Advise on camcorders please?

Question

Hello people :)

I am 15 years old and my future ambition in life is to be a film director.

My camera broke not long ago and i am currently looking for a new one.

I have around £280 to spend on one and it would be perfect if anyone could recommend a good camera :D

Obviously because i make films i need a high quality camera, and at least a 30gb hard drive please :) And if possible, night vision.

Well thanks to anyone who leaves an answer :D

Sam Hammond

Answer 1

i think night vision is a gimmick.

if you can swing it get a HD cam if possible.

also, i think (but am not sure) that hard drive cameras compress your signal and will make it less than best quality.

best thing tho, have a play with a few in the shop and research, research RESEARCH!

Answer 2

the best cam for the money these days is the Panasonic PVGS320. It has a 3CCD lens which is prosumer level. Forget hard drives, the quality is not as good as mini-dv which is the best at this time. Change a tape once an hour, it only takes a minute. Don't think in terms of the camcorder lighting up your scene, if you're going professional, you're going to have to have external lighting.

Answer 3

I personally have 3 video cameras that I use constantly. The VERY best of the 3 is my JVC Everio series HDD one which is superb, the other 2, (Sony & Panasonic) I use for run of the mill stuff. As well as the camera you will need a really good editing programme, I have been making DVD's etc for over 25years now & have yet to find a better editing programme than Ulead Videostudio 11., it can do ANYTHING you want with video and audio including Bluray & HD. You can download a 14 day free trial from www.corel.co.uk. Good luck & I hope you get as much pleasure out of your ambition as I have had for many many years. If you need any further help please don't hesitate to message me & I'll help you all I can. PS Forget night vision, most cams these days are very efficient in low light conditions.

Answer 4

The Best two Camcorders around this price are:

1- Sony DCR-SR32 £254.82 with Tesco direct, deliv inc.

2- Sony DCR-SR52E £265 with Amazon.co.uk, deliv inc.

Both are very good cameras with reasonable price. The SR32 is more popular and more recommended to buy. Experts rank it 90 among other camcorders while the other ranks 126.

However, the screen size of the SR52E is 2.7 inches while the SR32 is 2.5 inches.

Good Luck with your choice.

Answer 5

i suggest canon hg10

Answer 6

Ignore the mad answers from idiots like at the top. Stick to your ambition like glue and you'll find a way. The camera is a tool to tell a story to have an effect, so whatever you use it will depend on the way you use it.

Now..on that budget of £280 I will give you some advice that you won't hear on these boards. That is...for that amount of money go on Ebay and look for some of the first Sony Digital 8 Handycams. and spend the rest on other gear. I have a few lying around my studio. They are big compared to today's miniDV cams  but they shoot good DV..and in some cases better. The big advantage you get is the weight. They are a lot easier to keep still. I have so many people coming into me looking for their tapes edited from their new tiny DV cams for a favour but generally all the footage is shaky to the point of unusable. I've given Digi8 cams to people to so many shoot and they get much better results. The later Digi8 Handycams weren't so good though as they cheapened and shrank them. I even used footage off those old cams sliced into broadcast projects too. See if you can find one of the early ones...the bigger the better. There is even a way of hot-wiring an external mic socket into them if you're brave. You could make a matte box for the front and it will look cool too. The lenses they had were great as well for what they were. They're a long way from what I use now (JVC HdPro/ DigiBeta) and I used to be a professional 35mm cameraman years ago. The best shorts I made with people..and the best stories..were shot on those cams to teach people cam work. You'll find a lot of the advice will be buy the newest and best today..not always true. Forget the hard drive for now...tape will do and you can archive them. Hard drives die more often that tape does...as I know only too well.

If you do get a bigger budget then more options will open up. Don't forget the story is the most important thing. If you just wanted a cam for your holidays etc then it all would be a different question altogether.

Hope this helps

Wishing you the best with your career

Answer 7

I have a Sony DCR-DVD Camcorder and it's just wonderful. I bought it here in the UK for £229.00 and it's a cool piece of equipment. Here are the specifications:

Product Description: Sony Handycam DCR DVD106E - camcorder - 3" DVD-R, 3" DVD-RW, 3" DVD+RW, 3" DVD-R DL

Product Type: Camcorder

Dimensions (WxDxH): 5.5 cm x 13.1 cm x 8.9 cm

Weight: 390 g

Media Type: 3" DVD-R, 3" DVD-RW, 3" DVD+RW, 3" DVD-R DL

Supported Flash Memory: Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo

Digital Storage Media: Mini DVD-R/-RW/+RW - removable

Effective Sensor Resolution: Video: 400 Kpix - Still: 0.3 Mpix

Shooting Modes: Digital photo mode

Lens Aperture: F/1.8-4.1

Focus Adjustment: Automatic, manual

Focal Length: 1.9 mm - 76 mm

Optical Zoom: 40 x

Digital Zoom: 2000 x

Image Stabiliser: Electronic (Super Steady Shot)

Microphone: Microphone - built-in - stereo

Viewfinder: Electronic - colour

Display: LCD display - 2.5" - colour

Supported Battery: 1 x Li-ion rechargeable battery ( included )

And good luck with the career in films - I am a frustrated screenwriter but I'll tell you it's a very difficult industry to break into. However, shoot your films and put them on YouTube.

Answer 8

I agree with Pontius... and the only other advice I'll give you is DO NOT BUY A DVD based camcorder...

Someone with good experience and skill can make great films from less than the best equipment. Someone with no experience or skill will produce poor films from the best, most expensive, equipment.

Answer 9

how about throw it in the bin

imagine yourself 50 yearsago you would have no such thing

bin it now i demand.