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What Camera?

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EastCoastSkiier
Posts: 1343 - Karma: 76
Hey Guys,

I know there are other threads about this but i saw the one about questions to answer so I thought I would make my own thread with my specific answers.

1) What is your budget? How much money can you spend right away, and do you think you can get more money to invest in the future?

I'm not looking to spend more than maybe $500. Seeing I am a freshman in high school I do believe I will have more money to invest later on.

2) What experience do you already have with cameras? Have you ever even used one before? Have you helped your friend out with his camera? Have you owned your own?

I have almost no experience with cameras. I want to get involved in filming and editing so I can put together some edits of me and my crew skiing. I have used really simple cameras before a few times but I would consider myself a serious novice.

3) What gear, if any, do you currently have? (tripod, old camera lenses, mics, etc)

I own no gear for cameras what so ever.

4) What are you planning to shoot and how do you want to use your camera? Are you going to use this with the sole purpose of shooting skiing? or do you think you might try other stuff as well (movies, documentaries, short films, etc)

I plan on just using this camera to shoot skiing and possibly other action sports i.e. bmx, mtn. biking, water skiing, and wake boarding.

5) Do you want a camera that you can hand to your friends, that could or could not have film experience, and let them shoot you? or will you be doing all the filming?

This is very important I need to be able to hand this off to my friends and be sure they can get at least a decent shot of me with it. I plan on basically making a season edit of me and my cousin and maybe one or two other skiers/boarders, but I will be featured a lot in it so I need to have some one else be able to film with it.



6) When filming skiing, how do you tend to shoot? (follow cams, leave it on record on a tripod and hike, film from a tripod, etc)

I think I'll be doing a lot of follow cams and some free hand shooting and possible some tripod stuff if I can buy one.

7) What computer do you currently have/use to edit (if not currently editing, what would you most likely use)? If you can provide specifics, such as hard drive space, RAM, processor size, that would be great.

I will be using a MacBook Pro 13" 2.4ghz with 4gb memory and 250gb hard drive. I might be adding more RAM.

7) What program do you currently edit on? How familiar are you with it (1- just learning; 10- I can make tutorials and know the keyboard layout)

I don't know what editing software I will be using yet. If you could recommend one as well that would be great.

Thank you for any help and positive response will receive karma.

Oct 24 2010 8:20PM
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MADDECENT
Posts: 5579 - Karma: 951
Sounds like for this budget, skill level, and what you plan on using it for, and as a starter camera, a handycam would be fine for you.

I filmed on a borrowed one of these all last season, it was fine for just messing around making edits of my friends for fun.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/671787-REG/JVC_GZHM550BUS_GZ_HM550_HD_Everio_Flash.html

And if you're on a MAC, just pirate FCP
Oct 24 2010 8:28PM
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EastCoastSkiier
Posts: 1343 - Karma: 76
Thanks exactly what I was looking for. where could I get a copy of FCP?
Oct 24 2010 9:12PM
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Bentley@DOSMedia
Posts: 1410 - Karma: 1,827
You can find a version of FCP 6 or FCS 2 for pretty cheap on ebay. You can pirate it, although everyone I know that has done that has had a different issue with it. Actually, I dont think DVD studio works on pirated versions, but you may not need that.

If you just get FCP pirated, I think it works fine although might have crashing issues with plug ins. If you get FCS (final cut studio) then I know it will have multiple other issues.

Just my experience from others I know that have pirated versions.

And this isnt a lecture about not pirating programs. That would be hypocritical of me.
Oct 24 2010 9:19PM
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EastCoastSkiier
Posts: 1343 - Karma: 76
thanks man.
Oct 24 2010 9:29PM
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Bentley@DOSMedia
Posts: 1410 - Karma: 1,827
no problem..
forgot to add, piratebay.org if you want to go that route.

Transmission is a program you can get for torrents if you dont have one.
Oct 24 2010 9:34PM
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A.Eberhard
Posts: 4426 - Karma: 415
I would say a Canon hv30 or 40 are your best bet. You can get a pretty decent set-up with a lens and tripod for $500 with one of these. You have pretty basic functions on this camera ex. shutter speed and exposure. You can easily put it on auto and pass it to your friends. You get 720p Hd with an hv30 or 40, you do have to deal with mini dv which I don't find all that bad, but is an aging technology.
Oct 24 2010 9:41PM
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miroz
Posts: 10333 - Karma: 3,945
For what its worth, I hate JVC cameras and have had terrible experiences trying to hook them up to computers. I was helping some kids edit their project and theirs (similar to that one I think) filmed in a strange, "JVC" format that I couldn't convert. It was a HUGE pain in the ass.

My recommendation is to always stick within Sony, Canon, and Panasonic, although even Sony isn't that great these days. Maybe MADDECENT can elaborate about his experience with that JVC but I was so fed up with the ones I had to work with...ugh.
Oct 24 2010 9:42PM
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MADDECENT
Posts: 5579 - Karma: 951
I edited on a pretty shitty laptop. I never had to convert the footage, I edited in Vegas 7 without a problem. We would film the entire run without stopping, so i would be editing at least 3 hours of film per day, and the file sizes were small. granted the quality wasn't that good and the 16:9 aspect ratio on the camera was broken.
Oct 24 2010 11:10PM
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erikK
Posts: 3245 - Karma: 2,328
If you're computer won't handle avchd, I say get an hv30/40.  If it will handle avchd, maybe one of the cheaper HF's or a TM700
Oct 24 2010 11:14PM
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miroz
Posts: 10333 - Karma: 3,945
Word.

I bet he could find a used HV20/30/40 for under 500 bones though...and that would be WAY better than any JVC.

To the OP - if you want to make your $500 go as far as it can, buy used - you may not have the satisfaction of buying new but you can cop crazy deals and save a ton of money. I haven't bought much new equipment in a long, long time. The only things I can think of that I bought new were my old Manfrotto tripod, my GlideCam, and my GoPro - none of which were over $200.

All in all buy used, there's a method to the madness and you can save lots of money.

GL!
Oct 24 2010 11:26PM
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erikK
Posts: 3245 - Karma: 2,328
 Personally I love buying used lenses as you can usually physically see or feel if there's anything wrong with it, but when you're buying a used body you never really know what its been through.
Oct 24 2010 11:34PM
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EastCoastSkiier
Posts: 1343 - Karma: 76
Thanks for the great responses guys  I think I'm going to go with an used HV40. Also thanks for the torrentbay.com post.
Oct 25 2010 12:57PM
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miroz
Posts: 10333 - Karma: 3,945
Good choice.
Oct 25 2010 1:07PM
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