Arggh! What Camera do I use?!

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Tommo.S
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Arggh! What Camera do I use?!

Post by Tommo.S »

Hey all, look I got a pretty nifty little DV camera, a Panasonic NV-GS11. Great little thing, however im ready to go the next level up. Ive been reading through these forums and on the net at all these different cameras, but I just cant decide. Now i want to be entering film festivals and perhaps even do a bit of camera work for some money, so I need something with a pretty good quality finish. I reckon I would pay around $2,000 - $3,000(AU)

What's the tops of the tops with this stuff lol, is there like a kit I can get that comes with a boomike?

Cheers All,
:D Tommo

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DEDFX
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RE: Arggh! What Camera do I use?!

Post by DEDFX »

I'm doing the same (upgrading) go to the thread titled "GL2 camcam" I'm pretty sure that's it. Theres lots of info from people and LawrieJaffa.
Lawriejaffa
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RE: Arggh! What Camera do I use?!

Post by Lawriejaffa »

Thats quite a funny price range you got there Tommo, basically to get a decent camera your gonna have to spend $4000 AU at least to get something new, but for that money you could get a decent camera second hand. (Or an older ex-demo camera.)

Heres ones to look out for, (check em' out.) Canon XL1, XL1s or the Sony PD150, the DVX100a or b.

I think your gonna have to give us a bit more info... also a kit that comes with a boom mic? Are you kidding! (A decent boom mic / can set you apart $750 itself if not more (and thats US dollars...)
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RE: Arggh! What Camera do I use?!

Post by Gyro »

Most definitely audio equipment can run mega high. That's the advantage of the XL1 or XL1s, it comes with an already external based microphone as apposed to the DVX100a or b. Again the, the DVX does shoot in 24fps, but the XL1 or s has a much nicer lens that comes standard. Again, you're going to have to set out your priorities. Which feature are you looking for the most? Bang for your buck doesn't apply in this range, all of the cams listed above are very high extensive professional cameras, just some provide features that others do not. All depends on what you're into. Both the XL1(s) and the DVX100a(b) have fantastic iris, f stop, gain, white balance, and contrast control but they also both have a little different features. Look into them, and decide which you want. XL1 might be cheaper too.
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Lawriejaffa
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RE: Arggh! What Camera do I use?!

Post by Lawriejaffa »

Yep just to add, the XL1 and the DVX100 are very different camera's neither are really for you if you have no real experience using a lot of hte manual settings etc. You can't rely on the onboard microphone for any of these cameras listed, (incidentally the DVX is considered to have the best audio pick up on the market if u check the reviews) for that price range of prosumer standard definition camera.

Yup the lens with the XL2 is great, with the XL1s etc, its still superior to the dvx (tho its lens is very good too.) But the quality of that lens totally depends on your usage, so you can get a shallow depth of field more easily with an xl stock lens but (big BUT) you still have to do all the crazy indy tricks (more or less) to get it. So depth of field is still an issue (with both cameras having to either jump thru hoops to achieve shallow depth of fields) or having to fit mini 35 adapters etc.

The main benefit of the XL's lens, is its telephoto reach, which is great for getting 'in there' but this is more suited imo to events/commercial work, than film. In that case a dvx100b is superior to an XL1 or 1s, however, if the guy was lucky enuf to get his hands on a canon xl2 that would be another matter.

A dvx100b will look a lot better footage wise (imo) than a XL1 for sure... theres a massive difference between the dvxs cinegamma colour spectrum (it can use to manipulate colours coming in to replicate film basically) with its progressive, which is far superior to anything the XL1 or 1s has. (again the xl2 is another story.)

But nope i wouldnt get carried away with the XL1 or 1s lens, its benefits are less relative to filmmaking than it is for video commercial work.

From the sounds of things id recommend this guy get a DVX100b, straight out the box it would give him standard def filmic images, with a bang of accessible features while still switching it onto video mode if he wants to do some pocket money work. Otherwise any of the canon camera's (that he could afford) would not be so good to both uses. (if he had loads of money the XL2 is imo the best prosumer standard def camera money can buy ;)
Tommo.S
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RE: Arggh! What Camera do I use?!

Post by Tommo.S »

hmmm okay than, thanks all.


I think I gotta research this a little more :P

But yeah that camera that Lawriejaffa mentioned the DVX100b sounds pretty nifty. Sounds like im obviously going to need to redo my budget to the $12,000(AU) mark lol. I think the best approach would be to keep using the camera I got now, even with the quality loss, it should not dis-qualify me from film festivals should it? If i still qualify I should try and win some awards first, really see if I got what it takes, as $12,000 is a massive investment, especially for me. I know you can pick a good one up from about $5,000+. Thanks again though guys, I'll sleep over this for the next few nights, and do a bit more research. All the stuff I got at the momment is basic entery level equipment, I think i might be thinking of moving up to the next level a bit to soon. but yeah, cheers all. :D
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