Best camera at $350 price point?

L

lostgambit

Hey guys,

I'm been poking around for a few days and I finally decided to join. I'm looking to get a decent camera and I'd appreciate some feedback.

I've been looking at the Panasonic HDC-HS9 on Amazon (where I can buy it used for $350):
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-HDC...0Q10/ref=dp_return_2?ie=UTF8&n=502394&s=photo

My problem is that is does not have a manual focus ring (though it does have manual focus) nor a viewfinder. Does anyone have experience with this specific model? Is there an equally powerful camera that does have a focus ring and viewfinder and sits at the same price point?

My budget for the camera purchase is $300-350 and I plan to buy a boom mic as well (for a total hopefully around $400). For now, that will be the extent of my equipment (with the addition of a PC powerful enough to handle HD video, a couple tripods, and a homemade steadycam)

Thanks for any feedback,
Collin
 
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Hey, welcome to the boards! I'm actually from Earth myself. Spent a couple years during my high school years there. Lovely place to call home.

So, whenever we get people asking for advice on super-cheap cameras, I'm a bit of a focus-ring-Nazi. There are others on this forum, however, who've used the touch-screen manual focus or the joystick manual focus, and have commented that maybe I'm making too big a deal of it?

The one thing there seems to be consensus on is that you must have manual focus, manual white-balance, and manual exposure, in addition to an audio input. I haven't researched this camera, but I get the impression you have, and I'm kind of assuming it's got all of those.

As far as the focus ring is concerned, perhaps you can find out this camera's manual focusing apparatus, then go in to Best Buy and play around with a camera that uses the same type of focusing. Just play with it, and decide if you feel comfortable with it, and maybe this is a time when the old Funkster's advice doesn't need to be heeded.

I mean, HD, 60GB hard drive, for $350? Honestly, I don't know anything about this camera, other than what's listed here, but my gut tells me that's probably a pretty sweet deal. I assume you've also been shopping ebay?
 
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http://www.amazon.com/Sony-HDR-XR15...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1289788651&sr=1-1

That's the consumer camera I bought and use currently. Something similar to what you've got in your link.

The lack of a focus ring and using the LCD screen are indeed draw backs. However, I'm finding that I can use this camera for a lot of things. The trick to learning a consumer camera like this is going through the 'menu' features. For instance, I found that I can: change the focus manually (has to be done before you press record), change the exposure, it has a macro-lens function, can switch from a telephoto-style to wide-angle style lens, and a few other things. It can output 1920x1080 images. The draw back is that the image can be get noisy if you don't light properly and even then, it may falter a bit. Also, be sure to buy a bigger battery for the unit you get. I also purchased an H4n Zoom when I bought the camera so the duo is fine for what I'm doing right now. For what it can do and the amount I paid, it's a decent camera. I don't need anything fancy right now--just having the means to create stories is enough for me right now.
 
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Thanks for all the warms welcomes :)

It sounds like the answer is just "go play with stuff and find what you like." That answer works for me. I might just go to the local Sam's Club or CostCo and buy one outright, play with it for a few weeks, then return it. I think they both offer 90 day returns on all electronics, even if you break the thing, so it would be a nice risk free test period!

I do think I want a focus ring because I'd like to adjust focus mid-shot occasionally. But maybe it's not worth the added cost.

It will be another 6 weeks until I buy anyway, I'm currently backpacking in Southeast Asia and won't be back stateside for another month. Then I'll probably wait until January and see what I can find. After Christmas specials anyone?

Thanks again guys!
 
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