Q&A: What equipment would be good for making movies? Computers? Programs? Cameras?

Question by Joe Shmo: What equipment would be good for making movies? Computers? Programs? Cameras?
I was thinking of getting a sony camera because they never really let you down. Any specifics?

What about a Macintosh computer? They’re so much money if something were to happen to them I’d be lost in nothing. Also, the pro only has up to 16gb I think witch dosn’t seem like that much to store lots of things on. And I’ve had a bad experiance with an iMac, but it was one of them old ones with the clear backs.

For a program I was thinking of Final Cut Express. The one that comes in a bundle with all them other programs.

Remember, price is an issue too. Thanks in advance! Toodles!

Best answer:

Answer by Act D
depending on how involved you want to get….
for the low end, cheapest way:
refurb MacMini from Apple =$ 700, (new $ 800)
you would also need a monitor to go w/it, i would suggest searching buy.com and finding a nice 17″ LCD for around $ 150-200.
iMovie = free w/Apple computers,
i would get either a sony or a canon camera, and would get a miniDV format, not DVD/HD/etc. in time the hard drive cameras will be the way to go, but for now miniDV is readily available, inexpensive and reliable.
No matter what computer you get, i would recommend a large external hard drive (250GB firewire preferably) to back up your projects onto.
Final Cut Express is a very good program and will allow you to do much more than iMovie, but also, is much more expensive when compared to free.

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