New camera suggestions

H

hlywkar

New member
Hey guys,

I'm looking to do a documentary. I currently have an old hi-8 digital camera and I'm looking to upgrade. I'm looking for something that will get the job done and not look excessively amateur. Price needs to be reasonable. And I want to be able to easily transfer it to my Computer for editing. If need be I am willing to purchase a card for my computer. It doesn't have fire-wire, which my hi-8 cam uses, so if I don't end up buying a new cam I'll still need to buy that card. This documentary is going straight to DVD.

Thanks.
 
OK, What is your budget? There are so many choices,

Documentaries IMO require a lot of flexibility.

Of course, picking a camcorder is just the start of your problems, ( lighting, sound, monitor, slider)
 
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Well my budget I would like to keep fairly low. I can go higher if need be. I'm going to try to get my funding through kickstarter. I was thinking around 3 to 5 thousand for the camera. As for the other, (lighting, sound, monitor, slider) what could you guys suggest.

Thanks again!
 
I would look at a used C100 if you can find one (a used FS100 would do the job as well)

The new Sony RX10 is also very good. Stabilized lens, good range, excellent image, and Sony offers with it the XLR adapter.
 
hlywkar said:
Hey guys,

I'm looking to do a documentary. I currently have an old hi-8 digital camera and I'm looking to upgrade. I'm looking for something that will get the job done and not look excessively amateur. Price needs to be reasonable. And I want to be able to easily transfer it to my Computer for editing. If need be I am willing to purchase a card for my computer. It doesn't have fire-wire, which my hi-8 cam uses, so if I don't end up buying a new cam I'll still need to buy that card. This documentary is going straight to DVD.

Thanks.
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For the most part, cameras today record to SD or CF or similar cards, not tape, so transferring to the computer is as simple as reading the cards and transferring the files as with any other drive. No firewire; no computer card needed. (Cameras don't even interface with firewire anymore even if you wanted to use the camera as a reader.)

But I'm concerned about your computer -- what exactly do you have? When was the last upgrade? If your computer has no firewire as is, it's either really old or pretty new. If it's really old, it probably will not be able to handle the current video formats, and you're going to need something entirely new.

What's your software situation? What do you have for editing video and authoring DVD?
 
computer - intel core i7 2600k cpu 3.4 ghz... 16 gig ram. graphics nvidia geforce gta 470

no software yet. any suggestions?
 
$3,000 to $5,000

You could get a ton of great cameras in that price range. At the high end with ENG style cameras:
1.) Panasonic HPX250
2.) Canon XF300
3.) Sony PMW 160

Low end ENG style cameras

1.) Canon XF100
2.) Panasonic AC130a
3.) Sony PMW 100

Large sensor cameras with fairly all inclusive bodies...keep in mind lenses will push the budget up. (Personally for a documentary, I'd go with an ENG body esp with the added cost of lenses)

Panasonic AF100A
Sony FS100
Canon C100
 
pulpfiction007 said:
Personally for a documentary, I'd go with an ENG body esp with the added cost of lenses
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I agree - and whatever you get, don't forget to factor in the cost of enough memory for a days shooting, or at least until you can safely download and reuse the memory. It's not as much of an issue now as it used to be, but be aware......

If you can stretch your budget a bit more, I'd look at the PMW200. The 1/2" chips bring quite a lot of benefits compared to any 1/3" camera.

Alternatively, what about a second hand EX1R? With solid state recording, buying secondhand is a lot less risky than it was in tape days.
 
It's called sarcasm and it was not lost on me. :)


hlywkar said:
Well my budget I would like to keep fairly low. I can go higher if need be. I'm going to try to get my funding through kickstarter. I was thinking around 3 to 5 thousand for the camera. As for the other, (lighting, sound, monitor, slider) what could you guys suggest.

Thanks again!
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Gillvane said:
The best documentaries are shot on an Epic Red Dragon camera. You should definitely get one of those.


http://www.red.com/store/cameras?f=...GSSILY2FtZXJhBjsARlsGSSIQRVBJQyBEUkFHT04GOwBU
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Jim Martin said:
Really?, a statement like that is not fact, just your opinion....and misleading to people trying to figure out what the best tool is for their unique situation.

Jim Martin
Filmtools.com
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hlywkar said:
I was looking at the Sony PXW-Z100 or the Sony PMW-200 any comments on the two?
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Thinking of your first post ("This documentary is going straight to DVD.") then PMW200 yes, PXW-Z100 probably no. The latter has the USP of 4k resolution at a (relatively) low price, but for your purposes that's not likely to be as useful as lowlight abilities, good manual control, 1/2" chips etc etc.

I'll come back to my earlier post:
If you can stretch your budget a bit more, I'd look at the PMW200. The 1/2" chips bring quite a lot of benefits compared to any 1/3" camera.

Alternatively, what about a second hand EX1R? With solid state recording, buying secondhand is a lot less risky than it was in tape days.
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The PMW200 is about $6-7,000 I think, so a bit above your budget. A secondhand EX1R should give you most of what the PMW200 will (unless you're shooting for broadcast, and need the fully specced XDCAM 422 codec) at a far lower price. XDCAM is also quite easy editing for most modern PCs without transcoding - much better than AVC-HD or DSLR codecs.
 
Some things to think about:

Do you already have still camera lenses, such as Canon? If you get an interchangeable lens camera, the lenses will be your big, long-term investment.
Are you interested in the shallow depth of field that S35 can provide (and the increased problems that will go with it?)
Are you goint to submit to PBS or BBC? They have special requirements. For example at one lecture sponsored by a PBS station in Boston several years ago, they were pushing strongly for 3/4 in lenses (or at least 1/2 in).
The advice to get a used EX1R was pretty good. Great all-in-one camera.

I own an FS-700, and I love it. And the slow motion is a godsend. A lot of people use it for docs, but it is not an ideal doc camera. The viewfinder is far less than great, and the LCD is often unusable. There is no good "fast, universal zoom lens." (almost a necessity for a Doc). You will probably end up getting an external rig.

I know of some news shooters who have two core cameras: a run and gun camera, and a S35 camera for more creative stuff. So you might as well think now that whatever camera you buy might become a "B camera" later.

In a way, this is all saying, "what ecosystem do you want to buy into?"

I don't know enough about the Sony PXW-Z100 or the Sony PMW-200 to comment.
 
I own XF100, and it is a great little camera for ENG. A great codec, not the greatest cam for low light, but fairly decent. Beats EX1 (which I have owned in the past), cheap media- all Sony use SxS, which will brake your bank. They dropped in price quite a bit, you can get a decent used one for $1600-1800. EX1 is better in low light, and if you add Ninja or other device, you will get 10bit recording.
 
snowblindfilm said:
A great codec, not the greatest cam for low light, but fairly decent. Beats EX1 (which I have owned in the past),
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I'm assuming by that you're referring to codec? Which is true, but probably not too relevant unless you're thinking of broadcast.

In respect of the front end, the EX1 is far better - 3chips, and 1/2" - the XF100 is a single 1/3" chip. Hence, expect the EX1 to be at least two stops more sensitive, and have other advantages such as better dof control due to the bigger chips. I'd expect the front end differences to be far more significant overall than those of codec.
snowblindfilm said:
cheap media- all Sony use SxS, which will brake your bank.
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But with the Ex1 at 35Mbs, you can use SDHC cards via an adaptor. As long as you test them before use, only use approved makes, and take care not to turn the camera off when still writing to card they tend to be very reliable.
 
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