Used camera buying advice for weddings.

[Scott Painter]

I've shot still photography for weddings for 12 years. While I have a 7D, I want a camcorder also. (can't balance well on a stabilizer with changing lenses) My thoughts are a new consumer camcorder or a used prosumer camera for up to $900ish that I can then see if after a year it's worth adding to my offerings and buy something HD or resell back on ebay. I already have a lav mic and hot light for the reception.

Must haves - manual controls of focus/aperture. good white balance, good in low light, external mic jack, Lanc remote jack, good zoom range. Price range about $600 - $1000.

 

[ggrantly]

Scott,

You won't get everything on your list in a HD cam for $1000, new or used. And, there are no "consumer" cams that have all those features anyway. The good in low light and manual controls are the feature hangups. If you want to stay within your budget, and want those features, a StdDef Pannasonic DVX100, a or b model, will do this and can be had for under $1000. Despite being SD, the cam will produce excellent images and has all those things you want. It is a great starter cam, with pro features, and most important, is a great low light cam. Software can uprez your more carefully shot footage to HD and give you reasonable results. I don't know how many folks deliver on Blu-Ray, but if you deliver on DVD it is std-def anyway.

Don't get me wrong, SD and the DVX100 are a dated workflow and are going to go away. The question you need to answer: is a cheapo HD consumer cam (think Canon HF series, or a Panna 700 with few to none of the features you need for pro work outweigh using older, but more professional SD gear.

The only way to solve this without making the difficult choice outlined above, is to throw more money at it. Think something like a Panna HMC-150.

Sorry, didn't really want to be the grim reaper, but this is the reality.

Another thought....rent

Grant