Tell me something...

[thr]

Hello
I am majoring in film studies right now, and i love making different type of film, and as my course is more theoretical, the logistic and or the technical side of the hardware has always been more of a puzzle to me.

Lately I was considering to buy a Canon Hg21, had good reviews, had what I wanted (esp. external mic input) looked at test footage on youtube and was satisfied.

This camera is 1100 Canadian dollars where I am.

I was looking around on ebay and I realized that I can get a prosumer camera for 1500-2000 (used, but often with lenses and etc), and was wondering if it's worth to save the money.

I was considering a Panasonic dvx-1000, I looked at the test footage and didn't really like it, I love to get the "film look" the canon had a better film look, despite the fact that the panasonic boasted of a "cinegamma" mode where the footage looked like film.

I obviously like the XLR inputs and the 3 CCD chip, but is the gap between consumer and prosumer closing? I was watchin a video the other day, and the footage looked regular, and then found out it was shot by a canon GL2.

What is the difference between the hg21 and the panasonic dvx 100?

Should we all just get any camera that can shoot 24p and build a vibrating DOF adapter and fool everyone? the picture looks excellent to me

I should probably mention why I'm buying the camera. I am planning to shoot a documentary in the coming two years, and since I'm a film major, who is eventually going to take film production courses, I'm going to do quite a lot of filming in the next 5-6 years before I get a new camera.

Give me your thoughts on this please.
Sorry for the ranting and thanks for your time.

thr

edit: I use a mac.

[A n d r e w]

The DVX and the HG21 are totally different beasts: for one thing, they use different standards (the DVX records standard defintion video, the HG21 is high definition). The DVX has a far greater range of manual controls over exposure, white balance, audio, and focusing, and is (was) designed with the "prosumer" in mind - i.e., someone like you, a video enthusiast who wants pretty much full control over their pictures. The HG21 is designed for the amateur point-and-shooter, i.e. the home video maker.

If you are serious about video production, you should get the DVX or an equivalent camcorder. Anything "consumer" like the HG21 isn't going to give you room to grow. Sure, the pictures are astounding, but if you're studying video production then it's only a matter of time (a short time, at that) before your knowledge exceeds the hardware's ability to allow you to experiment and push yourself.

Andrew.

[thr]

Thanks for your input, I was also leaning more towards the prosumer because you can build on it. Also, during a documentary, people tend to take you more serious if you are not just standing there with a camcorder smaller than your hand.

I was looking at the hvx-200, they are the HD models. May I ask which prosumer camcorder would you recommend under 2500 dollars US (used)?

I also love the look of the "film", so DOF adapters are very tempting, but then payin 3k for a camera and then buying redrock for another 1k seems pointless to me. if you just get a jvc everio or a canon hf100 and use a DOF adapter, you still get the same picture.

[ade4all]

As Andrew said get something like the dvx with manual controls - in my opinion it has the best looking progressive 'film' like image you can get in std def, otherwise you need to decide if you want a hi def camera - if so then in your budget you could get a 2nd hand canon xha1 which has good manual control & shooots progressive, or if you are really lucky a slightly used panasonic hmc150 which gives the same image as the hvx200 you mentioned but uses avchd. You won't be able to get a hvx for that money, or at least not be able to also cover the cost of the p2 cards it shoots hi def on

[thr]

Thanks for your input.

P2 card is also an issue, a 16GB is like 800 bucks. that's like another camera.

Also, the Panasonic HMC150 is not natively supported in FCP i think, you have to convert it.

Are there any other cameras that come to mind within this price range? (considering I use a Mac)
What do you guys think about DOF adapters?

thr