Hi nighthawk – if you would

Hi nighthawk – if you would like distribute your motion pictures anywhere other than YouTube or Vimeo, you might want to shoot at something higher than the XA20's 35mbps bit rate.

I recommend the Canon XF100, on sale right now for $2499.  This is a camera with a broadcast quality codec.  It shoots at 4:2:2 MPEG-2 at 50mbps.  What that really means is that you can adjust or "grade" the color in the editing suite a lot more easily and get better results than with DSLRs or prosumer camcorders such as the XA20.

Here is a short film shot with the XF100:

http://vimeo.com/38481891 

Here is a music video:

http://vimeo.com/42512348

And here is a doc:

http://vimeo.com/25028901

If you don't need the large sensor "shallow depth of field look" or interchangeable lenses, at $2500, the XF100 is the best value for your money right now.

Hope this is helpful,

Bill

Hybrid Camera Revolution