd like are true 16x9, good judder reduction, Premire Pro compatability, DV, and a true image, even in lower light conditions,

Don't want much do I?

Any sugestions....

Marc Peters · #2 (**permalink**) 09-28-2004, 11:54 AM

Anything over the £1500 enters you into 3CCD land. This means better image quality to you. Take a look at the cams at www.creativevideo.co.uk - these are all prosumer to pro cams. You may get them a couple of hundred quid less at non-specialist online stores.

argento · #3 (**permalink**) 09-28-2004, 12:06 PM

GOOD GOD! The expense!!!

I was looking at the Canon MVX3i..... Found one for £919 inc vat.

Does anybody have any thoughts on that?

Marc Peters · #4 (**permalink**) 09-28-2004, 12:26 PM

Panasonic NVGS400B is in the same price range and pretty much all the standard features are better. Plus you'll probably be used to the menu system of the Panasonic.

Also found conflicting evidence on whether the MVX3i is a 3CCD cam. I think it;s a single chip whereas the Panasonic is a 3 chip.

http://www.computervideo.net/may04-2.html

LJR · #5 (**permalink**) 09-28-2004, 12:38 PM

Forget the excellent low light capabilities because the CCD's in camcorders are simply not large enough to give you anything other than barely adequate performance in low light conditions. Videography requires light, it's a key component to good video and lack of it just doesn't work well. The Sony VX2000 gives reasonable low light capabilities but is out of the price range you are concentrating on. You might want to consider a decent, but reasonably priced, video light too (take a look at the Paglight C6)

Maybe you should take a look on ebay to see if you can get a low used or even new 3CCD camcorder for the price you are looking to pay. To be honest, once you get as close as you are to a 3CCD camcorder then it might be worthwhile holding out for a bit until you can afford it. The colour reproduction and picture quality is much improved over single CCD.

argento · #6 (**permalink**) 09-28-2004, 05:47 PM

Thanks for the link to the light - only got to sort out a good camera and a cheaper supplier :lol: