Final Cut-friendly camera and audio recommmendation

The Canon Vixia I was using with a wireless mic to do video in Final Cut 10.2.2. died recently. I have about $1700 to spend and am looking for advice on whether to get a DSRL or camcorder with either a lavlaier wired mic or wireless mic system that will work seamlessly with Final Cut. Any recommendations? A video editor friend suggested the Nikon D7200 and Snny ECM 44B. I am frankly overwhelmed by the choices, but I love editing in Final Cut and want to up my output game. Thanks, Douglas

It's a bit of a minefield getting a new camera as the field is changing rapidly all the time but I can let you know my experience. I own a 5D II DSLR and a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and are in your price range (with caveats). The 5DII shoots lovely full frame images, though compressed, and shooting time is limited to 12mins at a go which is annoying. It plays nicely with FCPX though you have to transcode your footage to ProRes really - especially if you want to tweak it. The BMPCC shoots Log ProRes and RAW. ProRes is fine for most purposes and using Log you can apply a LUT with FCPX's built in Settings options. It's gorgeous to grade with and has a lot of latitude providing you shoot 800 ISO and in decent enough light. With RAW you need to use DaVinci (which is free, of course) The main caveat is that with both cameras you have to get other things. Lenses, mainly, and that's where it can get expensive. I use a couple of Rokinon VDSLR (85mm and 24mm) along with a Canon 50mm and a Lumix 18-35mm Canon mount with a CAMDIOX adapter for the BMPCC (I should have got a Nikon mount for manual iris control). All of these lenses shoot lovely in relatively low light - meaning I rarely have to use lights on jobs which is highly convenient and fast. I also use a Zoom H5N sound recorder which I sync up in post with the other cameras using waveform matching as neither camera's native sound is up to much.

My plans are to move to 4K next year by picking up the new Ursa Mini from Blackmagic. That said as I do most of my work for the web so I doubt I'll be using it much at first. I'll still be using both the other cameras and IMPORTANTLY the lenses and other extras will still be useable with the upgrade.

Hard to chose between the BMPCC and the 5D as they both have advantages and disadvantages. The BMPCC has a huge crop factor on it which can turn most lenses telephoto without an adapter such as the Camdiox or Metabones. It also eats batteries like nobody's business. The 5D is cheap to pick up second hand, shoots lovely full frame images with sexy narrow depth of field but doesn't allow much grading in post.

Whatever you pick I'd suggest getting something that allows for being as modular as possible so that when you inevitably upgrade the camera body (the chip, effectively) your lenses, sound, rig, etc. can still be used.

Not sure if this helps much but thought I'd share my experience. Good luck!

any consumer cam, esp. in your price range, is supported by FCPX.
so, that is no criteria.

make a wishlist, not in technology, but 'real life':

• are you lone-fighter or team?
• scenic or point'n shoot?
• controlled enviroment (lights, audio) or available-light/-sound only?
• audio external (cam audio just for reference) or in-cam control (some cams have no audioOUT!)
• tripod only or free-hand?
• normal focal length or makro/looooong lense?
• frame-rates, grading (yep, thats technical ) ?

THEN start to translate this into tech lingo. DSLR is flexible conc. lenses, but clumpy; Bridge cams are all-in-one, but come as is; system cams - very handy, imho; camcorders - made for video (e.g. no limitations in file size), small sensors = good for auto focus, bad for DoF; ...

finally, 4k? 10bit? ....

... and that tiny point on the shopping list 'costs' ... special media? special rigs? additonal designated audio recorder? ....

And, no, still no one-fits-all device avail ... for sports I love my Lumix FZ1000, for point'n shoot my tiny Pana707, for scenic my NEX5 with a handful of old Canon glases ... all together below your budget LOL!! :lol:

Douglaseye wrote: The Canon Vixia I was using with a wireless mic to do video in Final Cut 10.2.2. died recently. I have about $1700 to spend and am looking for advice on whether to get a DSRL or camcorder with either a lavlaier wired mic or wireless mic system that will work seamlessly with Final Cut...

Karsten's advice is very important. Think about the type of shooting and type of final material, and that helps drive the camera decision.

We have the Vixia HF-G30 and XA-25 -- they are good cameras but we don't use them much anymore. Shooting with true DSLRs can produce good quality but they are complex to operate. E.g, they almost always require neutral density filters outdoors, focus is usually manual, etc. We usually use the Zacuto EVF Pro viewfinder which helps a lot. However I've seen good documentaries shot with DSLRs just hand holding the camera with no aids whatsoever.

We now shoot mostly 4k with the Sony A7RII and Panasonic AG-DVX200. They each have strengths and weaknesses. However you don't need cameras like that to produce good material.

In your price range there are some good camcorders like the Sony HXR-NX100 and the FDR-AX100: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1022653-R...ull_hd_handycam.html

It is a little above your price range but the Panasonic GH4 is very good; we use one of those also. You would need a lens; the 12-35 f/4 is pretty good: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1028453-R...irrorless_micro.html

Re mics, the least expensive quality wireless mic I've seen is the Canon WM-V1. It's not as concealable as a traditional bodypack lav but it's convenient and reliable. We have a bunch of Sennheiser EW-112p kits, but we sometimes use the WM-V1 on quickly-changing informal interviews: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/751267-RE...less_Microphone.html

Edit/add: another lower-cost possibility is the Panasonic Lumix G7. Here is a video comparing it to the Sony A7SII: