Should I buy this??

Limited budget, as well as limited knowledge in my opinion.

Bottom line, you need to know what the job is before you can figure out what tool is going to work best with it. Spending $3K+ on anything should probably wait for a little bit, IMHO.
 
The second camera I ever owned was a JVC purchased from HSN. It shot on VHS-C. Ever tried getting a good chroma key off VHS sourced footage? Ugh. Ahh memories.
 
You guys are the greatest as far as response time. :thumbsup:

Here's the scoop fellas -

I've been editing film for about a year now. I have a Canon Elura60 now and it's hard seeing the results after finishing my film. I don't have 4k to spend right off the bat. If I did, I would probably troll for the best product I can get for the money. I’m leaning towards the XL2 but you can't finance those anywhere.

I’m heading towards shooting docu-drama type of movies. Basic cam and boom mike setup. I know what i'll probably hear is "wait and save 4k" then buy your cam. That is the smart thing to do however I'm not very patient i guess you can say. Envision is right however, I do have limited knowledge on this subject matter. And this is why i come here to talk about it. Barry does however seem to have a tremendous amount of experience with it and is very detailed. Pookie seems to love it but doesn't explain why..

Barry however has me thinking twice though :thumbsup: And that's exactly what im hoping someone would do.
 
If you want a REALLY good camera for the money, start looking for some reputable places on e-bay that are selling used ... just be careful & do some research on the buyer, etc. before you make the move.

I'm not familiar with the camera model you have, but perhaps one of the reasons you're not thrilled with the results has more to do with set up of the scenes than the camera? Granted, a camera can only do so much, but are you pushing it to it's limits currently? Was your scene well lit? Did you maximize the settings for depth of field, interesting angles, etc.? If you don't have these things down, then when you go to buy your much more expensive camera, you may not notice too much of a difference other than improved color & image quality ... which IS huge, but trust me ... I've gotten some crap shots with my DVX before (probably managed to in my zombie short as well .... in fact I did ... my reporter was horribly lit), so I'm speaking from experience.

I happen to be one of the ones that bought my DVX100a without knowing a thing about it, how to use it, etc. Oddly enough, I'd not even heard of DVXuser before until after my purchase ... which is too bad, because I could have saved a couple hundred dollars through EVS! :) So, even with the mighty DVX100a, I've managed to shoot horribly looking video footage, but after much practice & learning whatever I can I've been able to improve & get better & better.

Where am I going with this? No idea ... just realized I'm starting to ramble, so I'll sign out. Best to you on your purchase, snIper, and look forward to seeing some of your work on DVXuser!
 
Thanks En..

Here are the specs for my cam and maybe it will give you more of a insights as to why I wanna upgrade. Canon Elura 60 Specs

I'll probably just use the Canon Elura for reversed locks er something :undecided
 
If you are using external mics I would try and buy a camera with XLR inputs. Mini jack inputs don't really cut it. You can use a Beachtek or similar XLR break out box, but they are a pain and get expenisive for the phantom powered ones.

PD-150/170s are very rugged and produce a decent interlaced picture. They are common second hand. There will be a few XL2 2nd hand now with the XLH1 announced I should think. Then there's the DVX100 - of course.

If you are struggling to afford the camera, remember the extra costs of shooting HD, even on HDV. You need a pretty quick computer and an HD monitor for starters.
 
I think I might go with one of the 3 CAMS here....
big2.jpg


After reading the review, im leading towards the CanonXL2.
 
Pookie seems to love it but doesn't explain why...

lmao

**Not sure if this will help, i've used all three of those- my favorite was the dvx. they're very close together, but the dvx is more portable compared to the xl2 in my opinion. gl!
 
Zach_Lien said:
lmao

**Not sure if this will help, i've used all three of those- my favorite was the dvx. they're very close together, but the dvx is more portable compared to the xl2 in my opinion. gl!


Carefull Zach.
 
Before you spend $2600 on the JVC you might want to look at the Sony HC1 HDV camera. You can get those for about $1650. Its a CMOS HDV camera with a really good picture (FOR THE PRICE)
 
Thanks for the link En..

Looks like Jetty out bidded me on that one. I actually got to see the SOny at the mall acouple of weeks ago. From what the guy says.. the audio is crap. no boom mic connection :thumbdown

But the LCD is what sells that cam...
 
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