brandonburtner
09-12-2007, 05:27 PM
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/415307-REG/Panasonic_PVGS500_PV_GS500_3_CCD_Mini_DV.html
I am a student at EKU and during the school year I always use the school cameras. This summer I want to start doing some no budget independent work and I will need my own camera. Almost everything I will be doing this summer will be for fun and practice. I will probably do 2 or 3 music videos for local bands that I know personally and if I get paid it will be like $50 or maybe even just a 12 pack of beer. I will not be buying a professional camera this summer because I'm not skilled enough to employ it and I'm not stupid enough to buy a camera that I can't employ.
That being said, I'm looking all over for an inexpensive camera that has some good manual features. This Panasonic is only like $700 and it has a focus ring and a manual iris and shutter speed. I know that I won't be making professional quality videos with it, but it has a 3CCD chip and seems to be a fine camera.
What do you guys think? I'll probably eventually get an HVX 200 or something along those lines because I am mostly interested in music videos, but like I said, until I have the experience to make some money with my camera, I will not even consider spending that kind of money on one. I have a little over a thousand dollars that I could put into a camera and supplies and I think that PV-GS500 with a decent tripod, some lights (I improvise with halogen work lamps and different sorts of lights I've gathered of the years), a basic filter kit, and a little bit of audio equipment (like I said, I'll be doing mostly music videos so audio is usually not a factor).
So my situation is, a little over $1000; I'll be doing very amateur music videos, shorts, and documentary shorts; I want to improve my manual camera control work. Do you think I picked a good camera? Do you have a better idea? I don't :(
I am a student at EKU and during the school year I always use the school cameras. This summer I want to start doing some no budget independent work and I will need my own camera. Almost everything I will be doing this summer will be for fun and practice. I will probably do 2 or 3 music videos for local bands that I know personally and if I get paid it will be like $50 or maybe even just a 12 pack of beer. I will not be buying a professional camera this summer because I'm not skilled enough to employ it and I'm not stupid enough to buy a camera that I can't employ.
That being said, I'm looking all over for an inexpensive camera that has some good manual features. This Panasonic is only like $700 and it has a focus ring and a manual iris and shutter speed. I know that I won't be making professional quality videos with it, but it has a 3CCD chip and seems to be a fine camera.
What do you guys think? I'll probably eventually get an HVX 200 or something along those lines because I am mostly interested in music videos, but like I said, until I have the experience to make some money with my camera, I will not even consider spending that kind of money on one. I have a little over a thousand dollars that I could put into a camera and supplies and I think that PV-GS500 with a decent tripod, some lights (I improvise with halogen work lamps and different sorts of lights I've gathered of the years), a basic filter kit, and a little bit of audio equipment (like I said, I'll be doing mostly music videos so audio is usually not a factor).
So my situation is, a little over $1000; I'll be doing very amateur music videos, shorts, and documentary shorts; I want to improve my manual camera control work. Do you think I picked a good camera? Do you have a better idea? I don't :(