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Question

Preferred video cam for weddings

Jan 26, 2014 8:53AM PST

I have 2 Canon GL2 video cameras and have been informed by my repair guy that they will last only another 12 -18 months, so I guess I'm looking at replacing them. I mainly do wedding and event photography and would like to know if anyone has a recommendation for replacement cameras. thanks!!!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
The GL2s were great workhorses
Feb 7, 2014 11:21AM PST

as you already know.

Review:
Standard definition, DV format video to miniDV tape, 1/4" 3CCD imaging chip system, 58mm lens filter diameter.

What's at Canon today:
In the "Consumer" line:
HF G20; AVCHD-compressed video to flash memory; single 1/3" CMOS imaging chip, 58mm lens filter diameter. The HF G30 has a larger imaging chip and wifi built-in.
In the "Professional" line, the XA20 and XA25 are the pro siblings to the G20 and G30. They add a XLR adapter and top handle.

In addition to the camcorder replacement, the process flow for editing may change. Flash memory and AVCHD compression are different from DV. Resist the dSLR route unless you look into the hybrids - that is, the device is designed as a camcorder - not a still image device) so you get the large imaging chip and interchangeable lenses, but not the overheating and file size limitations of still image capture devices getting video as a convenience feature.

For Canon that is a bit pricy in the C100/C300/C500 EOS Cinema Cam line. If you are not married to Canon, then the Sony NEX-VG and NEX-EA series are worth a look. I've been shooting with a Sony HDR-HC1 and HDR-FX1 for a few years - and recently took the plunge into a NEX-EA50UH. It is working out well - and at the moment provides me flexibility to do a 3-camera shoot, but my HC1 is starting to have issues so it may get retired, soon.

Your computer's CPU needs to be pretty peppy to deal with the AVCHD compressed video and the video editor needs to ready to deal with it, too (unless you want to transcode, first). Imported DV format video for editing uses about 14 gig per hour of video... high definition is 44 gig per hour of imported decompressed video. Long-term archive requirements move from miniDV tape to ? I got a Buffalo 4-terabyte RAID1 Network Attached Storage device...

If you want to stick with miniDV tape, then the Sony HDR-FX7 and HDR-FX1000 can do standard def DV and high definition HDV video to the digital tape...

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Answer
Go SD card
Feb 7, 2014 1:47PM PST

I would stay clear of DV tape and go for the newer SD card based cameras. With a 64 Gb SDXC card for example you could expect 5 hours at top quality video. The advantage of SD cards is that they can be re-used many times, I have only ever used a DV tape once and, for something important, would always use a new tape. I have used and re-used my SD card over again and, with SD, each shot becomes a file so it is much easier to split in the editing stage.

For editing I use Corel's VideoStudio Pro X6 and find it very stable, easy to use and comprehensive. But as Boya84 said, you need a well spec'd computer. Corel, on their web site, list a minimum spec for running VS X6 so if your computer is "better" than the minimum, you should have no trouble.