A rich quality camcorder for a low buget film.?

Question

I am like many other a low buget film student. I am going out of the US to make a documentary style film and i am looking for a camcorder with sharp video, mini DV format, decent audio all for under 500.00 I am thinking Canon VIXIA HV20 HDV Camcorder. any suggestions?

Answer 1

What are you planning to do about audio?

The good news is that the camcorder you selected has manual audio control - there is no downside to this.

The good news is that the camcorder you selected has a 1/8" mic in jack. The bad news is good mics are usually XLR connected so you need to consider an XLR adapter. BeachTek and juicedLink make good ones.

If you spend your entire budget on the camera, you have nothing left for audio. Maybe that's OK? Do you need high definition?

Answer 2

As a speaking video student I would say hold off buying any camcorder yet,

Unless you really need something now I would save your money and buy a real 3CCD professional camera.

I'm saying this because most consumer camera give you little to work with in terms with lens control, and lighting is hard to pick up with most camera except in very bright situations (or if you have the place lit properly)

I bought a Canon Optura 60 last year, and while it has some nice features like manual focus and aperture adjustments, it is poor in low light, and is now outdated to HDV.

But even with HDV, your seeing competition with newer flash based HD cameras using AVCHD, not to mention tapeless camcorders are becoming more affordable every year.

Oh and depending on how you want to shoot this your going to be spending more then $500, especially in lighting and audio.

Check out the links below for the most talked about DV and HD professional camcorders, and a link to some good lighting for $300. Then try to find people willing to sell them a bit lower.

Answer 3

OK I saw the specs. on that camera and its a deal for a 500 dollars and its not a bad deal at its new price either it has a pretty big chip and if you learn how to use the 24p from what Iv heard, then the more power to you. This is one camera I would definitely look at for my low, low budget filming if I were doing one. I would also recommend getting an upgraded audio accessory of theirs if they have one.