Looking to purchase new camera...

[DjfunkmasterG]

For the level of film making the majority of us are on, HD is useless. Instead of pissing away that extra $2,000 on a camera put it into your budget. If you make a feature your first time out and it gets distributed it isn't going to be given the best DVD release ever, it will be so-so quality and you wasted all that money for a film that will be in obscurity. Go with the DVX100, keep this in mind. A majority of the films being put on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray for that matter aren't shot in HD so if the studio's aren't blowing the cash just yet... why should you?

[MinionZombie]

Agreed, I really don't see the point in HD, it's a fad right now, a buzzword used by salesmen. It's far from the standard right now (heck, widescreen TV's only became the standard about 3 years ago! ), why spend a shedload of money on a HD camera when the tech isn't as good as it will be in a few years, and SD on the DVX100B looks absolutely lush...if you slap some Magic Bullet on there, it looks EVEN BETTER and downright bell-wetting. I bet a lot of average folk wouldn't even see the difference between the formats, hell, if they can't understand the concept of Pan & Scan, then HD is lost on them. SD has plenty of years left on it. Putting the extra cash into the filmmaking process itself, or a load of extra equipment would be best. Besides, you can get a decent enough HD camera for like £900 for numpties so taken by new-fad-tech.

[EvilBread]

Well, I would personally choose the Xl2 then if we are going for a SD camera. More variation with the lenses, great 16:9 mode which helps in terms of narrative filmmaking and to be fair looks more impressive than the DVX. The whole looking like a film is not something that would grab me to buy a camera as like I said before you can achieve that in different ways which I think is better in the long run as you learn more by going through the elements.

[Mutineer]

To be fair; the DVX blows the XL2 out of the water. What, do like 5 people even own an XL2 ? I cannot even stand the way the XL2 looks; milky, weird gamma, off cadence ... something is amiss with that piece of crap. But like DJ suggests; overkill at this level. High Def is some badass looking footy, but I do not feel my work warrants that upgrade at this time, but when it does, I'd surely upgrade to HD; it is NOT a fad IMO. The XL2 over the DVX ? Bwhahahahahahaha

[MinionZombie]

Not a fad in time, but right now it's a total fad used by salesman and techno-sucking folk who hop on any old bandwagon to flash some cash ... that's how I feel anyway. Besides, I prefer the grain of SD, a nice bit of grain is always nice. Honestly, HD just doesn't look like real life at all, it looks far beyond it, and can look absolutely sickening, the colours are too intense and it's just a turn off ... like, why would anyone wanna watch HD porn?! I've seen samples and it's rank. Call me backwards, but I just love SD the way it is...of course, I also still have a place in my heart for VHS. I'm a whore for DVD, but it's got no soul, VHS on the other hand...

[Mutineer]

I stand corrected Minion Salespersons definately use it as a fad; you are totally correct. I love grain myself (feedback in the digi world). If I had to choose from affordable HD models; HVX200 But my DVX still rules !

[MinionZombie]

Another thing going for the DVX - reliability. I duno about the XL2, but I've heard a lot of disappointment from the lower level XM2, and have experiencing them first hand. One had the dodgiest zoom on it as that had freaked out, was a right pain in the arse to work with, I tell thee. If I was going to go HD, I'd no doubt go HVX. The XL2, they're really quite old now, weren't those the ones used to film 28 Days Later? Even using fancy filters and lenses it still doesn't look as good as what you could do with the same poncy lenses/filters on the DVX...there's a reason why it gets bigged up so much - because it's a quality bit of kit, you can't go wrong with it, and it certainly makes the right impression on people as I've experienced several times in recent months.

[EvilBread]

I have worked with two XM2's over the past year and half and they have been more than reliable. The only reason one of them broke down was because it was dropped and had to be sent back to Canon for repairs. The other has been up and running for nearly 4 years now and has had thousands of hours of tape ran through it and has yet to fail. The XM2 is a solid camera and can produce amazing results. As for the zooming feature. In terms of controlling the zoom properly you merely go into the menu options and change the zoom level to static and not variable. The fact the camera has a brilliant 20x zoom makes it even greater for guerilla type shooting. As for the XL2. The camera used on 28 Days Later was the XL-1 and had a 35mm convertion kit on the front of it. It is swings and roundabouts on which cameras to use. Obviously you guys love the DVX, I prefer the XL2. The best advice I think we can give to the original poster on what camera to buy is to just go down to their local camera shop, or a place that stocks prosumer cameras and have a play about with them to see which one they favour more. And in terms of that grainy quality of SD. Like most things, thats easier to add in Post

[MinionZombie]

pfft, real grain is always better. The zoom problem wasn't to do with setting, the zoom function was actually completely f*cked, you'd tap it slightly and it's zoom in and out all on it's own, it was completely knackered. Just going on what I've heard about the camera, I've heard a lot of people complaining about it conking out after 8 months or just after the warranty, although yeah indeed, plenty of them work fine...but that reputation completely put me off getting one, as well as the fact that in comparison to the DVX, the XM2 hasn't got much to bring to the party except for a cheap bottle of Lambrini...the DVX is the suave bastard who brings a six crate of champagne, hehehe... Yes indeedio, track down a proper camera shop and try out some cameras, get their advice as they know the most, I was fortunate as there's one not too far from me in Malvern. Try and get as much control as possible for your buck, too.