Question by dwntwnjim: What is a good camera for an aspiring filmmaker?
What is a good camera for someone starting out? I want to make my own movies and documentaries, but I don’t want it to look amateur.
Best answer:
Answer by Burtron5000
Well this question is not too easy to answer. Okay first off, I am an aspiring film maker myself in film school, so I know what you mean by the want for professionalism!! It really depends GREATLY on your budget. If you have 300 bucks to buy a camera and that is it, you will have to rely on you technical skills with lighting, manual camera functions etc. 300 bucks can buy you a small, 1 chip camera. 1 chip meaning 1CCD (charged coupled device). You may know this, maybe not, but in case you don’t, I’ll explain. The CCD is a very small chip that captures the image. In a cheap camera that costs around 300 bucks, you will get a one chip camera that gets decent results, but it just doesn’t look that great. Also, 1 chip cameras tend to lack the more presume manual functions and add on features (like hot shoe mounts for microphones, XLR adapters for high end mics, manual audio controls — notice how I talk about sound a lot. The picture is very important but sound is half the movie! Unless you plan to do post-sync sound manipulation in post-production all of the time or are into silent/experimental film making, then high end audio controls are nearly a must to get professional like results). Okay so now you’re are probably wondering what is next? Well, that is the 3 chip camera. The 3 chip uses 3 CCD’s that capture the basic color spectrum RGB (red, green, blue) over 3 chips. That is, 1 chip for red, 1 for green, and 1 for blue, instead of 1 chip for the whole thing. That makes a MUCH better picture and a MUCH better result. The only problem is, to get one of these babies, it will cost you. You can get a basic 3 chip for around 600-700 bucks, but it will lack the great features like the audio stuff stated before. If you have a high budget for a new camera, (which I tend to find that film makers never have enough money!!) then I would go with a much nicer 3 chip camera. You can end up spending 5000-10000 bucks on a 3 chip camera, and the more you spend, the better camera you will get, well, sort of. You can buy a very nice 3 chip camera that is 6000 bucks, and I would love the features and how it operates, but you may not. It takes a lot of research to find the right camera as well. Oh… and one more thing. There is 1 chip, for basic, mediocre picture and features, 3 chip for a much nicer picture and more advanced features, or…. An HDV camera. These often feature 1 chip, BUT, they are HD chips, which are MUCH!!! nicer than 1 chips in normal cameras. They feature many of the advanced features as 3 chips and then some. Cameras like the Canon XL-2 is a great 3 chip camera, but it has a brother, the Canon XL-HD1, which is a new addition to Canon’s pro line up of cameras, which cost around… 9000 bucks! It has some of the best features out there but the cost is so high! Sony has some very nice HDV cameras out there for 2500 to 4000 bucks that will do just fine for a student filmmaker. Honestly though, it takes A LOT of research. The only reason I know all of this is because of research. I would defiantly check out Sony’s camera page, Canon’s camera page, and Panasonic’s Camera page on the net. If you can afford it, DEFIANTLY go with a high end 3 chip or HDV camera. If not, then find legit reviews on line of cheaper 1 chip cameras and find the best one to suit your needs. I hope this helps!!!
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