Quick Question (Warning really not so quick)

L.I.F.E.

L.I.F.E.

So me and 3 of my friends have created a production company and we make short movies of all kinds. From comedies to serious dramas. This is our first year working together and our first year together really getting serious about movies. I am going to post some of the stuff we have done so far on here but ill wait a few days so i can sift through some of the others on here to make sure we don't look too bad.

Anyways my question is we have had much success with our films, at least to us which is really all that matters in the long run right? ;). Really though we have had pretty good success for our first year working together and every single one of our shorts shows improvement from the last. We are on no budget we have a less than $100 HD camera and other than that just our brains put together for ideas. (We are all HUGE movie buffs so this helps with angles and thoughts and direction of out shorts). So to sum it all up id really like some help with what you guys would suggest for a camera that is a great mid range camera for amateurs looking to get into some film festivals by the end of this year. Im not going to put out a number budget because i can make things work, but reasonable for some college students. I apoligize for this being such a long winded post, I just love filming and really wanted to get across what i would like to do with this camera.


Thanks in advance for the help, and sorry if i made any forum faux pas this is my first day and my first post.

-J
 
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There are two things that are VERY important when getting a
camera:

Manual controls for the iris, shutter, focus and white balance.
A microphone input.

There are the cameras I’ve taken out for a test drive that come in
under $1,500.

JVC HM400
This is my favorite of the sub $1,200 cameras. The 1/2.3-inch CMOS
is really nice and it has a 1/8-inch mic jack. Unfortunately that
jack is in an awkward place. Like many recent cameras there is no
viewfinder but I also understand that most people just entering
the field don’t really need one. It doesn’t shoot in 24p which to
many is a deal breaker. Like most HDD cameras this records AVCDH
files which can be unwieldy to edit.

Canon HFS11 and HFS10
While this camera has nice manual controls for some reason there
is no independent control of aperture and shutter speed. It has a
1/8-inch mic jack and a nice lens. The single CMOS is quite large
at 1/2.6-inches. It shoots 60i, 24p and 30p.

Canon HG21
I like that this camera can capture to SDHC cards as well as the
HDD. It shoots in Canon’s 24p Cinema Mode as well as 30p. The
1/3.2 inch CMOS seemed to be very nice in the tests I did. The
joystick controls worked well and I adjusted to it quickly.

Panasonic HS300 and TM300
Excellent manual controls, but the touch screen system is awkward
- maybe really cool for beginners, but for more advanced users
this is a strange way to adjust controls. Both the mic input and
headphone jack are poorly placed. But over all an excellent
camera.

Sony XR520
I guess the touch screen is the new thing. I don’t like it. On
this camera there are no direct control of aperture, shutter speed
or gain. I liked where the mic and headphone jack were placed.
 
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I just picked up the HFS100, mostly based on info and opinion from this forum. Though, I never asked the question right out. I loved the HF200 and love the HFS100 even more!

HFS10 and HFS100 allow you to set max video gain to 0. This is a big plus. You can give priority to Aperture or Shutter and you can manual set both, but like diretorik said, you cant control both at the same time!

Something you need to consider, I imagine that your >$100 HD cam isn't using the latest standard in HD encoding technology, AVCHD. You'll want to understand that working with high bandwidth HD files on your computers demands a LOT of horse power. Most folks use an "intermediary" codex (cineform NeoScene) to make working with these HD files much more practical in your editing software. Dont debate it, just spend the extra $100 for neoscene, don't bother with the canon software, youll end up frustrated and disappointed. (FYI: you can order neoscene from VideoGuys and get $30 off retail so, $99.)

FYI: canon is giving instant rebates on the hf20, hf200, hfs10, and hfs100. With the $300 instant rebate on the hfs100 I paid $799 at my local retailer. (B&H same price)

I original picked up the HF200 with a $200 rebate at that was $550, but returned that camera the next week for the added features of the HFS100. Note that the only difference between HFS100 and HFS10 is the inclusion of internal memory, and the price. For about $200 more you can have 32GB internal memory.. seems like a waste as you can get a LOT of memory cards for that same money. (same is true for the HF20 and HF200)
 
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