first camera advice

[KarlSutton]

I've been reading through all of these forums the last couple of weeks & have throughly enjoyed all of the wealth of knowledge being shared.

I''ve got over 15 years experience as an audio editor & have spent the last couple of years editing video & so now naturally I want to learn how to shoot it too!

I've got about $1500-$2000 budgeted for a camera & it seems as though the GH1 hacked might be the best bang for that budget. Other considerations were the HMC40, Canon 7D, etc.

Since I am new to this I'm not familiar with all of the trends. I understand a GH2 may be introduced Sept 21st at Photokina.

Should I hunt down a hackable GH1 or wait & see about the GH2? What is the usual amount of time between a camera's announcement & it actually shipping?

Thank you for any sage advice!

 

[mojo43]

I think most people will respond with buy now and shoot rather than wait. You may be waiting a while...

 

[Homunculus]

KarlSutton, the most important thing is first you decide what it is exactly you want to shoot? Everything has various ups and downs to such a high degree that it is impossible to even issue you an recommendation without first knowing at least some information regarding what it is you're trying to shoot.

For example, are you trying to shoot family outings, or weddings? Perhaps stick to a camcorder without interchangeable lens, with built in zoom, etc, maybe like HMC etc.

Do you want to do short films, achieve a 'filmic look'? Then you probably want something with interchangeable lenses like GH1, 7d, etc and something at least capable of doing shallow depth of field like the DSLR's are capable of and video cameras are generally NOT without special adaptors like Letus that cost thousands of dollars.

Also, do you want the hassle of having to buy additional lenses or do you want one non interchangeable do-it-all lens? These are all decisions you have to make.

Then once you have it slightly narrowed down from that, THEN you can start talking more specifics in terms of what sort of quality you prefer, i.e. the low light superiority of 7d over GH1? Or the higher quality and less moire/aliasing of GH13 (hacked)?

Also have to ask will you be using this for stills/photos? In that regard all the canons are superior as they are 18 megapixels or so for 7d and T2i and GH1 is around 12.1 or so. And T2i by the way is another you should look into. Similar to 7D/Gh1 and priced far lower.