I currently have 2 Z5s that are in each their own great cameras. For my multi-camera setups, as many of you know, there is slight (very slight) color mis-matching going on, which to be honest is an easy fix in post with saved addon settings. My guess is ordering them 5 months apart they are slightly different machines. That, among some other factors has made me think about changinng these out for other cameras purchased at the same time to **hopefully** give me something more suited to what I am doing.
Each Z5U ($4000 new at BH) also has the MRC1 compact flash recording unit ($750 new at BH). I also have 5x32GB Sandisk CF Cards ($185 EACH new at BH). There has not been much tapes used in these cameras at all. The "odometer" readings on the cameras are very low on tape hours. One of them in fact has NO tape use reading on it (truthfully I used the tape deck in that one today for the first time to record a 30 second test clip, but that is it). All the use has pretty much been just CF recording - so very little mechanical use. Each camera is in excellent condition. If I sold these as single camera packages, one with 2 CF cards, the other with 3 CF cards, what would you suggest? Brand new retail either way would be over $5000 per camera. Are there some great camera selling services out there besides eBay? I would be happy selling each as a package one at a time on eBay for $4000 (yes I know one gets you an extra CF card), but would I be doing myself a huge injustice and not get my max value? I am not sure of the depreciation rates of video cameras, but what I have seen does not make me think they fall very fast.
What I was thinking after selling these is getting 2 NX5s (or AX2000). Now what I want to know is what are the real differences between the NX5 and AX2000? The only ones I see at first glance are:
1. AX2000 does not have 720p. Who uses that anyway? And why not downconvert your full HD to 720 if you absolutely had to?
2. AX2000 does not have 2 cold shoe mounts. I would maybe miss this, as a lot of times I have a video light on the front and a wireless receiver on the back of my Z5s, but the AX2000 is $500 less and I could gaffer tape that receiver to the handle every time I was in that situation if need be. A little less convenient, but $500 gets you a lot of gaffers tape! Or if there was a way to add another shoe mount in a cheaper way I would do that
3. AX2000 does not have a mount for the FMU128 flash recording unit. While it could be convenient to be able to record 11 hours of video, the $650 price tag for that is a bit steep. I have used a few microcenter class 10 SDHC cards in my Panasonic consumer recently, and they are less than $60 for 32GB - none have failed me yet. In my eyes if the FMU fails, it is WAY more of a liability to replace. I have also heard some bad reviews on it. With 2 32 GB SDHC (or pro duo which are pricy) you can record 6 hours without worrying about changing cards. That would be perfect for my weddings, I can get away with less than that per camera in a day unless my assistant goes camera happy which has happened.
4. Now this is the only difference I am unsure of on how it would affect my shooting. Both cameras can record in Dolby Digital 2ch 16 bit 48KHz, but only the NX5U has the Linear PCM option listed (but maybe AX has it too?) Either way is this a bad thing and anything I would even notice especially considering you can re-encode audio anyway when editing?
5. One review I read stated they didn't have a LANC adapter on the AX2000, but the description at BH says it has one and the top down view I am pretty sure has one just above the thumb record button. Could be wrong? This could be a deal breaker as I use one quite a bit for slow zooms. But again I think it has one. Even all my old consumer cameras have had that. Don't know why this one wouldn't.
Is there anything else I should know?
Now why would I switch to these cameras? Primarily to hopefully fix the color match issue (I would order both at the same time) but I could live if I was unlucky again... maybe.... Next would be to have full 1920x1080 HD. The Z5 is still limited to HDV values, but I know there is still demand because some people are very dependant on having a reliable archive for their footage. Quite honestly though, the picture is outstanding even with HDV values, and still beats anything I see broadcast in full 1080 HD. It even beats out my Panasonic 1920x1080 so long as you know how to manually control it all. My computer laughs at AVCHD editing - so AVCHD is not an issue. I have downloaded some raw footage taken from the NX5, and it edits smoothly. Recording the extra lengths without having to worry about keeping track of a CF case is also a plus. In the end if I even sold each Z5 camera package for $4000 I really would not be losing anything and if it was the AX2000 I could potentialy end up ahead!
Thanks once again for enduring one of my essay posts, and any feedback is greatly appreciated!
