help me buy the camera i need

P

pen

hello everyone, we've already had a quick discussion in the welcoming forum.
basically let's just say we have a budget of 300€ on ebay (not new!).

i'd like a camera with manual exposure and iris and an external mic option.

what are my options?

i've just been looking at the sanyo hd700 and hd1000

i'm getting mixed info that one of these doesn't have an external mic option, some sites say they both do and some don't.

do you suggest any other cameras?

hope to hear many suggestions!
 
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(See what I meant about making assumptions folks?)

This could be one of those long, back and forth threads that results in nothing. I'm skipping my usual socio-political diatribe on this one.

I'm out.


Edit: For the record, he posted in English, there is no such language as "American," the language comment isn't really what bothered me about that post.

Double Edit: Only edited because we posted almost simultaneously and it is important to me that you understand I did not make assumptions about your politics.
 
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oooh haha.. sorry everyone, beign in europe its second nature.. let's say my budget is 400-500$.. things clearer now? =)
but the t2i is more than twice over my budget
 
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Cracker Funk said:
But it's not 300 bucks he/she is working with. 300 pounds. And that's, like, totally worth probably $2,000 because America's economy is in the pooper.
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Actually, he said 300 euro.

But I agree, if Pen has a 'xxD' camera at home that shoots in at least 720p, I would use that. Hands down.

Why are you so dead set against using it, Pen? I'm just curious :)
 
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actually u understood wrong dreadylocks; i have a 30D at home, it does not shoot video, i jut wanted to point out that the canon 30D is my primary camera that i shoot with and am not prepared to buy a t2i just for the sake of video.. if i had a dslr that shoots HD video of course i would use that.

btw, Cracker Funk - if euro is alien to you i just don't see you as a "worldly" person. If using euros as a currency is "speaking a foreign language" then please forgive me. i'll try to talk your language next time.

@David: i have nothing against using older gear, even in photography i occassionaly shoot with a m42 adapter and use older canon lenses, i love old gear.
but that DCR-TRV900 model is a b**** to find! not one on whole ebay! just a couple of auctions..


oh, i found this on ebay:

http://global.ebay.com/Sony_DCR-DVD203_1MP_DVD_Handycam_Camcorder_NEW-DEMO/130331444116/item

this camcorder looks great, pretty much everything can be done manually, from exposure to focus.. and it supposedly has decent video quality.

edit again: pretty lucky googling today, found this 100$ camera on ebay and it has everything.. can't really believe it..

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/sony-dcr-hc20-camcorder-review-fi.htm
 
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Why would you assume we know the value of a Euro (and why do I have to know the value of a Euro to meet your qualification of "worldly")? And yes, I know "American" is not a language, I'm sort of being silly when I say that. That doesn't change my point, which is pretty simple -- if you want to communicate effectively with a group of people, it is to your advantage to adapt to them, so use $ on this board, that way we'll know what the heck you're talking about.

David is right, though. This is probably a pointless back-and-forth that will go nowhere. Why do those conversations always involve me? :weird:

To stay on point, I'm glad you found what you're looking for on ebay. That's always the best place to start your search. So many great deals, especially if you're willing to purchase used.
 
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Let's be cool, people :cool:

I think pen is doing a lot to adapt by speaking our language and, when seeing someone was confused about the dollar amount, giving it in USD instead. Nobody can be expected (nor is anyone required) to act like a perfect native. Do you admonish English folks visiting America for not getting rid of their accent? I'm sure you don't.

It is of course to someone's advantage to 'act as Roman do,' but it's merely a courtesy to those actual Romans. No one is forcing you to google anything, but it would be to your advantage to do so and learn something. If not, you won't find me yelling at you about it.

Sorry if that sounds acerbic. I think you both have good points. Hope we're still friends :)
 
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Dreadylocks said:
Let's be cool, people :cool:

I think pen is doing a lot to adapt by speaking our language and, when seeing someone was confused about the dollar amount, giving it in USD instead. Nobody can be expected (nor is anyone required) to act like a perfect native. Do you admonish English folks visiting America for not getting rid of their accent? I'm sure you don't.

It is of course to someone's advantage to 'act as Roman do,' but it's merely a courtesy to those actual Romans. No one is forcing you to google anything, but it would be to your advantage to do so and learn something. If not, you won't find me yelling at you about it.

Sorry if that sounds acerbic. I think you both have good points. Hope we're still friends :)
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No, but that's not my point. It's not to my advantage that pen reference $ in this conversation. It is to pen's advantage to use language (or in this case, reference a specific currency) that we will more easily understand. And I apologize if it seems like I'm admonishing people. I'm just saying it's kinda difficult to answer a question when I don't know the value of €.

