Best DV Camera for Filmmakers?

nebagakidnebagakid
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
i could not find another thread in a search....





So, I am interested in making movies in college, and I was wondering what were the thoughts of people on the best dv cam to get that is portable and I would not have to stay up at night worrying about if it is 100% protected. Also, under $1000.....



I would like it to have 16:9 and good external audio options. I don't care about digital camera options, in fact I wish they did not have them because they just add confusion.



What kind of costs are there for HD cameras? Which brand is the best?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,425member
    Well at $1000 or less I'd probably recommend a Panny 3 Chipper because of the color. For a one chipper the new canons would be nice.





    Panny 3 Chipper here



    http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=276565&is=REG



    Here's the last years model. Basically the same specs but on special at $699



    The differences? From Camcorderinfo.com



    Comparisons

    PV-GS70 The PV-GS200 replaces last year's PV-GS70. The PV-GS200 solves one of the two major problems with the PV-GS70 with it'sgood lowl ight performance, however, the image stabilization is also very poor. Although Panasonic is still above all the competition with regards to manual control, they've downgraded the way picture functions are controlled by using the directional pad inside the LCD screen instead of the great jog dial on the PV-GS70. The other noticable upgrade however outweighs that downgrade. Panasonic has signifigantly improved the low light performance of the PV-GS200, making it quite impressive, beating many nearly priced camcorders on the market



    Full GS200 review here





    I''m not too familiar with the reviews on the latest Sony and Canon cams. At $1000 though I don't like their offerings. One CCD is not something I want at that price. DV has relatively poor color gamut compared to the pro formats. You want to maximize the color you capture to tape. 3 CCD are the way to go even if they're 1/6 size each.



    Are you going to use Final Cut Pro?



  • Reply 2 of 10
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,425member
    16x9 you're not going to get "true" Widescreen on a low cost cam. True Widescreen is a camera using all the pixels of the CCD to squeeze the widescreen data. If it isn't anamorphic 16x9 then the camera is simply masking the top and bottom with black bars which won't go away.



    As for HD that market is heating up but it's still going slow.



    http://www.hdv-info.org/



    HDV is the new low cost format started by JVC with their



    GR-HD1US- $3499



    http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?produ...6000&pathId=29



    This uses MPEG2 at about 20MBps to record the HD image. Quality is great. It's only one CCD though so there's room for improvement. JVCs cams have an "achilles" heel though and I'm not sure if it's because of the format or not. Many users report that pans are choppy. The bitrate is probably the culprit. There's a technical explanation but it's beyond my capability to explain it.



    Sony has an HDV 3 CCD camera coming for a reported $5k

    http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...e-04_18_04.htm



    It should offer better color but it still my be affected by the "panning" issue. Let's hope not because you're next legit step up in HD cams is $20k plus



    Don't worry though at that range most people simply rent the cams. It's cheaper and you don't have to worry about paying a camera off that might become obsolete in a matter of a few years.





    If you're using video Final Cut Pro the rage is making your video look as close to film as possible.



    Magic Bullet Editors is a popular suite @ $300 but many are saying that Film Effects from Grame Nattress is just as good and it's $100 www.nattress.com



    MB is at http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/magbulsuit.html
  • Reply 3 of 10
    nebagakidnebagakid Posts: 2,692member
    I have Final Cut Pro now, I love using it so very much.



    I have an original Canon Elura right now, but there are mechanical problems with it, and the heads seem to never work on a regular basis. Also, 16:9 never plays out correctly when I want to, I have to place it into a new sequence at 4:3 and render the whole thing....
  • Reply 4 of 10
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Nebagakid

    I have Final Cut Pro now, I love using it so very much.



    I have an original Canon Elura right now, but there are mechanical problems with it, and the heads seem to never work on a regular basis. Also, 16:9 never plays out correctly when I want to, I have to place it into a new sequence at 4:3 and render the whole thing....



    you should learn dvd studio pro. it makes widescreen a lot easier (after some learning).
  • Reply 5 of 10
    nebagakidnebagakid Posts: 2,692member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ipodandimac

    you should learn dvd studio pro. it makes widescreen a lot easier (after some learning).



    i know DVD studio pro... but I am not necessarily going to be making DVDs of everything
  • Reply 6 of 10
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,425member
    Nebakid are you interested in making movies for a career or just a hobby?
  • Reply 7 of 10
    nebagakidnebagakid Posts: 2,692member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hmurchison

    Nebakid are you interested in making movies for a career or just a hobby?



    '



    hopefully one day as a career, I am going to college next year and I hope to get into the film courses...
  • Reply 8 of 10
    filmmaker2002filmmaker2002 Posts: 686member
    What college?
  • Reply 9 of 10
    nebagakidnebagakid Posts: 2,692member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by filmmaker2002

    What college?



    U o' Michigan
  • Reply 10 of 10
    resres Posts: 711member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Nebagakid

    i could not find another thread in a search....





    So, I am interested in making movies in college, and I was wondering what were the thoughts of people on the best dv cam to get that is portable and I would not have to stay up at night worrying about if it is 100% protected. Also, under $1000.....



    I would like it to have 16:9 and good external audio options. I don't care about digital camera options, in fact I wish they did not have them because they just add confusion.



    What kind of costs are there for HD cameras? Which brand is the best?





    As hmurchison said, the only real choice for simi-pro HD camera available right now is the JVC GR-HD1, which you can pick up for about $2200.00. Of course, since you want to spend under $1000.00 it doesn't do you any good.



    Truthfully, in your price range it would be hard to find a non-HD semi-pro camera. The Canon GL-2, Sony DRC-VX2100, or Sony DSR-PD170 would cost you about the same as the above JVC, and the Canon XL-1S runs about $3500 with a lens.



    If youreally want a simi-pro camera you might want to look into getting used equipment, and/or increasing your budget a bit. Of course, any camera with manual controls will be a good learning experience, so you just might want to get the best camera you can afford right now and start shooting some movies.



    Another thing you also might want to conceder would be getting a cheap 16mm movie camera on ebay. Although you can learn a lot about filmmaking with just a video camera, working with film is a different experience and it might give you a leg up on your film classes.
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