Someone gave me a Sony TRV50 that had been purchased for a school project, used for a whole 20 minutes, and reboxed. It has a manual focusing ring and is actually quite sharp. It's not HD....but for what I am doing...I think it will work.
I like movies with a visual texture that is B/W, gritty, grainy..high contrast...like the movie "Pi".
I like the handheld texture of movies like "Ballast".
So, I kind of don't think I need to invest in another camcorder (but I do own a Sony CX12 with a remote Bluetooth mic).
If you have a good story and film it right, almost any camera will work.
I would think about how you're going to do the sound. Getting even "just reasonable" sound costs more than a grand. By "just reasonable", i mean sound that does not make your film instantly sound amateur like home video sound.
Check out the sound section and read Alcove Audio's blogs for more information. He's our resident sound expert here. Just search for him, i think you'll find his stuff helpful.
Sure, you can use it to look like an older generation footage. Cameras like Fischer Price Pixel have been used for just that reason, recently. Very distinctive look.
The best thing about that camera is that you can use it as a passthrough, for converting analog video to digital, and capturing it via firewire. Very handy.
Linear Mode
