Indecent Exposure 21: Inventive explorations

Hi, I've been listening to your show since episode 1, having heard about it on Buzz Out Loud. I've been wanting to make the jump from my Canon miniDV to an HD camcorder for quite a while now, but I haven't yet done it. Aside from the fact that I keep waiting for the perfect camera to come along, one of the things that has always hung me up is the difficulty of sharing HD video. I have a MacPro and use FinalCut Express to do editing. I tend to put together videos of vacations and stuff to share with my family and friends around the country. I've found that the only sure-fire way to share with the people in my life who are less technologically inclined is to burn DVDs that they can pop into a DVD player and view on their TV. Whenever I think about getting an HD camcorder, I end up asking myself how I'm going to share the video. Nobody I know has a Blu-ray player, and sharing anything more than a minute or two of HD video over the Web is nearly impossible. Which brings me back to tried-and-true standard def DVD. Combine the sharing difficulties with the editing headaches I've read so much about with AVCHD, and why would I bother with HD? For me, the fun of video is all in the sharing. My question is, are there any advantages or disadvantages to shooting in SD mode with an HD camcorder. Or shooting in HD and down-rezing for standard DVD. Will the image quality be any better/worse? Would the higher resolution sensors in an HD camcorder make the SD image look better? Or if I'm going to stick with SD for a while, would I be better off just upgrading my couple year old miniDV for a higher end SD camcorder. Any thoughts or feedback you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks for a great podcast. Jason

Dear Ms. Grunin, I would like to thank you for your digital camera product reviews. Your videos and editorials have been very helpful to me. I am interested in purchasing my first DSLR camera. For more than the past few months, the primary concern for me has been the Canon versus Nikon question. However, my new concern, with the introduction of the Nikon D700 and forthcoming replacement for the Canon 5D is this: Will the smaller-sized sensor formats, such as the Nikon DX or Canon equivalent, be replaced by DSLR's with full-frame, 35mm equivalent sensors, thereby making the respective lenses obsolete? Though my present budget limits me to cameras such as the Nikon D90 or Canon 50D, I am more concerned with the investment in lenses since--correct me if I'm wrong--the lenses between the two sensor technologies are not interchangeable. In short, if I purchase Nikon DX format lenses today, will they become obsolete in five years if manufacturers move to full-frame sensor cameras? Please forward me a link to any relevant editorial if you or other CNET editors have already addressed this topic. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Regards, Marina