well I"m looking to get a basic camera so I can do some freelancing work outside of work. I live in a small community but its pretty much untaped the only guy that does any production work at all uses digital 8's (yup!). I was thinking of picking up a DV 852 or possibly hunting down something used (but what?) I thought about the Optura Pi because of its progressive scan cabability and the fact that I'm guessing it would match up well with a GL2 (I may be able to workout renting one from work.) any other 2,3 ear old gems that would be in the 500-650ish range I should keep an eye out for?

I'm most likely going to start out with the odd wedding, and as soon as I can get enough to get a second camera, (most likely an XL2, if its out in about a year or so or DVX100a) I plan on trying to get a contract with one of the schools for thier auditorium productions (plays, concerts..etc).

Tommy and YowCH from the MX forum could comment on using the DV852. I've been considering it myself, and it can be had for about $560 from B&H. Low light is good, which you'll need for weddings, and it has good color reproduction for a single chipper. You might look at recent conversations on that forum.

thats proubly top on my list currently. only down side is lack of frame mode and 16:9. but I guess that can wait its a good camera besides that. hopefully a couple ebay auctions will go well in the next couple days and i'll be able to make my purchace