[MacDV] Re: DV cam Comparison

[Selander Timothy]

> ...I've been studying the Panasonic DV953 and  
> the JVC SR 3000 -- both priced under $1,000.  Although both products
> are an excellent value and offer outstanding 3-CCD video, the Pana  
> DV953 seems to have a 'touchy' zoom control (hard to 'feather') and the
> JVC SR3000 loads from the bottom making it extremely annoying to load
> when shooting from a tripod.  Any thoughts, please?   Thanks for any
> input -- especially from the guys that shoot a lot.
> 

I've got the Japanese version of the 953 -- called the MX5000 here.
Great cam -- don't see how you can go wrong with it. Ergonomically very
nice, no complaints about picture quality. Only average in low light --
not as good as the VX2000 there. Got the biggest Panny battery for it
and can shoot for 3 or so hours on it. LP mode for 90 minute shoots on a
60 min tape works flawlessly. Panasonic's wide angle adaptor is also
excellent, very little flare compared to similar Sony and Raynox
products I've used. Only thing I've found that is a pain is that when
shooting in manual audio, you can only change the gain level when tape
is _not_ rolling. So you can't make minor adjustments on the fly while
taping. If you use a mixer, or a Beachtek (essentially a mixer) then
it's no problem since you adjust levels with the mixer. Viewfinder is
not as high resolution as some others, but frankly, I haven't found any
miniDV camera that has an adequate viewfinder. YMMV -- after all, my
eyes are 45 years old, and I'm used to shooting broadcast cameras that
have viewfinders that are 3 times more expensive than a whole miniDV
camera!

Tim Selander
Tokyo, Japan