What is better for making a movie- Canon 5D Mark II or Sony HDR- FX7?
Question by saunderites: What is better for making a movie- Canon 5D Mark II or Sony HDR- FX7?
I asked earlier but opinions varied wildly. From what I have seen the Canon is better- it has better video quality and the ability to change lenses which is important. Can someone give me a case for why the Sony is better?
Best answer:
Answer by Mmm J
It depends on your requirements and those of the project.
The FX7 can’t “change” lenses, but you can add lenses.
The FX7 was designed to capture moving images – a single 60 minute miniDV tape can record HDV format video for a full 63 minutes. More if you use the 80 minute tapes (though not necessarily recommended). The video files will be segmented by the 5D Mark 2’s “operating system”. It was designed to capture stills – dealing with moving images is a “convenience feature”.
The FX7 has manual audio control on the outside of the camcorder. The 5D Mark 2 has no audio control.
The miniDV tapes are the archive of the project. The 5D Mark 2 will depend on you to have a RAID1 multi-drive array for real video archival.
MiniDV tape is inexpensive – flash memory is not inexpensive, but re-usable and cannot be used as an “archive”.
The FX7 will have better low-light behavior (larger lens filter diameter and larger 3CMOS imaging chip array).
Both cameras will do a fine job. The BIGGEST issue is whether the content is compelling. If you go with the 5D Mark 2 be sure to get and external field recorder for the audio capture and mic connectivity. And before you buy ANYTHING, be sure your editing hardware and software can deal with the connectivity and video formats the camera captures.
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