G
Guest
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Best Budget Cameras
MiniDV Era:
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Before HD, people didn't know or think about the resolution of their TV's. It was a time of innocence. This was the Garden.
Sony VX1000/PD170 - Changed the way people thought about small video cameras.
DVX100 - Brought cine-gamma and 24p in a well thought out package. This genre of camera was never very wieldy, but the DVX executed it with admirable effort. Panasonic could have saved themselves some money and got the zoom and lens right the first time, but you can't think of everything. Progressive was the hallmark of this camera, and changed budget digital cinema forever. If it had interchangeable lens options, would it have been any better? All round best of this genre.
XL1 - Became the poster child for on camera cameras. But I appreciated it for getting us closer to things like true 16:9 and interchangeable lenses. Having been used to shoot the entire Danny Boyle film "28 days Later", it showed that great images come from great cinematographers.
JVC DV5000, lack of 16:9 and fast approaching HD, left this guy in the cold, so it shouldn't be on the list, but I like what JVC was trying to do.
DVC-30 this is stretching it a bit too, but it was one of the first cameras to pack small size, XLR audio, durability, modularity, and moderate image quality into one small package. Again, this guy came too late to the game.
HD, 3 small chip Era - The Dark Ages
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But then manufactures started pushing HD technology and the people's eyes were opened, and they saw that their TV's were SD. And they were ashamed, and hid. This was the Fall.
HDV
JVCGH100 wins by virtue of ergonomics, but still nasty HDV. But really clever little design, horrid images.
HPX500, somewhat short lived supremacy overcoming resolution (up rezzed 720p to 1080p) with low light capabilities. A workhorse, that is probably still around. Made pro seem affordable.
Budget Cinema
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Jim Jannard went out into the wilderness with his dslr, and a vision came unto him. Jim make for thee a camera spotless and blameless, to show the world what cameras can do. And it was so. This was the Covenant.
RED One - one of the best worst-best worst cameras in the world. Came at a time when s35, 4:4:4, RAW was unattainable, and made it as a complete package for half the price of a 720p 2/3" 4:2:2 varicam with no lens. Now any Joe Shmo could get one on credit. Changed digital video in several ways.
Scarlet - Once again lowering the price point for Industry standard images. Not all the bells and whistles, but if you shoot your projects in 24p, then no hollywood professional has a better 4k camera.
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Current Free-for-All Era
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After many years under 1/3" fixed lens and horrid HDV, the waters parted and HDSLR's unlocked video recording. And HDSLR's reigned down with their s35 sensors like manna. The people rejoiced, but soon discontentment rose up in the people, and they began to grumble about H.264 and moire, and say, at least we had time-code with HDV. This was the Exodus.
Canon HDSLR - beat by nikon as the first hdslr by a few weeks, but surpassed nikon in usability, frame rates, and resolution. Still, after three years is one of the top performers in the hdslr realm. While not the best technical image, is the representative of the hdslr world. At first begrudgingly, but now embracing the film world, we'll see were they go from there.
GH2 - first dslr to attempt to listen to customers complaints about compression. Also, with the GH1's already hacked, it was a no brainer.
EX1/3 - Let me be clear, I hate these, but I recognize them to be useful to other people. They really caught my attention after their price drops. Reigns in handheld fixed lens HD market, but image also suffers from compression.
----------------------------------------------------
With technology on their side, manufacturers were told to enter into the promise land, finally the 4:2:2 Broadcast spec or higher codec, s35 full 1080p 60fps, 10bit, in an ergonomic small package with lens mount options, was affordable. But the market analysts went into the field and they came back with reports, saying, the consumer is not ready for it just yet. They said this because they were afraid the consumer would not continue to spend wrecklessly. Because of their lack of faith in the consumer, camera technology would remain in the desert for forty more months. This was Wandering in the Desert.
MiniDV Era:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before HD, people didn't know or think about the resolution of their TV's. It was a time of innocence. This was the Garden.
Sony VX1000/PD170 - Changed the way people thought about small video cameras.
DVX100 - Brought cine-gamma and 24p in a well thought out package. This genre of camera was never very wieldy, but the DVX executed it with admirable effort. Panasonic could have saved themselves some money and got the zoom and lens right the first time, but you can't think of everything. Progressive was the hallmark of this camera, and changed budget digital cinema forever. If it had interchangeable lens options, would it have been any better? All round best of this genre.
XL1 - Became the poster child for on camera cameras. But I appreciated it for getting us closer to things like true 16:9 and interchangeable lenses. Having been used to shoot the entire Danny Boyle film "28 days Later", it showed that great images come from great cinematographers.
JVC DV5000, lack of 16:9 and fast approaching HD, left this guy in the cold, so it shouldn't be on the list, but I like what JVC was trying to do.
DVC-30 this is stretching it a bit too, but it was one of the first cameras to pack small size, XLR audio, durability, modularity, and moderate image quality into one small package. Again, this guy came too late to the game.
HD, 3 small chip Era - The Dark Ages
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But then manufactures started pushing HD technology and the people's eyes were opened, and they saw that their TV's were SD. And they were ashamed, and hid. This was the Fall.
HDV
JVCGH100 wins by virtue of ergonomics, but still nasty HDV. But really clever little design, horrid images.
HPX500, somewhat short lived supremacy overcoming resolution (up rezzed 720p to 1080p) with low light capabilities. A workhorse, that is probably still around. Made pro seem affordable.
Budget Cinema
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Jannard went out into the wilderness with his dslr, and a vision came unto him. Jim make for thee a camera spotless and blameless, to show the world what cameras can do. And it was so. This was the Covenant.
RED One - one of the best worst-best worst cameras in the world. Came at a time when s35, 4:4:4, RAW was unattainable, and made it as a complete package for half the price of a 720p 2/3" 4:2:2 varicam with no lens. Now any Joe Shmo could get one on credit. Changed digital video in several ways.
Scarlet - Once again lowering the price point for Industry standard images. Not all the bells and whistles, but if you shoot your projects in 24p, then no hollywood professional has a better 4k camera.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current Free-for-All Era
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After many years under 1/3" fixed lens and horrid HDV, the waters parted and HDSLR's unlocked video recording. And HDSLR's reigned down with their s35 sensors like manna. The people rejoiced, but soon discontentment rose up in the people, and they began to grumble about H.264 and moire, and say, at least we had time-code with HDV. This was the Exodus.
Canon HDSLR - beat by nikon as the first hdslr by a few weeks, but surpassed nikon in usability, frame rates, and resolution. Still, after three years is one of the top performers in the hdslr realm. While not the best technical image, is the representative of the hdslr world. At first begrudgingly, but now embracing the film world, we'll see were they go from there.
GH2 - first dslr to attempt to listen to customers complaints about compression. Also, with the GH1's already hacked, it was a no brainer.
EX1/3 - Let me be clear, I hate these, but I recognize them to be useful to other people. They really caught my attention after their price drops. Reigns in handheld fixed lens HD market, but image also suffers from compression.
----------------------------------------------------
With technology on their side, manufacturers were told to enter into the promise land, finally the 4:2:2 Broadcast spec or higher codec, s35 full 1080p 60fps, 10bit, in an ergonomic small package with lens mount options, was affordable. But the market analysts went into the field and they came back with reports, saying, the consumer is not ready for it just yet. They said this because they were afraid the consumer would not continue to spend wrecklessly. Because of their lack of faith in the consumer, camera technology would remain in the desert for forty more months. This was Wandering in the Desert.
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