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Best 264 or 265 Camera for under $5K
  • There's a lot of cams out there--what do ppl think is the best one for under $5K? The catch? Must be able to record either h.264 and/or h.265 (including all variants like Sony). Raw and so on is a plus, and would be nice to have in addition to a compressed format, but for long events it's a deal breaker.

  • 15 Replies sorted by
  • @DrDave

    You mean pro video camera only?

  • Echoing vitaliy’s question,

    Ursa Mini pro is pretty incredible. Shoot prores LT , nice small file size. Built in NDs. Audio inputs and controls.

    If you can tolerate using lighting for your work, the Ursa classic can be had cheaply, and Ursa Mini 4K is quite good too.

    Otherwise obvious answer to me would be GH5 for one man band type work. So many options.

  • Ursa looks interesting, but there's no 264 or 265, is there? On long shoots with 8-12 cameras I have a real data storage problem. I'm not sure what you mean by pro, but I certainly don't consider audio a pro feature, and my lowly ax100 has fully customizable ND filters.....

  • @DrDave

    And why not get Samsung NX1's?

    For your long events it is still best camera.

    For ENG shots can just get good rig.

  • I tested the Samsung and it was very good, plus the H265 is a total data squeeze, but it wasn't quite as sharp as the Sony 6300. But I had the Sony fail in a long session with overheating. Maybe the Samsung is worth another look, or the ridiculously priced GH5. I just had better IQ with the slightly larger sensor, except for the JVC which was not quite as sharp. Some extra DR would come in handy.

  • I tested the Samsung and it was very good, plus the H265 is a total data squeeze, but it wasn't quite as sharp as the Sony 6300. But I had the Sony fail in a long session with overheating. Maybe the Samsung is worth another look, or the ridiculously priced GH5. I just had better IQ with the slightly larger sensor, except for the JVC which was not quite as sharp. Some extra DR would come in handy.

    I suggest NX1 and can pair it with NX500s.

    NX1/NX500 biggest advantage is hack paired with H.265, so you can make very compact good files.

  • Sony A6500 does not overheat.

  • I have a Nx1 and i love it, but it has some issues. The Gh5, which i could use for a video made for a swedish company, is far superior. Slomo looks much better, the sensor stablisation is incredible, automatic focus transition is great for narative work, 10 bit 422 is great for color grading, it has waveforms. Low light is also clearly better than on the nx1. The nx1 destroys the picture with its noise reduction beyond iso 1600. My nx1 is not hacked, so maybe there is a workaround, but the codec breaks quite often in fine structures. Beside that, the image quality is great. But i always get some unusable shots. Buy the Gh5, it will last for a long time. It has all that is needed. Just watch the camera store tv review on youtube. They are completely right.

  • @apefos I used the A6500 on a project and it broke down after 35 minutes.

  • @utezet I always have problems with Panasonic color but each generation does seem to get a bit better.

  • @utezet Looking at the images on on DPReview, the G85 resolves a tiny bit more detail than the GH5. But I can see hat the GH5 has some interesting features and more codec options. Still, the G85 does seem to pull out a bit more fine detail.
    On the Camera Store review and DPReview, they mentioned the aliasing of the A6500, and this is indeed true. The 6500 is a bit sharper, but you get some artefacts as well.

  • @Vitaliy the Panasonics also have nice IS....also the color on the NX1 is a bit weird, but so are the Panasonics.

  • @DrDave

    I do not understand "color on NX1" and "color of Panasonic", as color is specific to many things.
    Cameras have some common stuff, of course. But none of them are too large or make work impossible.

  • NX1 hacked w/ grip. 16-50s & 50-150s. Lexar 2000x.