The gigantic "which camera should I buy" thread!

[Andrew Carter]

Hi Mike,

I'm slightly biased towards tape, as i have the most experience with it. I'm not ruling out the recording other formats.

thanks
Andrew

[J.J. Labritakis]

Hey guys I'm new here, how's it going? So I've been trying to figure out what camera to get, and it's been a very hard decision, I hear different things from different people. I need it for nightclubs shoots, weddings, commercials, the occasional music video, but also short films. Pretty much all around. I was told to get a Panny HPX170 with an adapter, another told me Canon 5D. The best suggestion given to me was to get a Canon T2i and a Sony fx-1. I'm thinking to wait for the Panny AF100, since it seems like the perfect mix of dslr and pro video cameras. I have $6000 dollars to spend so let me know what you think... Thanks!

[Dale Guthormsen]

Good evening,

Just remember that you have time frame limitations with a dslr. If you arre shooting vows, you do not want the camera stopping mid stride!!! besides, most weddings require two cameras.

If you want to shoot video I recomend you get a video camera. A used fx 1 will take nice footage, the newer fx1000 better with exmor technology does low light rather well for hd.

with 6 grand to work with two fx1s would make nice event vids. of course canon and panasonic do as well.
good luck

[Noa Put]

for nightclub shoots I would not buy a fx1 as it's not a great low light performer, if I would get as much as possible out of a 6g budget I would go for a pana hmc151 and a canon 550D.

This will give you a very wide range of possibilities and enough spare cash to get some more goodies.
You can get some cheap fast nikon primes for your 550D that will give you low light capabilities no videocamera can give you. Also the very shallow dof and possibility to put on a very wide lens are some of the advantages a dslr can give you.
You can buy a cheap zoom H1 for audio with your dslr, a hoodloupe for better focussing, a blackbird for gliding shots and I know of a cheaper slider (around 100 dollar but can't recall the name now)

This will give you a lot of possibilities for your budget.

[J.J. Labritakis]

I was thinking, what I wait for the panny af 100? That would give me the ease of a video camera but the good low light and shallow dof capability of a dslr.

[Wendell Frink]

I am going to be purchasing a new camera, since I am selling my HF10. I am wondering whether I should buy the HF S20 or the TM700K. I love the look of Panasonic and the TM700K a 3MOS camera, but am wondering if I should keep it in the family.

What do you think?

[Graeme Hay]

Going to Africa for a Photo/Video Safari Documentary of Animal Life.

My A-Cam is a Nikon D90 which will be pulling double duty (photos and videos) and I'm looking into getting a secondary camera to capture high speed action (animals doing stuff). My though is to get a mount so that it sits side by side the nikon so I can focus on pictures and let it film away.

- Uses SD Cards or Internal Memory
- 720p (1080p is also good but I don't make movies that high a resolution)
- 60p or faster (not 30p/25p with frame doubling) end movie will likely be 24p to sync with D90
- Needs to be able to film longer that 5 minutes.
- Side Swivel Screen would be nice
- Good Optical Telephoto Capabilities a bonus.

My initial though was the Hero Camera - GoPro Official Store: Wearable Digital Cameras for Sports or the Lumix G2 (but its 30p and doubles frames for 60p claim) but I'm wondering if there is something with a higher frame rate?

[Ervin Farkas]

I think the Panasonic TM700 does real 1080/60P.

[Manus Sweeney]

Canon 60D: 720p 60fps, 12 min rec time, swivel screen, plenty of telephoto options depending on what lenses you use

[Peter Koruga]

I am looking for a video camera to use to try and teach myself... well how to shoot. I know little to nothing about video production outside of home videos. I am looking for something that is versital meaning I would like it do do just about anything well. It doesnt have to do everything the best but good enough to produce usable video.

I plan to use it like I said to learn, but to learn for the purpose of creating website videos, small town (lower quality) commercials and area tourism videos (waterfalls, people skiing, wildlife, etc.), action sports videos, green screen shoots, and also to use with 3d animations created with 3ds max.

If it helps,

I have the Adobe CS3 production suite to use for production and editing etc.

I have a budget between $2000 - $2500.

If anyone has any good suggestions about which camera is a solid starter camera that will do the things listed above or anything mentioned above, or if you need more info let me know.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Peter

[Guy Cochran]

Originally Posted by Peter Koruga

I am looking for a video camera to use to try and teach myself... well how to shoot. I know little to nothing about video production outside of home videos. I am looking for something that is versital meaning I would like it do do just about anything well. It doesnt have to do everything the best but good enough to produce usable video.

