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(Note: The following are thoughts of the author's - Dave Messinger - gathered over years of being a videographer. His opinions are his opinions only - and believe it or not - there are others out there that have different opinions. Dave has gathered his from reading articles in many of the DV magazines listed in the left hand column and from discussions in forums such as the CreativeCow.Net and Avid Liquid.)
So you want to get a good professional camera. Or you got one and you want to get another. Or you want to move up to HD. First determine your budget. You should be looking at $2k - $5k for a pro cam. Another grand or so if you want to go with the upper entry level HD cams (Panasonic/JVC/Canon's newer models). Add $ 1500 for - a good TRIPOD ($150- $300), sound gear ($600-$1000), and lighting ($400-$1000). You will want a wide angle lens ($xx) and a circular polarized filter ($xx) for the camera also. Next get on line to B&H Photo and get some prices. And do an internet search and get some more prices. So you have a realistic price (B&H) and a low end price if you are willing to take a few chances. Write it all down on a 3x5 card and place it up next to your computer monitor (so you can see it every day and start visualizing those $$$'s being spent). Want to be an event videographer and shoot AND edit your video - of course - who doesn't. If your computer is not up to date, add another $3k to the 3x5 card and read about updating your computer and video editing software. Unless you have recently purchased a powerful system, HD is going to require most of us to upgrade processors, storage and video cards. First of all I am not going to talk about any of those cameras you can get at Costco or Circuit City or Best Buy. Those are consumer cameras. Great to get started with - but not to be used as professional cameras. If you want to be a pro - you need a pro camera. Pro cameras are 3 chip cameras - either 1/4" or 1/3" chips at a minumum. (That being said now there is the Sony HD with the CMOS chip - and getting good reviews - aaaaahhh !) Now - a couple of caveats right away - HD is low light intollerant - it needs more light than SD cameras to really shine.
SONY - a great camera. HD |