I want to create a high quality film with a digital camera...?

Question

And I have no idea what camera to get! I have tried asking a question similar to this yesterday, and recieved little help, so I'm putting this one in a different catagory.

Anyway, should I go with one that records to DV tape or a hard drive? I heard the tape ones generate a soft sound that is picked up by the microphone. Is this true? Because I really don't want that in the background...

And, for a film of professional quality (won't look bad on the average televison screen... or for that matter, a movie-theater screen), how many megapixals should I get? I hate how movies made with most cameras begin to become blurry when displayed at such a size.

And one last thing: I don't want something too expensive. It should be in the under 1000 dollar price range.

Thank you, and I apoligize for the long question!

Answer 1

I'm no expert with video cameras but some of these questions are just silly.

I shoot mini-DV and notice no such hiss. The sound may be c**p with consumer cams, but if you're not a big fan of audio distortion buy a nice digital voice recorder and mic and sync it up in PP, or plug it directly into the camera to replace it as the main mic. (many consumer and prosumer camcorders have the jack).

There's a HUGE difference between making videos for an average television screen and a theater. You won't find any movie sets with consumer camcorders. With a $1,000 budget, you won't be making any huge production picture anytime soon. Semi-pro equipment goes upwards of 3x that.

Start small and work your way up. Nearly any dedicated camcorder would work fine for a regular TV. High definition camcorders (almost all use hard drives, but not all not all hard drive camcorders are HD) would make nice videos for HDTVs.

Answer 2

most canon cameras will have just enough megal pixels and will be cheap

around 400 to 800

Answer 3

I got a Canon Powershot A630 that has amazing recording abilities, maybe you should look into it. :)

It was 300 dollars when I bought it last year, btw, so I think thats pretty good.

Answer 4

Maybe this will help:

Which Digital Video Camera Should You Buy?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Real camcorders are not usually measured in megapixels. That is typically reserved for still cameras.

I like miniDV tape based camcorders because they provide the best available video quality in standard definition and high definition. This is because DV and HDV compress less than any of the other formats and the tapes are automatically the archived video. MiniDV tapes are small, easy to carry or store and have a good shelf-life for long term storage.

DVD based camcorders record the WORST possible video quality of all the consumer camcorder media available - especially for moving to a computer for editing. The video data stream is compressed way more than the others. Video data compression = lost data = poor video quality.

Hard drive (HDD) or flash (but not the toy flip cams like AipTek) are in between miniDV tape and DVD based camcorders - though definitely closer to miniDV tape quality... they compress a lot, too - but not as much as DVD based camcorders. I don't like the extra step of having to copy the original video somewhere for archiving (to another hard drive or optical disc) - as I said with miniDV tape: what you shoot IS the archive. The Flash memory cameras with removable memory seem pretty neat, but the flash memory shelf lif is unknown, and it is still way more expensive than an equivalent amount of miniDV tape storage.

With your budget, the closest you will get will be in the Canon HV20, HV30, Sony HDR-HC7 and HC9 camcorders... but just so you understand what else is out there (there are more, but this is what I usually see)...

In the consumer/prosumer/pro environment:

Canon GL2 (SD only), XL2 (SD only), XHA1

Sony HDR-FX1, FX7, HVR-A1U, V1U, Z1U (all SD & HD)

Panasonic DVX100B (SD only); HVX200 (SD & HD)

There are new cameras coming out all the time, but for the most part, serious videographers are generally in this ballpark. They generally do not use internal hard drive based camcorders. Sometimes they use an external hard drive like those from Firestore because they save in DV and HDV format.

Big-screen movie cameras are VERY different... Examples:

http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBus...

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs...

And many times, they use film - not digital tape, like...

http://www.arri.com/entry/products.htm

... and the audio is recorded to separate audio-specific equipment.

"What?" was correct on the external mic recommendation. The four cameras listed (Canon HV20, HV30, Sony HDR-HC7 and HC9) all have mic-in jacks - the built-in mics typically won't do what you want. The other thing you need to do is use the manual audio control. The reported "noise" from tape, hard drive or any other mechanism is generally heard when there is little or no audio to be picked up by the internal mics - then the automatic audio gain circuit kicks in - and motor noise from the motor that is about 2 inches away from the internal mic will be heard. If you use manual audio control, the auto gain does not kick in... and if you use an external mic, the mic is no longer 2 inches away from the motor...

Since the Canon HV20, HV30, Sony HDR-HC7 and HC9 have only a 1/8" (3.5mm) mic in jack and the good mics typically use XLR connectors, you will want to investigate and XLR adapter like the one BeachTek makes.

Audio, lighting, makeup, script, camera angles, music, sound design, and a whole bunch of other stuff goes into making movies... starting small is the other GREAT suggestion from "What?"...

Answer 6

Here is a great one!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/outlawyr/46...