What is the best video camera / handy cam / DSLR I can use for movie making on a budget?
Question by : What is the best video camera / handy cam / DSLR I can use for movie making on a budget?
I’m an aspiring film-maker looking to get started with some shorts, a couple of projects, and maybe a couple of low budget feature films. However, I’m stuck on what camera will best suit my needs, and have a strict budget of about $ 500/600.
A couple of friends of mine have shot movies entirely on basic DSLRs, so I’m open to that idea, but don’t really take an awful lot of photographs so feel that may be a waste.
What are the best video cameras, handy-cams or DSLRs I can use to shoot films in HD on this budget? Please include an explanation.
Best answer:
Answer by Palladini
Consumer level HD camcorders have 4 problems. 1) Blurry, fuzzy, out of focus areas closely around people in videos taken by consumer level HD camcorders. 2) Any movement, even a wave or lifting an arm, while in front of a recording consumer level HD camcorder, results in screen ghosts and artifacts being left on the video track, following the movement. Makes for bad video, sports videos are unwatchable. 3) These Consumer level HD camcorders all have a habit of the transferred to computer files are something you need to convert, thus losing your HD quality, to work with your editing software. 4) Mandatory maximum record times – 1 hour, 30 minutes, 8 minutes, 3 minutes – four different times advertised as maximum record time for some consumer level HD camcorders. No event I have ever been to is that short. Either take multiple camcorders or pack up with out getting the end of the event on video.
With a MiniDV tape camcorder, record 60 or 90 minutes ( camcorder settings), 90 seconds or less to change a tape and record for 60 or 90 more and repeat till you run out of tapes.
You can get a Canon ZR960 for $ 250. It is a MiniDV tape camcorder, has a Mic jack. You need a firewire (IEEE1394) card ($ 25 to 30) for the computer and a firewire cable (less than 10) to be able to transfer video to your computer. To say this is not HD, think about this. It would cost in excess of $ 3500 to get a HD camcorder that could equal the video Quality of a $ 250 Canon MiniDV tape camcorder.
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