New Filmmaker - Please Help - Need Advice And Info

[Roxen]

Hey there Im a amateur film maker and for the past year or 2 ive been using a cheap 300 dollar (aus dollar) camera and am looking to buy a higher quality camera n such.

Im just trying to experiment more with film making. Im still in school so i won't be doing any hardcore feature legnth films but I want to do some decent shorts and things....

Im not a big camera buff. I know some things tho. What Im looking for is a decent quality camera, sd card/ hard drive thing; something I can easily transfer to a computer. decent optical zoom... not sure about the ccd tho (not entirely sure what that is =S) also picture taking would be good and something that copes well with low lighting.

My budget is about 800 - 1200 dollars Australian. About 700 - 1000 american dollars. Please let me know your opinions and thoughts, I need help with this.

-Alex

 

[directedition]

Well, there are some things you should know about CCDs when shopping.

The first most important number relates to size. The smaller the CCD, the less light that hits it, the lower the quality of the image. For instance, a 1/2" CCD camera will get far superior image quality to a 1/4" CCD camera.

Also important is the number of pixels on the sensor. More pixels means (idealy) a sharper image. But there's a trade-off here. A greater density of pixels on the sensor means less light hits each individual pixel (since the pixels have a smaller surface area). What that means to you is more pixels = worse low-light performance. You'll have to figure out for yourself where you're comfortable in the noise/sharpness balance.

A 3CCD camera will, in general, get better performance than a 1-chip camera. But don't think that all 1-chip cameras are crap. In fact, most every digital theater camera in production is single-chip.

 

[Roxen]

Well, there are some things you should know about CCDs when shopping.

The first most important number relates to size. The smaller the CCD, the less light that hits it, the lower the quality of the image. For instance, a 1/2" CCD camera will get far superior image quality to a 1/4" CCD camera.

Also important is the number of pixels on the sensor. More pixels means (idealy) a sharper image. But there's a trade-off here. A greater density of pixels on the sensor means less light hits each individual pixel (since the pixels have a smaller surface area). What that means to you is more pixels = worse low-light performance. You'll have to figure out for yourself where you're comfortable in the noise/sharpness balance.

A 3CCD camera will, in general, get better performance than a 1-chip camera. But don't think that all 1-chip cameras are bad. In fact, most every digital theater camera in production is single-chip.

Thanks man, I have a clearer understanding of ccd n pixels now so in your personal opinion, do you reccomend any cameras in my price range? Or maybe a few?

 

[Roxen]

*bump* any1 got a model?

 

[lany fel]

a suggestion

a suggestion

Hello Roxen,

i am an aspiring filmmaker like yourself. I dont know a tremendous amount about cameras, but I might be able to offer you some suggestions.

since your price range is from 700 - 1000 american dollars, you will be more limited in terms of the quality of the cameras, and you will have to make compromises.

If you feel that you must use 3CCD for your project, the prosumer/professional cameras with 3CCD are beyond that price range. However, Panasonic makes several good affordable 3CCD consumer camera models that are worth looking into.

If buying a 3-chip camera is not that essential for you, I know that Panasonic makes a prosumer camera called "Proline" that is one chip, but still delivers in terms of vividness of color, and is made to rest on your shoulder so that your images are steady. Panasonic also has a Proline that is 3CCD between 1,000 and 2,000 american dollars.

hope this was of some help to you.

lany

 

[pigeo000]

honestly look into getting a gl1 or gl2 on ebay used... you maybe lucky to find one for the lower 1000-2000 dollar range... cant argue the quality of those cameras.