Which camera for my mac?

P

Peace Corp Connector

First I have a budget of around 4000 for a prosumer camera and a 2 year old Mac Powerbook with FinalCutPro studio 3. I am searching for a camera that will be as close to broadcast quality as possible and can use lenses, maybe even something that records uncompressed? I only have six months to carry out my project and have to purchase everything that will be needed to make a film and need some general equipment ideas. What cameras and sound equipment would work with this budget, we hope to submit the final project to festivals and tv stations. Also what other types of equiment and essential little things should I also look into?

Thanks for the help!

Brett Ortgiesen
Peace Corp Volunteer
group 25, Romania
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
If $4,000 is your Total budget for the film, your better off renting a camera.

If $4,000 is your camera budget, I'd suggest renting a camera.


Rent out:
Panasonic HVX200 - $250
(2) 16G P2 Cards - $80
Letus Extreme Adapter - $150
Letus Rail system - $25
Redrock follow focus - $30
Lens kit - $300

For about $850-$900/day

There are also kits that come with all that and an HD monitor/matte box For around $900/day

Shoot over the weekend and most rental houses give you a weekend deal where you only pay for 1 day.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Why not just buy the Panasonic DVX 100B?

Around $3,000 USD including case, tripod, and things like that. Even the DVX 100A is good as well.
Although I do enjoy the Canon 5D Mark 2 that Amcast suggest I still think the Panasonic DVX 100A/B is the best "bang for your buck"
I personally love this camera and with a mac there are some good tricks for increasing the quality.
I use mac and love it. If you want some more information feel free to ask.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Why not just buy the Panasonic DVX 100B?

Around $3,000 USD including case, tripod, and things like that. Even the DVX 100A is good as well.
Although I do enjoy the Canon 5D Mark 2 that Amcast suggest I still think the Panasonic DVX 100A/B is the best "bang for your buck"
I personally love this camera and with a mac there are some good tricks for increasing the quality.
I use mac and love it. If you want some more information feel free to ask.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hello CDCosta,

renting out is not an option because I live in a very rural community in Romania and there are no rentals that I know of, plus my project needs to keep a camera with us so that we can learn how to use it whenever not having to depend on some third party, which does mean less quality but more experience.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Plenty of thoughts. Ahaha... I didn't mean to double post by the way.

Which JVC HD100? There are a few models I thought...

I think it's a very good camera for the price (usually running from what I've seen at about $4,500 retail) Great HDV AND DV Qualities. It's very sturdy and packs a punch for a relatively small camera.

However! I find that a lot of the "amazing" features are unnecessary. To really have control you should use manual settings on everything so the fact that it has all these fancy new auto-focus and auto-white balance features is just hype. To me, the fact of the matter is that you don't NEED this camera, but your not f***ing yourself over if you purchase it. It's a nice camera, and allows for some nice shots, AND is great for shoulder mounting and steady shots from the hand but outside of that it's just fancy.

My opinion. I'm not really a camera guy but I like to stay well rounded for my studio.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I forgot to add that it does have a nice film-like 24 frame progressive capture and can record to MINI DV as well. The Panasonic DVX I mentioned is just my personal favorite for DV. What exactly did you need a camera for again?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My suggestion would be the JVC HD100 - a great camera, no longer
made, but likely available used. Or even better the newer HM100.
I absolutely love that little camera - it records to native Final
Cut format on SDHC cards.

I’m a huge advocate of buying over renting. As CD pointed out, you
can spend nearly $4,000 ($3,400 to $3,600) in only four weekends.
For the doc you are making four weekends isn’t enough even if you
could find a rental house in Romania.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I second the use of a DVX100B camera is a good choice with your funds. It shoots progressive 24p or for where your at you will need a PAL (25FPS) camera since you the EU is not NTSC. The camera has a amazing builtin microphone that does pretty well. Even though I would look into boom mikes like the Octava mk-12 with a decent boom and gag ball for wind. It shoots SD not HD, but can easily downloaded into your computer for editing on a 25p timeline. Not to mention you can get tons of support on the web by just googling. The camera looks very nice and many people have added a 35mm adapter to it with great results. I personally us a SGpro adapter that is manufacturered in the UK. Hope this helps.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top