HF S100 or HV40 for Film Stuff?

[Rychy]

Now I know that the HV30 is big for film people... I probably would just get it to save some money, but it's gone up in price recently, $900 at Amazon. And if I'm going to spend that I might as well get the HV40.

I was thinking about it though and right now I can get the HF S100 for $989, formats aside, it sounds like the S100 is a better camera.

So I guess my question is am I crazy for wanting a AVCHD camera for doing film stuff? I do have a pretty capable Mac Pro (see signature)... would editing be that big of deal? My storage situation isn't the best, although I do plan on upgrading two of my HDDs to 1TB. So I'll have my Boot Drive and 3 1TB Drives. I can't do RAID for now.

I do have to admit I really like not having to render much when using HDV. I'm using the current version of Final Cut Express and will most likely upgrade to Studio whenever a new version comes out if that makes any difference.

 

[spinnerlys]

I don't think, the HV40 is big for film people, as it uses a quite lossy codec (AVCHD - MPEG-4/.H264) to save the footage.

As you can see here, the footage gets also converted to AIC for better editing purposes, so expect files, that get 4-5 times bigger than the files on the recording medium.

So depending what you mean with "film stuff", AVCHD might be to much of a compression for you.
If it is just for fun or short films or weddings or whatever is not meant for the big screen, the cameras you pointed to will do you fine, if AVCHD is the aspect you're looking at.

If you looking at it from the handling perspective, I personally wouldn't get any of those cameras, as there are no dedicated focus and zoom rings, and no ISO dial.
Also the sensors are quite small for low light situations.
But that is my opinion, as I have worked with semi-professional camcorders quite some time, and I wouldn't get lower than that, as from my experience (and as a photographer using an SLR) focus and zoom ring handling are really important, if one is used to that.

 

[Rychy]

The HV40 is actually an HDV camera (unreleased), the HF S100 is ACVHD though.

By Film Stuff, I mean short films and learning purposes. I probably wouldn't make a long film with this camera. But I have a feeling I'll be recording a lot of video with it. And now I'm starting to think backing up ACVHD files is going to be a problem.

I think I'm leaning more towards tape.

 

[spinnerlys]

Sorry, about my confusion with the HV40, must have been in another thread with my mind.

I also would recommend the tape way, as backing files up is more tedious than cataloguing tapes.

Also consider that one minute of HDV footage, captured with AIC, will take up to 1GB of HDD space.

And HDV uses MPEG-2 to store its video.

Here is some more info on HDV: http://www.vasst.com/index.php?option=com_xfaq&Itemid=87

 

[pigbat]

The HV40 is actually an HDV camera (unreleased), the HF S100 is ACVHD though.

By Film Stuff, I mean short films and learning purposes. I probably wouldn't make a long film with this camera. But I have a feeling I'll be recording a lot of video with it. And now I'm starting to think backing up ACVHD files is going to be a problem.

I think I'm leaning more towards tape.

I'm battling the AVCHD vs HDV question also. I've been leaning toward AVCHD after borrowing a friend's camera for a few days. I think I could make it work for me but it's a different way of thinking compared to my tape background.

Interesting that some scenes in Crank 2 were shot with a bunch of Canon HF 100's. I'm sure they spent some time in editing, but it shows what can be done with cheap consumer cameras.

 

[Chris7]

I'm battling the AVCHD vs HDV question also. I've been leaning toward AVCHD after borrowing a friend's camera for a few days. I think I could make it work for me but it's a different way of thinking compared to my tape background.

Interesting that some scenes in Crank 2 were shot with a bunch of Canon HF 100's. I'm sure they spent some time in editing, but it shows what can be done with cheap consumer cameras.

I've read about these cameras and am really interested if anyone's done a comparison between these two cameras for motion shots. The HV20/HV30 looks much better than the HF100 that I have.
To the OP: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-HF-S100-Camcorder-Review-36389.htm