Definitely Professional Considering...
Written: Sep 08 '04
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Pros: Great colors, look, price! Vivid black, ergonomic controls, Shoulder pad, Manual overrride. 16:9, EIS.
Cons: Multiple functions on buttons. Weak headphone amp! Only 1 chip!
The Bottom Line: digital colors and resolution don't denigrade like analog format during transfer, you will get better than S-Video results. No one will notice it's 1 chip, plus it looks good.
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| proftony's Full Review: Panasonic DV proline AG-DVC7 Mini DV Camcorder |
Panasonic AG-DVC7 seems to be aimed at those wedding videography professionals who were using the Panasonic AG-45X series or the AG-460 series of S-VHS format camcorders. I must applaud their marketing personnel as this group of wedding videographers must be the largest segment.
But how does it compare to AG-45X series or the S-Video world? Also since it has only one 1/4” CCD, a comparison with consumer miniDV is in order as well as the good old Hi-8 format. Of course, I also tried comparing it to a 3CCD camera to find out if the trade off was good.
Upon opening the box, even in its grounding plastic wrapper, it was noticeable that the handle on top was very usable as it is where I grabbed and unpacked the camcorder. Strikingly noticeable was that it is light weight in comparison to the bulk the camera has. But after working with this camera on a test and with a SONY CCD-V5000 Hi8 camcorder, I got to thinking as to why the SONY was heavy? I thought Sony’s weight was the right weight for the bulk, now, the thought that DVC7 must have mostly plastic changed to: “no more cheap transistors and electronics, but fast efficient and small IC’s”. DVC7 appears to be solidly built, but careful handling is still in order. I am not too comfy with the slim plastic mounting for the external microphone.
Sitting atop my 60” tripod at full extension with wheels, it certainly looks impressive. No client of yours would accuse you of using a “home” or consumer camcorder. You have to give it to the designers of this machine. One look you know that it is one of those new digital cameras, yet its size yells “professional” whatever that means. Looking at it at all sides; you notice that it is austere in control buttons. This is a marked difference from my old SONY CCD-V5000 camcorder which seems to be inundated with buttons everywhere. Some of the DVC7 buttons were assigned multiple functions, i.e. the stop button, while recording, if held for a few seconds would function as a fade in/out button. I would have preferred if Panasonic have assigned these functions separately to avoid confusion, yet I must admit, though it takes some getting used to, it is not impossible. With a little practice and it could “almost” feel intuitive, it seems. I recommend you take a few practice shots using the different functions you are fond of using (fade in/out, digital effects, shutter, iris, white balance adjustments) before going to venture out and do a gig, hoping you won’t make a mistake. Though the “AUTO” settings would do, the best shots are obtained by going manual.
Next, I checked the colors and resolution. It is easy for someone to say colors are vivid, faded, etc, but without a point of reference, those comments would really mean nothing and may fall on deaf ears. So I went ahead and armed with the DVC7, two Hi8 Sony CCD-V5000’s, one Sony DCR-TRV19 Mini DV and a friend’s CANON XL1, did some test shots in my living room. I had two 60 watt lamp shades and one touchier lamp to provide the available lighting, also to help the sunlight coming in from three windows. I used one Phillips 9” TV/VCR combo as my monitor.
Direct to monitor, the XL1 was a clear winner, with vivid and crisp colors. But the DVC7 wasn’t far behind. The V5000 came next and last, surprisingly was the TRV19 whose colors needed more contrast and black. I couldn’t discern the resolution because of the small size of the monitor I was using. I decided to record on a single tape, using the same subject, on all 4 camcorders. I obtained three one minute recording of Venus sculpture I have in the living room using available lighting (as described above) on a miniDV tape and one on Hi8 tape. I took these tapes and the DVC7 and V5000 downstairs to the basement (I use our basement as the home theater room) and played it through our 60” widescreen SONY LCD projection TV.
Here the truth came out. Side by side with a newscast, all of the camcorders I used significantly inferior to the newscast’s resolution. But my rankings were the same. The XL1 came out ahead but not much better than the DVC7 in color saturation, however, when it came to accuracy in resolution, DVC7 had a few blue/red tinge on some shiny parts of the video. The V5000 resolution was better than the DVC7, but a little darker around the shadow areas. This might have been due to the higher lux requirement of the V5000 (DVC is 1 lux). Again, the colors of the TRV19 were the least saturated and the dark areas seemed pale (funny, I thought the TRV19 should be darker since its sensitivity is 5 lux {0 lux with night shot}). The V5000’s ½” CCD sure helped it in detail accuracy. You want the newscast’s accuracy you say? Spend 5 grand? You might want to think again. Right now, they are using Digital Betacam, that’s real serious bucks. But wait –
I took the cameras outside the house in bright sunshine and did a direct connect (long cables through the window) to the 60” TV, WOW! The XL1, DVC7 seems to be on par with the newscast! V5000 Hi8 format could not deliver and though TRV19 were almost there, the saturation still suffered. Mind you, it is not that TRV19 is defective, it is just that XL1 has 3 CCD chips, while the DVC7 sharing the same size of chip (1/4”) with the TRV19, it, however has some extra circuitry to deliver more black and it shows in the vividness and contrasts. Remember my results when doing a shoot – your colors and resolution depends largely on three things: Lighting, lighting and lighting!
Ergonomically, I would rather have the DVC7 on my shoulders than any of the other 3 camcorders here, yes, including the XL1 (ergonomically speaking). The controls are just where I need them. The XL1 is just awkward, the V5000 – too heavy, the TRV19 – too small, jumpy (how can you put a small camera like this on the shoulders anyway?)
Other features I like are the 16:9 video screen format. This is not a true widescreen format. It just blackens the top and bottom part. If you set your widescreen TV to FULL, you characters will still look wide! You must set you widescreen TV to ZOOM to get the widescreen true format. (Sony widescreen TV owners only, for others, I do not know what other brands call these settings). The picture effects (mosaic, mirror, etc.) are fine, but I mostly ignore these as I could do/add these during post production. The LCD monitor on the side is a plus, one which the XL1 is begging for. It is a must for accurately checking the white balance. No camcorder is worthy of the name professional if there is not manual override, and the DVC7 offers the override on all counts (audio, color, white balance, iris, shutter, EIS, etc.) I would have wished for a more powerful driver for the headphone jack. It is a little weak, and if the band is playing, you’re in trouble. I found that more expensive headphones with correct impedance and those with close cups give me a little edge in this regard.
Is DVC7 good enough for professional work? Absolutely! Is it the same as the 3 chip cameras? No, but close. Remember, 3 chips prevents color bleeds etc. normally associated with analogy systems, especially during dubs and copying, but with digital, you are dealing with 0’s and 1’s anyway, no deterioration! Is DVC7 better than consumer cameras? Absolutely!
But if your bread and butter is wedding videography and doing it full time, you might want to save another grand or two for a 3 chip camera. If you do ENG or industrial work or need MTV stuff, get a loan! In the mean time, DVC7 is a professional camera that will help you earn that extra grand or two that you need and look good and get better results doing it! Besides, after you get that other camera, you could use this camera as a backup for or for that stationary wide shot.
Now, I have a question, if 3 chip would drive the price to high, two chip would be a good comprimise like their AG-460, why settle only on 1? Sounds like a good middle group. Let us hope Panasonic is listening.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 850.00
Recommended for: Professional Videographers - Broadcast Quality Videos
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Epinions.com ID:
proftony
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