Best camera for under £1000?

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paulbrighton

Hi I'm looking for a camera for my new Indie Film. I wan't a cinematic look rather than a home-video look. So I need a good camera with high quality. I think that means I need one with a large sensor.

I've narrowed it down to 3: which shoot full HD at 1080p

Canon 7D (about £1000)
Canon 5D mark ii (about £2000)

both SLR's that shoot full HD and according to wikipedia have been used in motion pictures and TV.

Sony NEX-VG10E (about £1600) - a camcorder with large sensor and changeable lenses. Can't find any sources which say this has been used for TV or film. But has the advantage that it has integrated sound and

I don't really want to spend more than £1000 on the camera. Any ideas? What if I would settle for 720p are there any that give that filmic quality?
 
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i have the 600d i dont see any problems with it, you can use magic lantern to enhance the experience but i prefer it without for the current time being, i was lucky enough to get a £2000 grant which bought me a rode ntg-1, tascam dr-40, rode boom pole, rode blimp, a dell u2410 i think it is (at work cant remember), i have only the stock lens that came with the camera and a 50mm 1.8, i also have a manfrotto lightweight aluminum tripod with a 501 video head, works well for me no stability issues and is lightweight (much lighter than a video tripod) total cost is over £2000 if you include the camera and what not, so think wisely dslrs are good but not as cheap as you think..
 
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Skin tones

From what I've read in other places,

skin tones are better on the GH2 and it doesn't suffer from the moire effects.

....but Canon t2i has a more filmic "softer" quality.

Now considering I will mostly be shooting people it leads me to think the GH2 is more what I want? Unless I see an example of footage by a t2i in which the skin tones aren't washed out.
 
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FPS

I was just about to buy the GH2 when I realised that perhaps it doesn't shoot at 25fps which is what would be needed for PAL in UK!!!!

Is this true?? Does this mean that Europeans shouldn't buy the GH2?


------------although I suppose it doesn't matter these days as who buys Blue Rays anyway these days. It's all downloads. So might as well shoot in 24fps.
 
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paulbrighton said:
I was just about to buy the GH2 when I realised that perhaps it doesn't shoot at 25fps which is what would be needed for PAL in UK!!!!

Is this true?? Does this mean that Europeans shouldn't buy the GH2?


------------although I suppose it doesn't matter these days as who buys Blue Rays anyway these days. It's all downloads. So might as well shoot in 24fps.
Click to expand...

Not to worry, Paul - the UK version of the Panasonic GH2 (£600 with the 14-42mm lens at Amazon UK) shoots 25p at 24mbps in High Bit Rate (HBR) mode with the latest v1.1 firmware update.

Cheers and look forward to seeing what you create with your new camera,

Bill
 
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Well I've ordered the GH2. (Which I hadn't considered before coming to this forum!)

My reasons are that i've heard it's easier to use, the skin tones seem nicer out-of-the-box and it suffers less from the moire patterns. Plus it has a nice 3D lens attachment which although the lenses look a bit close together might work OK for close ups.

So I think it will suit my needs. :) (Hope so anyway!)

I'm sure either camera would have done really. Now can't wait to get it and try it out!

Now that's saved me about £400 which I can spend on sound and lighting equipment (or pay a audio guy or something). So now I'm: :D
 
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Well I've got my GH2. I now need to buy an SD Card cos it didn't come with one. Also the battery only seems to last about an hour or two.

So all in all not a great start.

I'm slightly suspicious now that these GH2 advocates aren't on the Panasonic payroll. :P
 
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Dude, is a little obvious that it don't comes with memory card. Also, if you want to use it hacked, get a fast card - although I have used GH2 before with a very simple transcend card and some good patches. Faster the card, less chance to get writing errors using high bitrate hacks.
 
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brunerww said:
Paul - before you get too far down the road - a couple of caveats about Canon that are not highlighted in the promotional literature and that new shooters are often not aware of:

1) Canons are limited to a 12 minute long maximum video clip (except the £2500 5D Mk III, which shoots for 30).

2) their optical viewfinders go blank in video (live view) mode (blocked by the mirror)

3) they are unable to autofocus in video mode (except the new 650D).

