What should be the first camera I purchase?

Hey, hopefully this is in the right place ^_^

I'm a year 11 student studying IB film in school, I have decided I'd like to also study film making at university.

I would really like to buy a video camera so I can work on a portfolio for university and experiment making films in my own time instead of just at school and with cameras of friends.

What sort of camera should I buy? Initially I planned on buying a camcorder in the $1000 AUD range, although now I'm wondering if it is best that I continue saving up money so that I can buy a better camera with manual capabilities which would mean I need to save up another few thousand dollars.

So should I hold out? Or just buy a camcorder for around 1000 so I can start experimenting sooner.

(BTW, I only do small part time work so I would take me a while to save up)
 
Thats a loaded question. Me? I , like you wanted to save up and go ahead and buy a prosumer camera in the range of a few thousand but here is why I didn't....

I bought an Hf200 because there was a deal on it and it is hd and has a card to hold a lot of memory. I am learning a lot and don't want to invest thousands in a camera that I might later on say 'gee, if I had known then what I know now....' I am basically picking off all the stuff I don't like about this camera for a more serious camera I will get later on.

Experimenting...why not start with something more in your budget rather than wait and wait and wait? You will get frustrated and feel like moments are passing you by that you can be out filming something - only you cannot - because you don't have a camera yet and you wont until you get the money.

What I like about the camera I have is this: its small and easy to hide if you don't want anyone to know you are filming /it has nice pic quality/can hold an awful lot of data.
What I don't like...poor in low light (which I had already known when I bought it from online reviews)...doesn't do well in direct sunlight (don't know if any camera can do that well)...minimal software for editing (avchd which I already knew from reviews on this site)
 
Panasonic DVX100B

It's the best you can buy in my opinion and many others as well.

Just look it up online. I've seen it for around the 2k range, but usually its abou 2500 to 3k.

Look up videos on youtube by typing in the model of camera. You will find a lot of videos to see what it can do.

Awesome camera.
 
Thanks guys =]

I agree it's probably best to just buy something I can afford and use sooner, although the Panasonic DVX100B looks really good and if I could buy something like that for around 2000 that would be great.

I do like the Panasonic DVX100B, although does anyone know of any other good options?

Another thing, is it worth looking at second hand cameras at all?

And one more, in case I do get a small camcorder, are there any with good low light sensory and limited manual functions?
 
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