What's a good camera to start with?

M

mizugori

I am trying to do an a film with some action sequences, and have no clue what a good camera to start with is. Does anyone have some suggestions? Ideally price needs to be less then $2,000 (I am assuming I will be buying something used) and I will need to be able to do some digital editing.

What do you suggest? Thanks!
 
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Personally, I recommend the Canon HFS100. It's significantly under your $2k budget (around $750 right now), but it captures excellent video for the price. That would then allow you to put the rest of your money towards sound and lighting equipment (and a 35mm adapter to make the HFS100 shoot very high quality stuff). Unless your intent is solely to produce topnotch footage, you have to remember that sound is just as important as image quality (which are both less important than writing).

EDIT: Alternatively, if the $2000 is just for a camera, a T2i with some lenses and accessories should be around $2k or so.
 
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ROC said:
iPhone 4.
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Whhhattttt? Am I going to have to watch a movie at this years Sundance made completely with an iPhone? I will have to lose all faith in filmmaking if that happens. Personally, I would never make a film with an iPhone, even if the quality is mind-blowing.

To answer your question, you can use a plain old camcorder, just make sure it has a mic-in because the built in microphones usually suck. Then plug in an external mic and you should have a decent quality video. I say decent because it won't be the next hollywood blockbuster, but it will get the job done. And yes, it will be sellable. Be sure to check what aspect ratio the camera records in. I'm assuming you want the whole high-def thing and the 16:9 ratio, and I've seen decent used ones sold on eBay for as low as 500 USD. Then a good mic will cost around 100-200 USD, and you'll be all set.
 
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droowl said:
Whhhattttt? Am I going to have to watch a movie at this years Sundance made completely with an iPhone? I will have to lose all faith in filmmaking if that happens. Personally, I would never make a film with an iPhone, even if the quality is mind-blowing.
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A tool is a tool. If the technology is there, why not? Of course, it isn't exactly there yet, but give it 5, 10 years, and I think it'll be perfectly reasonable to shoot a movie (video only) on a cell phone.
 
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Wombat said:
A tool is a tool. If the technology is there, why not? Of course, it isn't exactly there yet, but give it 5, 10 years, and I think it'll be perfectly reasonable to shoot a movie (video only) on a cell phone.
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Sure, it will work fine. Not many people would be able to notice, either. But to me, its just weird shooting without a proper camera.
And by "proper camera" I mean like something thats specific purpose is making videos. Shooting something with a cellphone would just be... I dunno, different .
 
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droowl said:
Sure, it will work fine. Not many people would be able to notice, either. But to me, its just weird shooting without a proper camera.
And by "proper camera" I mean like something thats specific purpose is making videos. Shooting something with a cellphone would just be... I dunno, different .
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So I take it you're against the new DSLRs for filmmaking?
 
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Wombat said:
So I take it you're against the new DSLRs for filmmaking?
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I don't have such a hatred towards them as the iPhone. As long as the scene isn't bouncing around so fast it feels like I'm on a rollercoaster I would give a DSLR a shot. I wouldn't use one myself, but I'm OK with others using it (with a tripod). I wouldn't recommend using it for a full blown feature, though.
 
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droowl said:
Whhhattttt? Am I going to have to watch a movie at this years Sundance made completely with an iPhone? I will have to lose all faith in filmmaking if that happens. Personally, I would never make a film with an iPhone, even if the quality is mind-blowing.
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Yet, you watched Nosferatu which was probably shot on god knows what... A hand-cranked dinosaur?

Sometimes it's not what equipment you have, it's how you use it.

Give me 5 SM57s and I can record and mix a Platinum record. In fact, U2 uses exclusively an SM57 to track lead vocals, yet they sell records. Listened to them recently?

Michael Jackson used a 300$ mic to record nearly all of his records...

Give Spielberg an iPhone and give a High School film student a Viper and Spielberg's film would look and be better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saDguIg9CIE&feature=related
 
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I read through a lot of the camera discussion threads, I'm thinking either the canon hsf100 or the HF S21, or possibly a dslr (probably the 550d.) What do you guys think?? With any of these options, I'd be using external sound so the built-in sound is not a factor to consider.

I also was planning to use some editing tools, so the ease of getting video from the camera onto a computer and being able to edit it with common editing tools is important. I was considering this suite: http://fxhome.com/blockbuster-movie-kit

Thoughts??
 
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I'm not sure why you're considering the HFS21. Really, when it comes to image quality, it's the same as the HFS100. You'd be paying nearly double the price for 64GB of internal memory (trust me, SD cards are waaay cheaper than that), a touchscreen LCD (which, in my opinion, is pretty awful) and a viewfinder, which while helpful, isn't $400 helpful, particularly when you consider that you'll eventually want to get an external monitor. I don't think it's worth it.

As for whether or not you should get the HFS100 or the 550D... well, if your budget is going to be expanding in the future to accommodate lens purchases, then the 550D would probably be better for you. It does unarguably have better image quality.
 
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I would be all over the 550d except I am concerned about:

a.) how it handles - it seems like even with steadycams, people get somewhat shaky footage

b.) artifact issues - I read about and saw examples of discoloration occurring and moire effects on buildings and clothing

c.) getting the footage onto a pc and editing it - my understanding is that it is tricky to upload the footage to your pc as the canon software supposedly sucks.
 
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mizugori said:
I would be all over the 550d except I am concerned about:

a.) how it handles - it seems like even with steadycams, people get somewhat shaky footage

b.) artifact issues - I read about and saw examples of discoloration occurring and moire effects on buildings and clothing

c.) getting the footage onto a pc and editing it - my understanding is that it is tricky to upload the footage to your pc as the canon software supposedly sucks.
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Well, I know c isn't a problem, or every digital video camera ever sold would be worthless. Proprietary software with all the cameras is about the same: worthless. There are a multitude of ways to get the footage off of the camera.

That said, I'm kind of in the same boat as you for a and b. I'm hesitant to get a DSLR. I know they can capture amazing stuff (for example, check this out), but just the same, I can't help but be bothered by all the small disadvantages and hassles associated with DSLRs. Maybe in a few years, when the tech has had time to settle and get figured out. Still, the HFS100 is less expensive, easier to learn on, and will serve you well for the next 5+ years until they release the Next Big Thing.
 
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mizugori said:
I would be all over the 550d except I am concerned about:

a.) how it handles - it seems like even with steadycams, people get somewhat shaky footage

b.) artifact issues - I read about and saw examples of discoloration occurring and moire effects on buildings and clothing

c.) getting the footage onto a pc and editing it - my understanding is that it is tricky to upload the footage to your pc as the canon software supposedly sucks.
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As Wombat says, c) isn't a problem.

I don't think a) is a problem either - there's nothing to make it hard to handle when you have the right gear. The jello effect means you would be ill-advised to shoot some types of shots, but I think people getting shaky shots with the 550D on steadycams is more indicative of their abilities than the quality of the camera.
 
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