Would you recommend this camera?

There's quite a few threads here about cameras, most wil recommend a canon DSLR if some sort.

As far as this particular camera, it'll work, but won't give you a cinema look.

Don't forget about accessories. Lots of first timer blow their whole budget on a camera, when any camera isn't great without the peripherals, such as:

Memory cards
Tripod
Dolly
Microphones
external recorder
boom pole
Wind screens
Lighting
on set monitoring
And MUCH more.

If your gear budget is £1400, might think about a cheaper camera (again, DSLR) and some extras.

Rawky said:

So I still haven't gotten round to buying my camera yet, for my first film, wanted to mainly get christmas out the way.

Anyway, I stumbled across this camera on this website:

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/6108002/art/sony/hxr-mc50e-high-definition.html

What do you think? Have you heard anything about it? Don't worry too much about the price but do you think its suitable for a first time film maker?

EDIT: On another note, what about this camera?

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/822889/art/sony/hvr-hd1000e-minidv-high-d.html

Which would you choose?

Click to expand...

like Paul said, u will need a lot accessories with ur camera..so, dont just spend most of the money on camera...try to spend half..

and between these particular camcorder, i will prefer 2nd one..

Rawky said:

What do you think? Have you heard anything about it? Don't worry too much about the price but do you think its suitable for a first time film maker?

Click to expand...

For a first time filmmaker both are fine cameras.

I tent to prefer the shoulder mount, you might prefer the
smaller one but they are both just fine for a first time filmmaker.

Cheers guys.

I already own a tripod and with the type of film I want to do some of the other accessories won't be needed. The film is a guerilla/POV/docu type film, so aside from the camera the only additional things I would need are:

A simple light to attach to the camera (for some night shots)
Boom pole and possibly some radio mics.

Saying that though, I am still torn between what to get as a lot of people are saying DLSR's.

From your OP you said that this is your first film.

If you never short any sort of narrative movie before, and don't know the process, then use this camera:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-F40-U...5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1294402790&sr=1-5

Once you are getting good with the film making process - you ll figure out yourself what kind of camera you need.

If you are buying a camera to make a specific film you already have in mind then buying a camera to suit the need of said film is no bad idea. If you're going for a doc/pov style then getting that 'cinema look' probably isn't that important and the first two cameras would be fine for that. The benefits of going down a route like this for a documentary type shoot that is your first film would be that it will have better auto focus (which you could find important) and it keeps things simple and is quick to set up and get shooting. The cons however are if you get the film making itch after this first movie and you want to do something more cinematic with your second you're going to find it harder.
On the flip side, going down the dslr route for a doc could cause you problems. Shots take a lot more setting up, especially if you need to change lens' quickly to capture a moment properly that may only occur once. You also have the problem that unless you get some extremely large cards to record on to (which can be expensive) then you are going to need a computer with you at all times (and probably another person) to dump the footage on to where as with tape you can just switch tapes and worry about capturing later. You will also need to buy external microphones as although the onboard mics on the other camera aren't great they are better than any on board dslr mic.
However, once again. If you get that itch for a second film that has no documentary style, something purely fictional then the dslr will probably serve you better. Its pretty clear that dslr is the way that low budget film making as a whole is going too so that might be something you want to consider also.

Its just a matter of weighing up your needs/desires for this first film as opposed to future work you may want to do as well.