[WTB] Advice please!

P

poppydixon

New member
Hi there,

I'd love some advice on which camera to buy.
I have $3000 to spend and need a camera, tripod and mics (I'd say 1 radio mic set and a top mic). Will also need a bag I guess - so essentially I need the basic set up. I'd rather buy new, but would go used if there is some guarantee.

I'll be making short taster tapes for documentaries, so sound quality is important. Image needs to be great (is to show to broadcasters), but probably to to broadcast.

I'm a one-man band, so don't really want external audio devices or anything too complicated.

I will mainly be shooting in the USA, but if there was an affordable camera I could switch to PAL, that would be really helpful. Don't really care if tape or card - see advantages in both.

So, on to cameras. I used to use a Z1 or Z7 for this purpose, but unfortunately (even used) they're too expensive for me.
I've been looking at the following:
Panasonic AG-HMC40
Sony FX7
Sony FX1 (though hard to find and might be more expensive.
Sony HVR-A1U

Does anyone have any particular thoughts on these, or any other suggestions?
HUGELY APPRECIATED!

I'm buying in New York, so recommended resources there would be great as well.

THANKS A LOT!
(PS. I apologise if I'm posting in the wrong section.. I couldn't find a section for general camear buying advice, but will move if necessary!)
 
You know, for about $3,000 dollars, you can buy a very nice set-up with a DSLR if you would like to venture into that monster.

You can buy a "hacked" GH1 for just under $600, get some adapters and buy yourself some lenses you wouldn't top the $1,000 dollar mark but you could literally have two primary lenses, i.e. a 50mm F1.4 and a 85mm F1.4 and several other lenses just in case you need wider focal length, but even then it would be hard to top that $1,000 dollar mark with just the camera and a few Canon FD or Nikon mount lenses.

To add to the experience, for about $700 dollars I've seen people selling a very nicely-constructed gini-rig which you can add a cheap monitor to (Liliput's monitors come to mind) and you could buy a Zoom H4N Audio Recorder, it really pays for itself in no time.

And the quality, to some, is much better. Low-light shooting if you won't be in a studio setting is important and at the GH1's highest ISO you notice very little noise. All of that and you'd still have about $700-900 dollars to spare on other lenses or perhaps saving up to get something else in the future.
 
thanks Pettro.
Yeah, it does seem like I could get quite a lot for my money, but I think the main thing is that I feel it'll be too complex for me as a one-man band to manage all the bits and record the sound externally. I'm not a really hot shooter and though I loosely understand the workings of an SLR, I have a feeling they're not as user friendly when it comes to moving around, changing settings or zooming in whilst you're rolling... would that be fair to say?
Perhaps I should think more on it, but I'd kind of struck the DSLR off my list as I thought I'd get flustered with too much to think about!
 
If I were you, I'd get the XHa1s at $2799 or the HMC150 at $2669, and a good mic. Then while you are getting used to the camera settings and shooting with it save for a decent tri- pod. Both of these cameras are very customizable, have great picture quality and are at un-believable prices - both at b and h photo. The HMC40 is nice as well, but I think the HMC150 is a better investment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top