I plan to use it like I said to learn, but to learn for the purpose of creating website videos, small town (lower quality) commercials and area tourism videos (waterfalls, people skiing, wildlife, etc.), action sports videos, green screen shoots, and also to use with 3d animations created with 3ds max.

If it helps,

I have the Adobe CS3 production suite to use for production and editing etc.

I have a budget between $2000 - $2500.

If anyone has any good suggestions about which camera is a solid starter camera that will do the things listed above or anything mentioned above, or if you need more info let me know.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Peter

In the $2k range there are very few cameras to really learn on that are capable of producing "commercial" level footage. The reason why is that there are very few new cameras out on the current market that will give you full manual control. To really capture great footage, it's crucial that a camera operator needs to be able to adjust the major settings and to not let the camera make these decisions in Auto Mode.

The key settings are:

Iris/Aperture
Gain
White Balance
Focus
Shutter Speed

Any "handycam" will help get you a "good" image, however, it's once you begin to understand exposure and how to utilize the camera's controls that you begin to really get great footage...of course, next you'll want to learn about composition, tripods/moving camera, lighting, and audio. The best way to learn is just by doing. So, budget for a tripod too, maybe a light and a good mic.

My recommendation for now in the $2k range would be to go for the Panasonic HMC40.

[Les Wilson]

Originally Posted by Peter Koruga

If anyone has any good suggestions about which camera is a solid starter camera that will do the things listed above or anything mentioned above, or if you need more info let me know.

I'm not sure if CS3 supports AVCHD.

Check with the local TV station for what format's they'll accept. If they'll take standard def, another thought is to get a used Standard Definition camera that shoots DV format like the XL1S or XL2. I learned all about manual audio and video on an XL1S. YMMV.

Speaking of audio, there's more to video than the camera. Knowing lighting and applying it on site is critical and as the saying goes, audio is half the video. Whatever camera you choose, make sure there's an add-on to let you use XLR audio equipment.

Lastly, one of the most overlooked pieces of equipment is the tripod. Unlikely any shaky cam handheld stuff will be too acceptable. A good tripod and head is over $1k and you eventually WILL buy a good one if you stick with it. The issue is how many will you buy and throw away before then.

[Peter Koruga]

Les and Guy

I appreciate the advice. As for the TV commercials: That would be down the road considerably. So I guess to aid you in your recommondations to me, I would say heavy towards internet video (advertising) and local tourism videos again likely to be distributed on the net. But I wanted something that isnt limited to that. I have learned just from reading posts that the video is only part of the package. It does seem that the tripod is a major consideration when getting into filming. Those topics will be the very next thing I work on.

As for AVCHD not working with CS3, working with CS3 is a must because I allready have it and will not be able to afford another editing software.

I will research the few cameras that have been suggested, but in the mean time if the above has cleared any questions and someone has anymore suggestions, im all ears.

Thanks, Peter

[Ervin Farkas]

Peter, if you need to stay with your current software, it probably means you have to work on the computer you already have - and that puts some serious limits. To edit AVCHD you need not only a new editing software, but also a late model computer, at the minimum a quad core with 6GB of RAM, but preferably a hyper threaded quad (i7) with 12Gigs of RAM.

I would say this: decide if you really need HD or not. If you do, than go for a used HDV camcorder like the FX1 or something similar. If SD will do, than you might be able to find a really good used professional camera, that will give you plenty opportunities to learn all about manual settings.

And don't forget, 70% of everything we see is... the sound, so plan on getting a decent mike. You already mentioned the tripod, oh, and did I mention lights? It's an expensive hobby, but if you manage to learn the basics, you will soon be able to make some money and only THEN think about upgrading.

Good luck!

[Peter Koruga]

First off I have to say that I really feel like the video community (specifically dvinfo) is a very unified cooperative group. I have had plenty of interests that I have researched online and have dropped because of lack of cooperative forums.

This is not the case here. Everytime that I have a question it is met with great responses in a short period of time. So thanks to everyone for that.

Ervin,

As for the computer, I have recently built a custom computer for myself with an i7 and 8gb of RAM upgradeable to 12gb. So I have the power there. As for the HD vs. SD? Thats one of the questions that I am looking to the pros for. I would imagine that SD would probably be enough for the education process and for the few projects that I would like to do for that process.

What is the resale market in production cameras. If I buy the good used SD to start with, am I going to be able to recoop some money when I go to upgrade or is it like a car, where the price drops like a rock. Or the tech will be out dated and no one will want it a couple years from now.

So the question for this post is:
Assuming I have decided on going SD. what are the recommended cameras for self educating, and projects like web videos, perhaps green screen, and in combination with green screen apply video to 3d projects using 3ds Max.

Thanks again to the entire community for being an active and helpful group.