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Please answer! What DV camera should I get?
I'm an aspiring film maker and my last camera was a $200 failure. It was a Mini DV Panasonic about two years old and it had a hard time connecting to the computer: It wouldn't show up! After switching the firewire, trying different computers, and finally calling customer support, we gave up. The computers simply didn't recognize it!
So we're getting a new DV camera, and I need advice. What camera should I get? I don't want to make the same mistake like before, and I would love to stay under $500. Any help out there?
Thank you, Yahoo Answers community! Your help is really appreciated by a confused buyer. God bless you!
I meant DV Camcorder*
Any answers please? I really need help from people who know what they're doing!
What about a Sony MiniDV Handycam Camcorder?
Oh, come on people!
1 Answer
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
As an aspiring film maker and experienced videographer, it's really hard to find something that has attractive features for under $500. Did some checking around and narrowed down to three cams, that have a lot of manual control (shutter, iris, gain, focus), but are not without their faults.
Two main ones (because they're below 500) are the panasonic PV-GS300, and the Sony DCR-HC96. The Panasonic is attractive because of the manual features it brings to the table. The two main draw backs are that it's low light performance was bad, and the manual focus was also pretty bad.
The Sony cam performed better in low light and seemed to offer the same manual controls, but that had to be accessed via touch screen. For myself, this would be very annoying trying to make adjustments to the focus by having to press the view finder rather than being able to turn a dial.
The best one close to the $500 mark was the Panasonic PV-GS500. Outperformed the other two in lowlight, has an actual ring for focusing and is on sale used at B&Hphoto for $600. Shipping is about $12 for UPS I think. Don't know how you prefer making your movies, but this one will give you the most ergonomic control.
If you can save up another $200 then you can afford the new Canon HV20 HD cam. It is what I'm currently shooting with, and I bought it when it was $950. It's at B&H for $700 now with free shipping. It also has 24p and other cinematic features.
I particularly strive to make the quality of what I shoot as close to film as possible. I've noticed that shooting with a shutter speed of 30 helps, but now that I have the HV20, it offers progressive scanning which goes a long way to achieving the film look.
These are just some suggestions. I like as much control as possible at my fingertips to get the shot I want. If you're the same, then those are the best to find (for right now) in your price range. Check out the links below for more info. camcorderinfo.com is the best place I know to research consumer cams. Their reviews are thorough and informative.
Wish you the best of luck.
