Whats a good type camcorder to buy for someone interested in making amateur independent films?

Question

In particular I'm looking for one to use for school projects at the Masters level. Also what kind of laptop would you recommend for editing?

Answer 1

Things to look for in a good camcorder (other than the obvious like a lens and battery and stuff):

1) Best possible recording quality.

2) Mic-in jack (1/8" or XLR).

3) Manual audio control.

Some would also toss in Manual zoom, and manual exposure (iris) and other good "nice-to-haves"...

The least expensive models that have these capabilities are the Canon HV20 and HV30, Sony HDR-HC7 and HC9. These are consumer grade and can shoot DV and HDV onto miniDV tape. DV and HDV are the least compressed storage method which results in best available video quality.

Next step up are standard definition (DV only), there's the Canon GL2, XL2 and Sony DCR-VX2100, Panasonic DVX100B.

Next step up are DV and HDV:

Canon XHA1

Sony HDR-FX1, FX7, HVR-A1U, V1U, Z1U

Panasonic HVX200

There are a couple of new models out with each of these manufacturers, but the above are the current "usual suspects".

Once you think you have selected a camcorder, you should investigate microphones - depending on your requirements, you may want to get different typpes for different situations... and the connection you camcorder has, will help identify what kinds of mics you should consider, or if an adapter is necessary.

For editing, Laptops are typically not recommended because the internal drives generally spin at 5400rpm and are not generally very large - this is not a good environment for vido editing (especially if HDV is being edited)... a decent external drive will typically have a bigger buffer, spin at 7600rpm and I suggest you get something at least 250 gig (DV) or 500 gig (HDV) just for the video projects. DV will use ~14 gig of hard drive space per hour of imported video; HDV will use more than 44 gig of hard drive space per hour of imported video. Use the internal drive for applications and such...

This is not specific to laptops: If you go the MiniDV tape route (highly recommended), then the fastest CPU you can get your hands on, and at least 2-4 gig or RAM... and be sure the machine has at least 2 firewire 400 ports... or 1 firewire 400 port and 1 firewire 800 port.

You will connect a miniDV tape based camcorder with its DV port. This will connect to the computer's firewire 400 port (the other firewire port is for the external hard drive). TYPICALLY, this means a 4-pin to 6-pin firewire (IEEE1394a, i.Link - all the same thing) cable. Some of the "traditional" windows hardware manufacturers have opted to install a 4-pin port (so the firewire cable is 4-pin to 4-pin.

If you want my recommendation on a laptop to do this, I would suggest any of the Apple MacBook Pro portables - for more screen real-estate for ease of editing, you can connect an external monitor, It comes bundled with iMovie (though I suggest you take Apple up on their free download of iMovieHD 06 because the current version is not so flexible). Either version of iMovie will edit HDV (and DV). The bundle also includes iDVD. And if you want, you can move up to FinalCut Express or even FinalCut Pro - depending on your skill-set and other requirements. And the Apple educational discount is really good for hardware and software.

I do have both Macs and Windows machines - but I do all of my video editing (DV and HDV) on Apple Macintosh machines. It isn;t that the Windows machines can't do it - they can - I just find iMovie and FinalCut easier to use than the Windows alternatives... maybe it is just me...