And, of course I also hope we're all friends. I'm glad pen found the right camera, at the right price.
 
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actually i didn't find any camera that i'm going to buy.. i just listed 2 of them and want your opinions and if they will suffice for my/our needs.

but seriously, lay off with the currency.. i honestly am astonished you think of Euro as alien and i don't think it bothered anyone else as much. so i'd really like you and everyone else to give me advice about the cameras i listed and if you can't do that, don't reply.

congratulations papertwinproductions
 
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pen said:
actually i didn't find any camera that i'm going to buy.. i just listed 2 of them and want your opinions and if they will suffice for my/our needs.
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Oh, I misunderstood. Well, that being the case, I'm glad you didn't buy either of them. They don't have focus rings. I hate to keep coming back to the same point, but it is my opinion that this one little thing really is going to make your shoots run that much more smoothly. In my opinion, it's not even debateable -- you want a focus ring.

Look at this bad-boy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Digital-MiniDV-DCR-TRV11-Camcorder-Video-Recorder-/280542141811?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Camcorders_Professional_Video_Cameras&hash=item41519d5d73

A decade or so ago, back when this was current technology, this camera retailed for $1400. It will be a terrific tool for you to learn this craft on. And look at that price!

And yes, the Euro is weird and alien. I'm right. I win. End of argument. ;)
 
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Oh, haha, euros not pounds. It's cool, I'm illiterate.

For four or five hundred amurican dollars, you could pick up either the Canon HG10 or HF10. If the joystick focus is just as useful as the focus dial as wheat says, then the only things those cameras lack is the nicer lens and the zebra striping. The HG10 has a 40GB internal HDD, whereas the HF20 has a 16GB flash HD. Both have SD card slots, so the HF20 is probably more convenient if you already have a lot of SD cards.

Sorry to be kind of a Canon fanboy, but I did a lot of research (since I can't afford a camera yet :tear:) and they generally have the best consumer-priced camcorders for filmmaking. Besides having generally the best image quality for the price, they also tend to have more manual controls and various other filmmaking-friendly controls. Unfortunately, they have kind of bad lowlight performance (like most other low-end camcorders), but if you're coming from a photography background I'm sure you're aware of the importance of lighting.

If you don't need to get a high def camcorder, you can look into various older camcorders. They're somewhat cheap now, and have more manual controls and better depth of field than most modern consumer camcorders. Couldn't tell you which models to look for, though.
 
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i'm definitely interested in older camcorders with more manual controls and better DOF!
damn it, i'm having trouble finding the older cameras, i don't need high def., what i need is all manual controls and an external mic option. u got an older cam that is sub 400$ that can do that?

i'll check out the TRV11 in a bit..
 
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In you're price-range, you're not gonna get depth of field (at least, not in the way I think you mean it).

All cameras have depth of field. It's a question of how deep or shallow. The more deep the depth of field, the more stuff is in focus. Shallow depth of field means you can have your subject in focus, with the background blurred.

If you want shallow depth of field, the T2i is your camera (there are other ways of accomplishing this, but the T2i is, by far, the most economical).

Otherwise, if all you need is manual controls and an external mic, the $160 camera I linked above has it all.
 
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pen said:
i'm definitely interested in older camcorders with more manual controls and better DOF!
damn it, i'm having trouble finding the older cameras, i don't need high def., what i need is all manual controls and an external mic option. u got an older cam that is sub 400$ that can do that?

i'll check out the TRV11 in a bit..
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Scour ebay. Remember that you can purchase from eBay based in any country. I live in the US and purchase parts for my truck from eBay Australia and eBay UK all the time. This will expand your choices.

Here's another 900, though a touch more than you planned on spending.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SONY-DCR-TRV9...ctronics_Video_Camcorders&hash=item2c56231992

@paper - This was plenty civil. By internet forum standards this thread barely contained any disagreement at all. ;)
 
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i'm not prepared to order from U.S. because the taxes are too high..

anyways, i decided that i'm actually going to get the canon 550D, if i sell my 30D for around 350€ (around 460$) i can buy a 550D and adding only 300€ (400$).
i saw a 550D on ebay for a little more than 600€, that's less than 800$. i'm going to purchase this in september or october. thank you everyone for your support.
 
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pen said:
i'm not prepared to order from U.S. because the taxes are too high..

anyways, i decided that i'm actually going to get the canon 550D, if i sell my 30D for around 350€ (around 460$) i can buy a 550D and adding only 300€ (400$).
i saw a 550D on ebay for a little more than 600€, that's less than 800$. i'm going to purchase this in september or october. thank you everyone for your support.
Click to expand...


U made a great choice my friend..
 
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