Which HD Canon Camera Would You Recommend?

[Patrick Bronte]

I purchased a secondhand Sony PMW-EX3 that only lasted a couple of weeks after it was dropped so I've had to claim insurance. This leaves me a bit stuck as they won't replace the camera and will most likely pay out what I paid for it. So could anyone here please suggest some cameras in the lower end of the professional market place?

I've been looking at the Canon C100 Mk II for it sounds like I can get that SDOF within a small room/area. This is one of my key requirements in a camera for what I will only be using for: sit down interviews of the talking head variety. This sometimes means I have to go to people's homes where there isn't as much room. It's also in my budget. The Sony EX3 fell short of making it easy to achieve SDOF and was my first professional interchangeable lens camera. I didn't get a chance to really learn how to use it properly. Before that I used a Canon XF100. I posted a question about the C100 in the Canon forum and the one answer I received mentioned that it is more for cinematography than videography and will need a fast lens to capture SDOF. This has made me wonder if it's beyond my experience. But I have to purchase a prosumer camera to continue the work I've been doing. I feel confident that once I've studied the manual, watched videos and read all that I can find about a camera and after a decent amount of time playing with it in order to find and work out how to use everything I will need. The only thing is I need to have a decision made asap so I can get back to work as soon as everything has been sorted out with the insurance.

Can anyone please recommend a camera and a lens that will first, record great HD footage. I've used Canons XF codec as well as Sony's XCam codec. I use both FCP and Premiere and found Premiere to be very user friendly when dealing with the two codecs. Secondly, I need something to capture talking heads with SDOF without to much difficulty and in a small room with a minimum of about 10 feet between the interviewee and the background. I use a 3 point lighting system so will always have good light. I always do everything manually but have noticed some cameras have AF with face detection which is fine with me. So the only other requirements are that it comes in at $5.5, with the lens preferably within $1200. Do I need 4K? The end results will be headed towards TV but other than that it's going towards independent film festivals and the web. Will 4K become the required format within the next 3-4 years? Your help with some recommendations for a good camera and lens would be really appreciated here as I don't want to be talked into the wrong camera & lens by a salesman. I need to go in prepared.

[David Barnett]

NVM. Misread forum section.

[Patrick Bronte]

Sorry, what does NVM, missed read forum mean? Did I break a rule with this post? Just asking so it doesn't happen again?

[Vince Pachiano]

According to Google:

NVM = Never Mind

[Rainer Listing]

Just go with what the salesperson says.

[Hakob Hakobyan]

There are so many options I can't even recommend anything lol.
C100 mkii or GH5 will do fine for your needs at around the same budget.
2nd hand C100 mkii can be found for quite cheap, I use C100 and love it.

[Ivars Berzins]

I would choose a Canon C100 Mk2 or C200 over a Panasonic GH5 simply because they are designed as video cameras with decent audio inputs first and foremost, plus both shoot nice images out of the box. I have also used a GH5 as a second camera, which I find a lot more fiddly to use because of its DSLR form factor and fiddly menus.
The GH5 shoots nice images too and has a tiny form factor, but this is not important to me.

[Richard Gooderick]

If it was run and gun you might have a problem with the c100.
But for sit-down interviews it should be perfect.
You won't need a lot of light for shallow depth of field.

[David Peterson]

Both the Sony PMW-F3 and Sony FS700 are insanely good value secondhand right now (for a little less or a light more than US$1K ish)

Plus there are many smaller cameras which are amazing for filming with too, such as: BMPCC4K, Panasonic GH5/GH5S, Fujifilm X-T3, Nikon Z6