Please help me choose a camera

X

xzaros

Hello all,

I’m not going to lie I am technical minded but when it comes to cameras I am a bit mind boggled.:confused:

I have done a lot of research into difference chips such as ccd, 3x ccd, cmos, trimos, mos etc

But I still don’t know exactly what is right for me.

What will I be doing?
Basically I want to get into the world of film, I’m a huge fan of movies and have so many ideas for film.

Therefore id like a camera that would display video similar to what you see in movies. I don’t know what the technical name is for this but in movies images seem so in depth and lifelike.

I will also be using after effects to create effects using things like motion tracking so the picture needs to be detailed so i can track certain points really well.

My budget
I am looking to spend less than £1000 on a camera but as close to £500 as possible really, I have looked at “prosumer” cameras if that’s the right word (the ones that are big and you see film makers using them) but they tend to be a few thousand pounds to buy and I really can’t afford those.

Storage capacity and battery life
At the moment I am not bothered about this as I will just buy more cards in the future and to start with I will always be close to a laptop or pc.

I have looked at a few cameras mainly the canon hf s100, Panasonic sd600, canon hg 20, but they look like they are for holiday filming etc and I am afraid I will be disappointed when I want to create a scene for a short movie.
I am also willing to buy second hand cameras if anyone knows anywhere where I can get any from? At the moment I haven’t had much luck with that.

I hope someone can help me I am pretty stuck and I don’t want to throw away money

Thank you all in advance

Ryan:)
 
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For that money t2i $799 + Canon 50mm (nifty 50) 1.8 lens $99 US OR

Coming in September a Canon 60D w/ same lens for $1100 US (same, but better body likely has swivel tilt LCD and auto-focus in movie mode). You gain audio level controls, and some sort of on board editing.

I wouldn't bother with the 7D (the next model up) for movies at this point since the T2I does the same and is a lot cheaper, and the 60D has more movie oriented features. You would gain a metal body but lose the auto-focus and audio features. I don't like the trade considering a 1k cam is much more disposable than a $1.5k-1.7k camera, and it's much easier to budget for a b-cam whether it be a T2I or another 60D. My only quibble with eos 7d is that once you add two decent lenses to the mix it costs the same or more than the entry level pro cams.

Anything camcorder will suck it up compared to those choices you can't get a decent camcorder until you hit about $2k USD so don't bother and really you want $3-5k for this type of camera. You get more payout on spending for better lenses for the canon than the low end prosumer cameras. If you have money, of course the high end cameras are better in every way... but at this level it's no contest.

If you take this option and time is not an issue I'd just recommend you wait for the 60D as it looks like the go-to cam for video at this point for the next year at least and it's coming in the next month.
 
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Thank you,
what would you say is better in say the 60d camera to the canon fh s100?

because they both do full hd recording but the camcorder allows things like directional microphone addons etc and more features for video.

It just confuses me as to how a camera can be better than a camcorder for a video but i think thats just because i dont understand it yet.

Can the 60d record crisp video without any blurry effects?

Thank you
Ryan
 
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xzaros said:
Thank you,
what would you say is better in say the 60d camera to the canon fh s100?

because they both do full hd recording but the camcorder allows things like directional microphone addons etc and more features for video.

It just confuses me as to how a camera can be better than a camcorder for a video but i think thats just because i dont understand it yet.

Can the 60d record crisp video without any blurry effects?

Thank you
Ryan
Click to expand...

Well if you're talking about making something someone will buy on board audio for either the camcorder or camera are impossibly bad. You'll need a sound recorder like a Zoom H4N in either case. T2I/60D do 1080p in 24 and 30 frames so just up to you whether you want movie or broadcast formats or need something else. And you will also need plural eyes software for the editor you use to sync them all up.

As far as blurring effects movie look is all about a certain amount of blur and footage doesn't look movie-like without some of it. It's about having the right amount for cinema effect and still retaining detail. All cameras do it because of the way the shutter operates and it's completely unavoidable. This blur is in every movie you have ever watched, and it's also the reason bad special effects don't look right. They fail to match the blur in the scene so they look like they're pasted on the film.

The T2I/60D/7D all produce nearly the same video. It's mostly a camera frame preference more than anything else and what type of memory sticks you like (sd card vs compact flash). T2I is smaller framed than the others and really needs a battery grip for the weight and to be easily handled (I'd get it anyway, I hate changing batteries), the 60D is right in the middle in size and may or may not need a grip, and the eos 7d is nearly perfectly sized for an adult male hand. You should just try to visit a store and hold each of them for feel and see whether a grip is needed or it's too small or big for your hands. The size does matter as if the camera is more fitting to your hand you will produce better shots most of the time when you freely hold it. I'd always get the grip if you are buying some kind of rig though as it helps steady the cam on tripods and free rigs like shoulder/steadicam these cameras are VERY light and it actually messes with the stability somewhat.

The advantage the camera has is changeable lenses and the ability to use the proper lens filters to shoot the scene as well as the proper controls on the device to control exposure, camera aperture, and white balance/color balance correctly. This is the reason camcorder footage looks bad most of the time it has nothing to do with the sensor on the device. Consumer level camcorders don't accommodate filters in nearly every case. You can work around some of that with post processing, but if it just wasn't on the footage in the first place you'd have nothing to fix. $2000 prosumer cams also let you screw the filters on as well but it's all a matter of what you want to spend and you still won't get to change the lenses.

What's bad about these cameras? Heat issues after 1+ hour plus w/o the battery grip (batteries overheating) and 12 minute clip length. If you were going to shoot weddings with this you may want to have two of the cheaper ones so you can always have one filming. But, if you're like me and don't care about it so much because you're only doing movies then it really DOES NOT matter that much.
 
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