Film making has come a long way from the invention of the first video camera and the discovery of persistence of vision. We've moved long past the Zoetrope and Praxinoscope and are now into the digital age of film making. Prosumer to professional, These five cameras are solid pieces of equipment to make your next film look great.
Canon GL-2
Street Price $800-1000
This little puppy shoot great video, is easy to use and has 3CCD chip for best picture. The great thing about this camera is it's ability to control the picture output, which doesn't mean Sepia or Black and White, but actual shifting of the way the camera sees and records the light. The camera is also sturdy, smaller and great for travel.
Canon HV20/30
Street Price $600-800
If HD is a must but the HVX200 is out of the question, the HV20 and HV30 are great cameras. They look like a camera dad would record his children's sports on, but in all actuality they have an outstanding number of manual adjustments, including focus, which is a must if you plan on doing any serious film making. The picture on them is outstanding as well. The HV20/30 can record in 24 FPS (Frames Per Second) which is necessary if you plan on having your footage look as “film like” as possible. My only complaint is battery life, where the more expensive cameras have larger battery packs and longer battery life. Nevertheless, it's great looking HD under $1000.
Panasonic DVX-100
Street Price $1500-2200
This camera revolutionized film making. What it did was allow users to record in 24P, shooting 24 Frames a Second progressively instead of 60i which is 60 interlaced frames displaying alternating “fields.” (You can learn more about this through a quick google search) This camera allows the user to adjust Gamma Curve, Knee, and many other image controlling abilities. There is also the ability to set up and save particular scene files for different types of shooting. This is a great work horse camera, I have one and use it constantly.
Panasonic HVX-200
Street Price $3800-4500
This is the DVX-100's big brother. But in High Definition. The HVX200 can record onto MiniDV tapes as well, but encoding a higher resolution of 720p, or it can record on the groundbreaking P2 storage cards, ranging from 4GB to 32GB in one of it's two memory card bays. Many of the features of the DVX remained, with minor tweaks to accommodate HD. With the ability to go tapeless, you are not only saving time shooting or worrying about breaking a tape drive or cleaning camera heads, but you save countless hours in the editing room.
Red Scarlet
Street Price $3000?
Red One revolutionized HD cameras yet again with the release of a camera that can shoot 4k. This amount of quality is four times what a full HD 1080p T.V. can show. The real benefit in this case is that you can film and transfer your digital video to film and have it blown up in theaters and look outstanding. The Red Scarlet is promising under $3000 and the ability to shoot 3000 lines of resolution. This would flip the technology on it's head because normally cameras with power like this are over fifty thousand dollars! Stay informed on Red's website Red.com for release dates.
This is a beginning guide to outline some cameras, if you wish to find more out about any of these cameras a quick search on the internet will leave you with more information than you could ever need. I would recommend dvxuser.com as great forum and community of independent film makers to share your experience and questions with.
Check out my other post and on going segment on cheap Indy Film Making!
