Hi All, I am a new member of this forum. I am planning to make an independent, experimental microbudget (~6.000 dollars) documentary (subject is top secret so far, but it will involve mainly interviews to people sitting indoor).
Despite loving indie movies and watching lot of documentaries I have never been involved into filmmaking (expect a brief experience as audio assistant for a friend who was making an indie movie) I want to express myself and make people aware on topics I consider important and as my future job future job (I am a student atm) could involve documentaries, I really want to getting into the thing.
Given the budget I will write the script, direct, film and edit the film, all will be made only using opensource software on a linux box (this is done to lower the costs and because I like opensource philosophy) and it will be distributed in an “alternative way” (I want to stay vague on this as I am not sure yet).
I gave myself a year to practice and a summer to “make it” (from filming to releasing it).
As I mentioned my budget will be roughly 6.000$ (this includes buying equipment), the “ideal equipment” I could come up is this, (keep in mind that it will be used for documentaries only and hopefully will be used for a decent amount of years/projects):
- Mic: Rode NTG2 short shotgun microphone
- Lights: was thinking about this “Lumenator”→ https://colorright.us/index.php/led-lighting/lumenator-super-bundle-pro-pre-order.html what do you think?Better alternatives?
- Homemade rigs (slider,stabilizer etc)
- Camcorder: I think a camcorder would suit my needs better than a DSLR, I don't have to take photos and the models I looked were smaller than DSLRs.
- Anything else necessary??
About the camcorder: I spent weeks looking online to find the "best" camcorder to make my documentary: and after never ending doubts involving Canon XA10 vs Canon XA20 Vs Canon HF G30 i found a video review (which i won't post as i don't want to spam) that convinced me that Canon XA20 is the best of the three, i still have some question about it though:
1) XA10 controls on the shoe are noisy due to the loose buttons, was this problem fixed in the XA20?
2) In presence of flashes (wedding etc) XA20 gets white strips (from what I understood only if u take photos), is, in your opinion, this very noticeable/a big issue? It might put me off if it is a serious issue.
3) On a website i read that the batteries are not the same as XA20, are they a common standard or some weird standard used for this model? In other words, when the battery needs to be replaced, will I be able to buy other easily and without spending a fortune?
4) XA20 lacks of manual gain/shutter, I have not managed to understand their functions, therefore i ask:are automatic ones ok??
5) The main difference between XA20 and XA25 is the built-in HD/SDI, which is present on the 25 but not on the 20, i doubt i will ever need it, but i read that the cost for a converter is lower than the costs difference between the two models, is it true?
6) New or second hand? With a limited budget i would like to save up some money if i can, but i have no experience in camcorders so i have no idea on how to recognize a good second hand camcorder, what to check before buying etc . I cannot afford to buy a second hand camcorder that is flawed and that would give me problems forcing me to buy another one (as i would not have money to buy another camcorder), in doubt i prefer buying a new one and be "sure" that it is ok.
7) Overall, Would you recommend the XA20 to a beginner as a camcorder to start with?
Thanks in advance
Despite loving indie movies and watching lot of documentaries I have never been involved into filmmaking (expect a brief experience as audio assistant for a friend who was making an indie movie) I want to express myself and make people aware on topics I consider important and as my future job future job (I am a student atm) could involve documentaries, I really want to getting into the thing.
Given the budget I will write the script, direct, film and edit the film, all will be made only using opensource software on a linux box (this is done to lower the costs and because I like opensource philosophy) and it will be distributed in an “alternative way” (I want to stay vague on this as I am not sure yet).
I gave myself a year to practice and a summer to “make it” (from filming to releasing it).
As I mentioned my budget will be roughly 6.000$ (this includes buying equipment), the “ideal equipment” I could come up is this, (keep in mind that it will be used for documentaries only and hopefully will be used for a decent amount of years/projects):
- Mic: Rode NTG2 short shotgun microphone
- Lights: was thinking about this “Lumenator”→ https://colorright.us/index.php/led-lighting/lumenator-super-bundle-pro-pre-order.html what do you think?Better alternatives?
- Homemade rigs (slider,stabilizer etc)
- Camcorder: I think a camcorder would suit my needs better than a DSLR, I don't have to take photos and the models I looked were smaller than DSLRs.
- Anything else necessary??
About the camcorder: I spent weeks looking online to find the "best" camcorder to make my documentary: and after never ending doubts involving Canon XA10 vs Canon XA20 Vs Canon HF G30 i found a video review (which i won't post as i don't want to spam) that convinced me that Canon XA20 is the best of the three, i still have some question about it though:
1) XA10 controls on the shoe are noisy due to the loose buttons, was this problem fixed in the XA20?
2) In presence of flashes (wedding etc) XA20 gets white strips (from what I understood only if u take photos), is, in your opinion, this very noticeable/a big issue? It might put me off if it is a serious issue.
3) On a website i read that the batteries are not the same as XA20, are they a common standard or some weird standard used for this model? In other words, when the battery needs to be replaced, will I be able to buy other easily and without spending a fortune?
4) XA20 lacks of manual gain/shutter, I have not managed to understand their functions, therefore i ask:are automatic ones ok??
5) The main difference between XA20 and XA25 is the built-in HD/SDI, which is present on the 25 but not on the 20, i doubt i will ever need it, but i read that the cost for a converter is lower than the costs difference between the two models, is it true?
6) New or second hand? With a limited budget i would like to save up some money if i can, but i have no experience in camcorders so i have no idea on how to recognize a good second hand camcorder, what to check before buying etc . I cannot afford to buy a second hand camcorder that is flawed and that would give me problems forcing me to buy another one (as i would not have money to buy another camcorder), in doubt i prefer buying a new one and be "sure" that it is ok.
7) Overall, Would you recommend the XA20 to a beginner as a camcorder to start with?
Thanks in advance
