digital camcorder v DSLR, which is better?

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Alan G

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Alan
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I've been shooting digital video on a dedicated tape camcorder for about 10 years and a further 2 with an SD based camcorder. I recently bought a Panasonic G2 CSC in the hope i could improve my digital photos (and it has) and do away with the need to carry two cameras.

However, where the video is concerned it looks to me like the cheap SD Card camcorder is better than the Panasonic. Particularly when panning the Panasonic picture seems less able to track cleanly with bad picture "fuzziness". Is that what would be expected? Given Panasonic's long history and status in videography and the reputation of the GH series of CSCs I was hoping for better from the G2.
(BTW I'm shooting in MPEG since I edit onto DVD for final viewing/sharing)

I'm going on holiday in May and wonder if I should pack both cameras or is there something I can do to improve things? Different settings maybe?
 
Have a look on the camera settings and see if you can find something on the resolution menu's that mention 25p/30p/50p/60p.

If you have a camera that records 1080i video for example, that means it's interlacing footage. So you have 540 lines recording one part of the image and 540 lines recording another, interlaced with each other.

With 1080p footage, you have 1080 lines recording progressively, so it's recording the image in flashes effectively. It's much smoother footage and doesn't provoke choppier video.

I think that may be what you're concerned with, it could be just the resolution. Try and set it to the maximum possible 720p or 1080p, make sure you look out for the p!
 
farrance said:
Have a look on the camera settings and see if you can find something on the resolution menu's that mention 25p/30p/50p/60p.

.... Try and set it to the maximum possible 720p or 1080p, make sure you look out for the p!
Click to expand...

Thanks, Its set to "HD MPEG", which the manual says is 1280x720.
I can't find any information on frame rates (which, I assume, is what the 25-60p figures above relate to?) The manual also says when using HD MPEG the effective sensor size is only 848x480 which doesn't sound good...

I've noticed that my video editor (Pinnacle) can process AVCHD format clips so I will try some tests to see if that works any better than MPEG.

Thanks again.
 
try switching formats if it means the higher resolution, you'll be thankful later even if it means downloading a codec later on
 
farrance said:
Have a look on the camera settings and see if you can find something on the resolution menu's that mention 25p/30p/50p/60p.

If you have a camera that records 1080i video for example, that means it's interlacing footage. So you have 540 lines recording one part of the image and 540 lines recording another, interlaced with each other.

With 1080p footage, you have 1080 lines recording progressively, so it's recording the image in flashes effectively. It's much smoother footage and doesn't provoke choppier video.

I think that may be what you're concerned with, it could be just the resolution. Try and set it to the maximum possible 720p or 1080p, make sure you look out for the p!
Click to expand...

Smooth motion has nothing to do with p/i. It is a function of sampling rate. i25 and p50 are sampled 50 times a second which gives better motion than p25.
 
Consider getting the Panasonic HC-X900m Camcorder. built in 32 gig memory and will take SD cards so can use one for stills and other for video. I have this model and the only drawback is with taking stills don't try taking a picture of a pretty girl half a mile away but for most purposes the stills zoom covers most things. The video zoom is superb more than you would ever want, even for taking a picture of a pretty girl half a mile away.

If I had one complaint which is common to every video is wind noise so I bought a directional mike with a wind sock which more or less clears the problem

Realspeed
 
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