Best, Worst, & meh' of 2008 (meh)

The Best, the Worst and the Meh' sub-$10k cameras of 2008

The Meh':

1. AG-HPX170

The real HVX200a.

The HVX200 was in a class by itself, yet like all cameras it had a number of downsides. The Panasonic addressed a lot of the HVX's issues & came out with the HPX170. The most notable updates are SDI, better picture quality, lighter and a better user interface.

This camera on its own would have been in the "winners", but in the shadow of the EX1, it loses just enough points to slide out of the top class. The HPX170 still uses P2 cards, which although they've dropped in price, they're still freakin' expensive. Panasonic's DVCPro HD (4:2:2 intraframe) has better color and fame-by-frame compression than Sony's XDCAM EX (4:2:0 Long GOP), but you gain a lot more than what you lose. XDCAM EX cards are much cheaper than P2, plus they hold 3x more video than P2 GB-per-GB, which saves you money in recording media and archive hard drive. You can also purchase an adapter to make it possible to record onto dirt cheap SDHC cards on the EX1 / EX3, saving you even more cash.

Lastly, XDCAM EX shoots and records full 16:9 resolution, 1920x1080. DVCPro HD is on the wrong side of even HDV with the 1280x1080 resolution (1:1.18 in a 1:1.77 aspect ratio world). Now, there are those times when you need 4:2:2, intra-frame compression, the plus for Sony is that if you NEED it, you can easily bypass XDACM EX compression and record to an external device matching and surpassing DVCPro HD.

The final blow comes to the HPX by way of the ultra low resolution chips. The 960x540 CCDs are so far watered down from HD, that it is amazing how good the picture quality is. Over all, this is a great upgrade if you've already dove into P2. If you are still in the tape world, take a good look and the EX1 / EX3.

2. HVR-Z5U

Z7 with a fixed lens

The Z5 is pretty much the Z7 with out an interchangeable lens. Everything that is great with the Z7 is in the Z5, plus the stock lens has a 20x zoom range as compared to the 12x on the Z7.

The downside comes in at the price. The Z5 ships without the MRC-1 Compact Flash recorder which comes standard on the Z7, by the time you pay for the MRC-1, you could of had a Z7. The only reason to buy the Z5 instead of the Z7 is if you never plan to use a different lens, and since the Z5 has a longer lens, it makes sense to go that route. I was really hoping that this camera would be cheaper to give it more of a reason to sell.

3. JVC GY-HD110 / GY-HD200 / GY-HD250

Almost there, but not yet.

There are a number of positives with JVC's professional HDV line. These cameras have good "real" lenses, good viewfinder, actual shoulder mount, easily accessorize-able and very light weight in comparison full sized Betacams. Downside to these cameras is that they are stuck in 720p in a world moving to 1080p. I feel like I want to like these cameras more, but when I look at them, it feels like JVC only put in a half effort. Take one look behind the LCD and it looks empty in comparison to the Z7 where it looks like Sony took advantage of every millimeter on the camera.

4. HV-30

Proven baby cameras.

The HV30 is the HV20 painted black. No wonder why the tons of people shooting short movies on their HV20 didn't rush out to purchase the HV30. Overall Canon has done a good job with these baby cameras. Still tape is on the way out and Canon didn't do anything special which would have created a desire to upgrade to the new update.

5. HVR-S270

Z7 in a fat suit.

For every point on why I love the Z7, I dislike the S270. S270 uses the same interchangeable lens that the Z7 uses. They both come standard with the MRC-1 CF recorder. Z7, Z5 and S270 are all the same on the inside.

The S270 has four advantages over the Z7:
1. SDI (Z7 has HDMI)
2. 4 Channel Audio (Z7 has only 2)
3. Records to small and large DVCAM tapes (Z7 only take small tapes)
4. Shoulder mounted

These features are all nice, but at a nearly 150% price of the Z7, I expect more. The S270 looks big and impressive to people who don't know much about cameras, but set it down next to a 2/3" $$$k Varicam and the S270 looks like a fisher price toy. Sony could easily make this a better camera with a few changes: move the MCR-1 so it isn't on the "far side of the moon," take the LCD off the viewfinder, place it on the camera body, make the viewfinder optionally replaceable with a professional viewfinder, sell a camera package without the lens for people who want to upgrade to better glass. These small changes would make the S270 a much stronger and competitive camera.

6. XH-A1

Holding steady.

The XH-A1 has a good crowd behind it and hasn't been killed off by all the tapeless options out there. 20x lens, 24fps and lower light operation are the selling points that has worked well for this camera.

But tapeless is the way everyone is going, so this camera won't be a good choice for much longer. There are still two major down sides to this camera. The lens uses one servo motor to control the zoom and focus, thus you can't be adjusting both at the same time. There goes many tracking shots and warp zooms. Additionally the focus isn't repeatable, making it much harder to rack focus or attach a follow focus. This camera will soon be sitting collecting dust next to Sony's Z1.

7. XL-H1a

Over due price drop.

The upgrade from the XL-2 to the XL-H1 saw a big increase in price. The XL-H1a comes in a few grand less and only loses the features that most people in the sub-$10k price range don't use. This was a very smart move for Canon, because without the lower MSRP, there would be no way it could compete with the Z7 and JVC's cameras.

Even with the lower price, the only thing the XL-H1a has is the legacy of Canon's XL-1. JVC's HD100 sits better on your shoulder, has a great lens, better viewfinder and an LCD. Z7 has a better lens, 1080p and records to flash media. Legacy will only go so far, so Canon needs a major re-vamp by removing things like aperture / shutter priority, ND filters in the lens, proprietary lens mount etc...