Good Camcorder for begining filmmaker on a tight budget???

Question

I've got a low budget - I'm in high school and love making videos and short films and would like to get into filmmaking, so i want to buy a camcorder. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Either a Canon HG20 or a JVC Everio GZ HD7

Canon has better picture

Everio has better manual controls

Answer 2

CANON HV-20 hands down.  Great price right now because the HV-30 is almost here (very litte difference between 20 & 30).  Great quality video.  HDV is excellent for editing and making short films.  Use the savings on the HV-20 to buy extra battery, microphone, and lots of MiniDV tapes.

Answer 3

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

The video they capture (into VOB files) is highly compressed. The discs are a pain and the video quality for editing is terrible.

Best video quality continnues to be from miniDV tape based camcorders. Canon ZR800, ZR950, Panasonic PV-GS320, Sony DCR-HC29, HC96. You will need a Firewire400 port on your computer and a firewire cable - Firewire, i.Link and IEEE1394a are all the same thing.

If you have to, a hard drive based camcorder will do, but they are more expensive - and their video is not as good as miniDV tape - but the video transfer uses USB.

Check what the pros use - NONE use DVD camcorders. Nearly all use MiniDV Tape. You don't have to be a pro to use similar tools.

Answer 4

Sony Handycam.