Hi,im a musician and have also always had a strong interest in photography often combining the 2 in projects I've done. I now want to branch out into filming and making music videos for both myself and hopefully in the future for other musicians as a way of additional income. I have dabbled in it before using a basic camcorder but find i can't get the results i want from it. I am looking to invest in a decent professional camcorder that i can use to get decent footage. I will be doing my editing in sony vegas. My budget is around the £800-1000 mark though this can be a little flexible if the right suggestion comes up.
what i am wanting is a camcorder with a lot of manual control. I want to be able to get in there and edit settings playing with focus etc. to achieve artistic shots (something i could never do previously with my cheaper camcorder). I already have experience with cameras due to years of photography so am not wanting something basic, or with dumbed down/simplified user features. I will also probably be doing a fair amount of low light shooting(think night time london) as well as possibly in low light rooms/warehouses. Ive also heard that i want to try and go for 1080p over 1080i as i will be incorporating a lot of "slow mo" footage in my videos, and heard that interlaced can cause distortion when you slow the footage. Amazing audio is not essential as i will be mostly syncing the footage to pre recorded tracks. however an input for an external mic is, as i like the flexibility of being able to record live in the future.
to give an idea for the sort of thing I'm trying to achieve and the quality I'm looking for, here is a track by seven lions, the video for which really like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HVjldqWx4w
and heres another example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKahYTAQS7o
Ive seen a few models, such as the Panasonic HDC-MDH1 (which is a shoulder mounted) although get the impression that this model is the cheapest in the shoulder mounted style range, and as such a handheld around the same price can give better features for the money. I like the idea of the shoulder mounted design(as well as the professional look, which would help give a good impression when i plan on filming for others) although it would seem that you have to pay a lot more money to get the good quality. are there any lower cost shoulder mounted styles with great results?
I am quite frankly baffled by all the features/models out on the market and was hoping someone could help me out. in a nutshell I'm looking for a camcorder which has a lot of flexibility for artistic filming. Greatly appreciate any response, and thanks for making it this far and getting through that wall of text
Peace,
Will
what i am wanting is a camcorder with a lot of manual control. I want to be able to get in there and edit settings playing with focus etc. to achieve artistic shots (something i could never do previously with my cheaper camcorder). I already have experience with cameras due to years of photography so am not wanting something basic, or with dumbed down/simplified user features. I will also probably be doing a fair amount of low light shooting(think night time london) as well as possibly in low light rooms/warehouses. Ive also heard that i want to try and go for 1080p over 1080i as i will be incorporating a lot of "slow mo" footage in my videos, and heard that interlaced can cause distortion when you slow the footage. Amazing audio is not essential as i will be mostly syncing the footage to pre recorded tracks. however an input for an external mic is, as i like the flexibility of being able to record live in the future.
to give an idea for the sort of thing I'm trying to achieve and the quality I'm looking for, here is a track by seven lions, the video for which really like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HVjldqWx4w
and heres another example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKahYTAQS7o
Ive seen a few models, such as the Panasonic HDC-MDH1 (which is a shoulder mounted) although get the impression that this model is the cheapest in the shoulder mounted style range, and as such a handheld around the same price can give better features for the money. I like the idea of the shoulder mounted design(as well as the professional look, which would help give a good impression when i plan on filming for others) although it would seem that you have to pay a lot more money to get the good quality. are there any lower cost shoulder mounted styles with great results?
I am quite frankly baffled by all the features/models out on the market and was hoping someone could help me out. in a nutshell I'm looking for a camcorder which has a lot of flexibility for artistic filming. Greatly appreciate any response, and thanks for making it this far and getting through that wall of text
Peace,
Will