I need a cheap (ish) camera for filming at night!

[chokingthealligator]

Hi guys, I'm doing a student project but would like to get into filming more seriously....

I am going to be filming shots at night and have been warned that most cheap camcorders these days are awful at filming in darkness... is this the case?

I really would like a good all round reliable camera that has cinema mode and is decent at filming at night around the £500 mark...

Any info/advice would be appreciated,

thanks guys

 

[Papertwinproductions]

Canon 550D, perhaps somewhere between £50-£100 over budget. Yet, DSLR's are infamous for working well in low-light. There's plenty of reviews and test footage for your exact reservations.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=canon+550d+night&aq=f

Although, don't let this excuse you for lighting your sets properly.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Grand Upper]

+1 on the Cannon 550D.

You can't get better for that price.

 

[Dreadylocks]

If you already have a regular camcorder, I would invest that money into lighting. If properly lit, you can record on VHS and it will still look great.

If you're buying the camera anyway, I can't help agreeing on the 550D. Just don't get lazy about lighting just because you've got a 'low light' camera.

 

[chokingthealligator]

Thanks for the edvice guys, really appreciated I'll check out that canon. This may be a stupid question but how do you use lighting when you are filming, for example the stars?

 

[chokingthealligator]

Oh, I just had a look on amazon and the general net and it looks like the Canon EOS 550D is a regular camera? Not a camcorder?

 

[Cracker Funk]

Oh, I just had a look on amazon and the general net and it looks like the Canon EOS 550D is a regular camera? Not a camcorder?

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=25684

 

[chilipie]

Thanks for the edvice guys, really appreciated I'll check out that canon. This may be a stupid question but how do you use lighting when you are filming, for example the stars?

You can't! If the only thing in shot is the sky, you'd be better off shooting a timelapse sequence (combining lots and lots of photos into a continuous video clip) because you can have much longer exposures.

Oh, I just had a look on amazon and the general net and it looks like the Canon EOS 550D is a regular camera? Not a camcorder?

Yep, it's an SLR first, a video camera second. This has some enormous advantages, but many disadvantages too - try searching the forums, as this topic has been covered very thoroughly before… but feel free to ask more questions if you can't find what you need!

 

[Cracker Funk]

Yep, it's an SLR first, a video camera second. This has some enormous advantages, but many disadvantages too - try searching the forums, as this topic has been covered very thoroughly before…

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=25684