- and even with STM lenses on the autofocusing 650D, Canon autofocus motors are so noisy they can be heard on your soundtrack

4) they have serious problems with a phenomenon called moire (shimmering colors in striped or patterned objects)

My first video DSLR was a Canon. I sold it and bought a Panasonic GH2 because:

1) the GH2 shoots unlimited length clips (in the US, straight out of the box - in the UK, with a hack);

2) It has a bright electronic viewfinder that is usable while shooting video;

3) autofocus continues to work in video mode;

4) it is relatively moire-free. Here are a couple of side-by-side moire comparisons with the Canon 60D. The 7D, the 550D, 600D and 650D have the same problem:

https://vimeo.com/20565849
https://vimeo.com/21962491

You can make great videos with Canons, but it's a lot more work.

I strongly recommend the Panasonic GH2 both because it is a much more video-friendly camera and because people are using it (and its predecessor, the GH1) to make movies like these:

Roberto Miller - US
Mandorla anamorphic narrative trailer - (hacked GH2): https://vimeo.com/40844162

Gami Orbegoso - Spain
Musgo narrative trailer (hacked GH2): https://vimeo.com/33025136
Musgo intro - first 5 minutes (hacked GH2): (Warning: NSFW) https://vimeo.com/45596420

Ryan Elliott - US
Unattended narrative short - (hacked GH2): https://vimeo.com/41379315

Harvey Walton - UK
Salome narrative short (hacked GH2): https://vimeo.com/34569159

Stephen Nguyen - US
Dysphoria narrative short (hacked GH2): https://vimeo.com/42892833

Michael Tsim - UK
Blacks spec commercial (unhacked GH2): https://vimeo.com/42204451

J. R. Dise - US
release anamorphic narrative short (hacked GH2): https://vimeo.com/42252615

Gunther Machu - Austria
Oh Angkor documentary (hacked GH1/GH2): https://vimeo.com/42107369

Tomasz Ślesicki - Poland
Cinematography Demo Reel: 2011/12 WARNING: NSFW (hacked GH1): https://vimeo.com/43625636


For £947, you can get the GH2 with its video-optimized silent autofocusing 14-140mm lens.

If you want to spend less, you can get the camera with the 14-42mm lens for £600. This will leave you with a few pounds for an external recorder and a mic.

Hope this is helpful - and good luck with your project!

Bill
Click to expand...

There are some things on that list that I haven't even seen. lol. The 3.55:1 Anamorphic feature looks pretty neat! Super wide, comically wide, but at the same time it still feels nice.

I've been debating which camera to shoot anamorphic on for my next no-budget feature, so it's cool to see examples of people who've done it with the GH2.
 
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I like the 3.55:1 aspect. I'll try to shoot my film with that. But we have to face it's a limitation, not exactly an option. Because GH2 can't record in 4:3 aspect with the same quality which shoot on 16:9.
 
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FernandoAndre said:
I like the 3.55:1 aspect. I'll try to shoot my film with that. But we have to face it's a limitation, not exactly an option. Because GH2 can't record in 4:3 aspect with the same quality which shoot on 16:9.
Click to expand...

I've been looking at the 2.66:1 crop version and it still looks great on a very very large screen, 3.55:1 is interesting as well.

I feel like I'm gonna have to just shoot Epic or Scarlet which will suck, but maybe I can convince myself to use the Gh2 like I reallyw ant to.
 
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Kholi said:
I've been looking at the 2.66:1 crop version and it still looks great on a very very large screen, 3.55:1 is interesting as well.

I feel like I'm gonna have to just shoot Epic or Scarlet which will suck, but maybe I can convince myself to use the Gh2 like I reallyw ant to.
Click to expand...

This guy made an excellent test about anamorphic in GH2.
https://vimeo.com/49446155

He used different lenses with the 2 modes, 16:9 and the MJPEG hack 4:3, and the ETC mode too.
Very good video to understand how the anamorphic footage looks in GH2 with this different options.
 
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And there is another try: since you get the 3.55:1 1920x1080, you can "zoom" into it in order to crop a less wide aspect, so you render 1280x720 which is a good HD video. Almost all people watch things on internet in 720p, not 1080p.

I never tried that because I'm still waiting my anamorphic lens, lol. Brazilian government is a kick on the soul :(. But it's an idea.
 
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Oh, I thought you were talking about the MJPEG 4:3 with 2x anamorphic. This MJPEG don't look so bad, but it is only 30p and not so good as the proper hacks. Maybe in GH3 will be possible to record with 4:3, 24p and as good as a Sedna patch.
 
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