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Panasonic AG-AC90 or Sony Nex VG900
  • hi everyone, i currently use 2 wonderful panasonic HDC-SDT750 cams and i want to upgrade one of them to a newer, more professional camera, but cant decide between these 2 cams (will keep my other SDT750 cams as backups)

    Panasonic AG-AC90

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4661/panasonic-ag-ac90-topic-and-comperison-with-gh2-video-test/p1

    or

    Sony VG900

    http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/09/12/Sony-NEX-VG900-full-frame-camcorder-and-VG-30-APS-C-model-and-18-200-power-zoom-lens

    i do weddings as well as a lot of roaming video (hand held mode using steadicams and shoulder mounts) and the features i want must include a very good Image Stabilization and Auto Focus system, preferably built into the body, and must shoot 1080/50p (im in australia so its pal) but im not fussed about getting an ntsc unit that does 60p.

    the AC90 seems like a great cam, but some people reckon the sensor is way small, and not as good as in other cams, yet the VG900 is a full fram interchangeable lens camera that seems to be pretty good on paper, unfortunately its Image Stabilization is lens dependent, and i believe AF is only usable on E mount lenses when they are wide open.

    can anyone offer me any advice, or offer other camera suggestions to me, as i can go up to about $3000usd for a new cam.

    cheers

    oh, BTW why is there still this need to have Pal & NTSC recording systems these days, why cant they just have one system and be done with it, and i ask because with HD video these days (AVCHD especially) i rarely ever output to bluray even with wedding videos, most clients just want their video edited nicely with some nice touches (efects) here and there, and the output m2ts file put onto an external hdd for playback on a HD tv, as most newer HD tv's these days have built in media players via usb.

    it wont bother me to buy a ntsc camera, the more fps i can shoot in the better.

  • 5 Replies sorted by
  • GH3 = $1000 12 - 35 X lens = $1000 35 - 100 X lens = $1000

    Its a no brainer for me.

    We used to use Panasonic SD900s for wedding films and we now have 3 GH3s.

    No comparison in the quality that is turned out, AF is excellent with these lenses and much better in low light.

  • hi, what format are you shooting in from the following modes that the GH3 has available, and do you hack them.

    Motion Image MOV (pal/ntsc)

    • 1920×1080/50p/60p @ 50Mbps IPB
    • 1920×1080/25p/30p @ 72Mbps ALL-Intra
    • 1920×1080/25p/30p @ 50Mbps IPB
    • 1920×1080/24p cinema @ 72Mbps ALL-Intra
    • 1920×1080/24p cinema @ 50Mbps IPB
    • 1280x720/50p/60p @ 72Mbps ALL-Intra

    AVCHD h264 (pal/ntsc)

    • 1920×1080/50p/60p @ 28Mbps
    • 1920×1080/50i/60i @ 17Mbps
    • 1920×1080/25p/30p @ 24Mbps
    • 1920×1080/24p cinema @ 24Mbps

    personally i dont like shooting in any other mode except 1080/50p (with my pal cams) @ 28Mbps (averages 26Mbps) and i always shoot my videos in roaming mode using a custom made hand held/shoulder mount rig, and sometimes use a steadycam when the need arises, and i never use a tripod.

    i dont like using DSLR type camera's they dont suit my style of shooting, and ergonomically they are horrible to use if not mounting them on a tripod or rig of some sort, but thats just personal preference.

    i wish i could get a traditional style video cam that shot 1080/50p @ 50Mbps IPB format, even better would be 1080/50p @ 72Mbps ALL-Intra, or find someone who would create hacks for these traditional style cams the same way they hack the DSLR and Micro 4/3 camera's.

    my decision has not been made yet, im waiting for my son to come home from uni interstate in 2 weeks so i can try out his GH2, then we are going to see our local panasonic rep to try the GH3 and the AG-AC90 cam he is bringing to show me.

    big decisions.

  • @glenpinn

    Please format post properly. Click on Format Help.

  • sorry but i have no idea what you mean, clicking on format help doesnt explain what i am doing wrong.

    cheers

  • @glenpinn

    Format Help just explain how to format bullet lists, etc. :-) I just did some editing for you already :-)