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
