Need Help With Camera

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n the $300-$600 range all cameras are pretty much the same. A Sony
is like a Sharp is like a Canon is like a Panasonic is like Samsung. You can
go to any Best Buy and pick up a camera in that price range and you
won’t be able to tell the difference.

There are three things that are VERY important when getting a camera:

Three CCD’s or CMOS
Manual controls for the iris, shutter, focus and white balance.
A microphone input.

I'm sorry to say there isn't a single camera in your price range. The closest
I've seen is the JVC GZ-HD7, the first of the JVC HDD cameras is now a little
over a year old, I’ve seen these on line for as little as $800. A really nice
Fujinon lens makes a huge difference and full manual controls is important.
Three 1/5’ 16:9 progressive scan CCD’s are pretty impressive for a camera
in this price range. It has manual controls, a mic input and an excellent
focus ring which is surprisingly rare on small cameras. It records directly
to a built in 60GB hard drive. The issue here is the MPEG-2 compression.
It’s not compatable with many NLE’s.

The GZ-HD6 can record 1080/60p through HDMI - pretty impressive.

The GZ-HD40 is a bit of a disapointment. I like that it records using AVCHD
compression which makes it compatable with most NLE’s but it loses the
important focus ring and it’s so small.

The Panasonic HDC-SD100 uses a 3-CMOS array and records 1920 x 1080
video in the AVCHD format to SD and SDHC memory cards. I like the ring
on the lens that controls zoom, focus, white balance, shutter speed, and iris
and it actually has a viewfinder in addition to the LCD screen. Very important
it has both a mic and headphone jack. I found it difficult to handle with all
the cables attached (mic, headphones and monitor) but it’s a camera with all
the basics.

Close is the Canon HV20. It records in HDV (1080i) and 24p (60i), has a mic
input and manual controls of white balance and focus but it uses one 1/2.7”
CMOS sensor rather than 3 CCD’s. And it’s so small the handling is difficult.

The HV30 adds a 30f (Canon’s “frame mode”) in addition to 24p.

The Sony HDR-SR12 has a mic input and a good sized 120GB HDD. It uses a
1/3” CMOS chip and like the Canon is really small. Because of the input placement,
the mic cable kept getting in my way. The HR9 (which records to tape) is also
a nice, very small, camera with the essentials. Again the mic input is just below
the lens which is rather poor placement, in my opinion.

Directorik.can you tell me please that is Fujinon lens attached with thie JVC cam or we have to purchase it seperately? secondly are these type of lenses available in shops where we see these HD cams? or we can find it at some other place.?

other than that as you mentioned

focus ring which is surprisingly rare on small cameras

Click to expand...

can you kindly tell me of any other small camera with the same focus ring? even if the model is old its ok.

All the cameras I mentioned have a fixed lens.

The list of small cameras with a focus ring that also include
three CCD’s or CMOS, manual controls for the iris, shutter,
focus and white balance and a microphone input are listed
in my post. This is a very rare thing in small cameras and
something I find very important when making movies.

thanks alot. Just wondering but can you tell me what alot of those things mean lol. im really really new and this will be my first camera so i dont know what alot of what you said means.

I'd be glad to.

What don't you understand?

Again thanks. i dont really know what CCD's are or CMOS and why i need a microphone input. Also i was wondering if those cameras can be connected to my computer and if you know any good, free or cheap, editing applecations

CCD's and CMOS are the chips in the camera that (essentially)
captures the image. It's MUCH more technical than that, but
you get the idea. the larger the CCD or CMOS the better and
three is better than one.

If you can only afford a 1 chip camera (and in the $300-$600
range that's all you CAN afford) that's okay. You'll grow out of
it and get a better camera someday.

You need a mic input because using the cameras mic will result
in terrible audio. The further away the mic is from the actors,
the higher the volume needs to be. The higher the volume,
the more “noise” you get. Your goal is to have a very high signal
to noise ratio - more signal (the dialogue) less noise (the background).
Even a very good, expensive mic mounted on the camera will
pick up a lot of background ambiance because it’s far away from
the actors.

All the current cameras (even in the $300-$600 range) will attach to
your computer for editing. An excellent, free editing software is iMovie.

Thanks You have been a huge help. Hopefully i will get a camera soon and can start making movies.

ad2478 said:

Directorik.can you tell me please that is Fujinon lens attached with thie JVC cam or we have to purchase it seperately? secondly are these type of lenses available in shops where we see these HD cams? or we can find it at some other place.?

other than that as you mentioned

can you kindly tell me of any other small camera with the same focus ring? even if the model is old its ok.

Click to expand...

The Sony DCR-TRV340 (digital 8) has a focus ring. It also has a mic jack, headphone jack, shoe