Your Opinion?

[KnightMan]

Hello, I have been thinking about purchasing a new camcorder to film with. Could anyone tell me what kind of camcorder I should use? If it is any help, I'm aiming for digital, and my budget is about $2000. Thank you for any help you can offer.

[EvsFX08]

Since there's so many variables and opinions on this, from what I've read on this forum, it might be best for you to just to do a Search on this topic first because quite a few others have asked this question before. I always try to Search first because someone else usually has already asked my question, but there are times I simply can't find the answers through the Threads and of course post a question. You might also want to ask a question about a specific camera that you have in mind and ask if anyone else has shot on the same camera. Not trying to discourage you from asking questions, hell, I've asked my fair share of questions, to include vague and repetitive ones, but I've learned to try and narrow down my specific question because there are experts on just about anything you can ask about on this Forum, that's why this is such an awesome Forum. You just have to figure out how to ask the right question for best results. You narrowed down your price and format, what are you trying to shoot? Shorts, documentaries, etc, you'll want something compatible with your NLE as well.....narrowing down your requirements will help the Pro's and more experienced folk to help you out. I can't help you on cameras, I'm a post production guy, but i've learned how to get the best use out of this forum.

[KnightMan]

I'm kind of curious. I don't know much about cameras, so I have to ask. I'm looking at this camera, it's a Panasonic AG-HMC70PJ Avchd 3CCD Flash Memory Professional Camcorder. Do you think this will work for a super low budget film? Any help is much appreciated, thank you very much.

[KnightMan]

After some looking around I have found a few camcaorders that look pretty good. I am hoping that someone could give me their personal opinions on them. The first is the Panasonic AG-HMC70PJ AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory Professional Camcorder . The next one is the Panasonic AG-HVX205A 3-CCD P2/DVCPRO HD Camcorder . The third is the Canon CNVXHA1 HDV Professional Camcorder . And the final one is Canon XH A1S High Definition HDV Camcorder . Anyone's opinion is very much valued, and I appreciate all of your help. Thank You.

[directorik]

It's a shoulder mounted camera - which I prefer - and records AVCHD to a 16GB SDHC card.
The 1/4” CCD’s are nice and the XLR inputs really stand out in this price range. I spent about
2 hours with it and found it to be quite a nice camera. No reason why you can't shoot a
super low budget movie with this camera.

[WideShot]

Well, thats 4 Cameras. They write multi-page reviews on single cameras, so maybe you can be a little more specific? What are you looking to do (very specifically)? How much do you have to spend? Are you taking into account a lighting and sound budget as well?

The short is, they're all good cameras.

[KnightMan]

Well, I plan on getting into independent filming, and I'm in the process of writing two sepreate screenplay, one of which is going to be an attempt at a zombie movie, so the camera will need to do well in darker settings, and my price range is about $2,500. Yes I have considered sound and lighting as well, which are on a seperate budget at this point.

[KnightMan]

Thank you, you've been very helpful, and I will look forward to speaking with again.

[EvsFX08]

How the heck did I start a new Thread? I responded to one of KnightMan's Threads....hmmmm, that's weird.

[WideShot]

He started 3 threads, I tried to merge them all, but your post was earlier than his first one in this thread. If indietalk can reset the time of his first post it should go back to normal. EDIT: There back to normal.

[EvsFX08]

Oh no problem, I was just confused, I mean it doesn't take much to confuse me in the first place, but I was just wondering.....