Panasonic AG-HMC151 or Sony HVR-Z5

I'm soon hoping to invest in a serious camcorder and had my mind set on the Sony, I love the 20x zoom (nature being a prime subject of mine).

But a friend has recently purchased the Panasonic and loves it. The spec seems good.

Does anyone here have any thoughts between the two cameras? The Panasonic is a good £600 cheaper and I've read claims that the output of AVCHD is better than HDV.

Best wishes,

Jason

I'd go with the FX1000... the $1000 price difference for the Z5 isn't worth it in my opinion. Also, the AVCHD technology is not up to par yet, in my eyes. Maybe in a year or 2... that being said, you'd be happy with either camera :-)

Thanks for that info dapoopta. I watched closely as you chose which model to buy. Is it working out for you ok? The things I like about the Z5 include the better audio capture and the ease with which you can fit the solid state capture unit. Your comments on AVCHD are interesting.

Jason

Hi Jason,
I really don't know anything about the AVCHD other then what I've read, it seems most people in stock are staying away from it.

The subject was discused here:
AVCHD thread
Maybe some info for you there.

Jake

I don't know anytime you can get sony and panasonic to agree on a codec, that has to be a good thing, and from I've read they are both backing AVCHD. It is admittedly new, but I have read some articles that say it outperforms the HDV codec. It can only improve over time.

Scott

That being said I was looking at the 150, but decided to go with the HPX 170 from panasonic. It was definitely pricier, but the novelty of AVCHD did make me somewhat weary. I also didn't see anything about variable frame rates with the 150.

Oh, I forgot to mention since the camera is using h264 compression, if you are using final cut I think it trancodes it to the prores codec on import for editing. I believe the new version of premiere is supposed to allow native editing, but not sure.

Thanks for your advice here. I appreciate your time. It's looking like the Sony is going to be the choice. I see that Canon have recently announced updates to their XH-A1 (now XH-A1s), but I don't think this will sway my decision. Now I just need to get the final approval from the bank!