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http://www.spinquad.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadi d=2065
Recently in my quest for ever better aquisition formats I have discovered the Minolta DiMAGE A2.
I know… it’s a still digicam and lacks alot of the features of traditional dedicated camcorders. Also it’s monitor live mode (for connecting directly to an NLE or BetaCam Deck) is just plain terrible! But so far in all my tests (I’ve had the camera for 3 days now ) it’s recorded picture quality stomps anything I’ve ever seen on MiniDV with the exception of maybe that new HD format DV cam from JVC in 1280x720p mode and reduced
down for AA and sharpening affect . Certianly without a
doubt the same picture portions 544×504 30P (A2) vrs. a crop from the JVC footage of the same size *intensly* favors the Minolta A2. Also the A2 has AntiShake so when not on a tripod helps to smooth out those long focal length shots. It comes with a 28mm ~ 200mm lens w/macro.
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20030514/zooma108.htm
So in MANY situations I’m finding the A2 to be the DV killer I’ve been waiting for. With a 1 gigabyte CompactFlash card I paid about $1,000 US for it and 1gig records about 20min. The clips BTW are limited in length only by the size of the memory card. It does take the typw II micro drive cards too so when the prices of those normalize a bit 4 gigs (about 1hour) will be possible.
While as I say, it does lack some of features and specs of a nice CamCorder (like faster AF and smoother AE steps) it includes the ability to be computer controlled for time-lapse photography and can additionally do about 1FPS at a res of 3264 in seq. mode. Can you say perfect (huge) time lapsed clouds for LightWave?
Something else to consider is that in a controlled environment the comparitivly sluggish AF and stepped AE level jumps probably won’t be a problem as the camera has manual modes for: focus (w/focus ring), exposure control (aperture and shutter), and a custom WB registration facility all settable via mechanical buttons and wheels on the camera body as well as in firmware menu selections.
Another possible negative for the A2 as a DV CC replacement is the lack of a motorized zoom. The A2 zoom lens appears to be only manually adjustable but with just a few seconds of practice you can get it as smooth a zoom as any pro gear (almost).
So it’s not perfect but this is the first Digital Still camera model that takes huge steps in proving a long standing theory of mine: That Digi-Still cameras will eventually completely replace DVPro and DVMini Camcorders. I’m betting in 10 to 15 years they stand up to BetaCam/HD if not completely blow thier doors off.
http://konicaminolta.com/products/consumer/digital_camera/di mage/dimage-a2/index.html
Recently in my quest for ever better aquisition formats I have discovered the Minolta DiMAGE A2.
I know… it’s a still digicam and lacks alot of the features of traditional dedicated camcorders. Also it’s monitor live mode (for connecting directly to an NLE or BetaCam Deck) is just plain terrible! But so far in all my tests (I’ve had the camera for 3 days now ) it’s recorded picture quality stomps anything I’ve ever seen on MiniDV with the exception of maybe that new HD format DV cam from JVC in 1280x720p mode and reduced
down for AA and sharpening affect . Certianly without a
doubt the same picture portions 544×504 30P (A2) vrs. a crop from the JVC footage of the same size *intensly* favors the Minolta A2. Also the A2 has AntiShake so when not on a tripod helps to smooth out those long focal length shots. It comes with a 28mm ~ 200mm lens w/macro.
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20030514/zooma108.htm
So in MANY situations I’m finding the A2 to be the DV killer I’ve been waiting for. With a 1 gigabyte CompactFlash card I paid about $1,000 US for it and 1gig records about 20min. The clips BTW are limited in length only by the size of the memory card. It does take the typw II micro drive cards too so when the prices of those normalize a bit 4 gigs (about 1hour) will be possible.
While as I say, it does lack some of features and specs of a nice CamCorder (like faster AF and smoother AE steps) it includes the ability to be computer controlled for time-lapse photography and can additionally do about 1FPS at a res of 3264 in seq. mode. Can you say perfect (huge) time lapsed clouds for LightWave?
Something else to consider is that in a controlled environment the comparitivly sluggish AF and stepped AE level jumps probably won’t be a problem as the camera has manual modes for: focus (w/focus ring), exposure control (aperture and shutter), and a custom WB registration facility all settable via mechanical buttons and wheels on the camera body as well as in firmware menu selections.
Another possible negative for the A2 as a DV CC replacement is the lack of a motorized zoom. The A2 zoom lens appears to be only manually adjustable but with just a few seconds of practice you can get it as smooth a zoom as any pro gear (almost).
So it’s not perfect but this is the first Digital Still camera model that takes huge steps in proving a long standing theory of mine: That Digi-Still cameras will eventually completely replace DVPro and DVMini Camcorders. I’m betting in 10 to 15 years they stand up to BetaCam/HD if not completely blow thier doors off.
http://konicaminolta.com/products/consumer/digital_camera/di mage/dimage-a2/index.html
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