Any camcorder / camera nerds here?

Rage9

Rage9

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Jan 7, 2008
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I'm looking to acquire some sort of digital photo and HD recording setup for a personal project of mine, and I'm looking for advice on where to start. I'm a total n00b with this stuff, and after a few hours of research I've come up with two courses:

Course #1:
A good Point and Shoot camera (say a Canon PowerShot S95 [ame=http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=s95&x=0&y=0]Amazon.com: s95: Electronics[/ame]
) and an HD Camcorder like a (Canon VIXIA HF M40 [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Canon-M40-Camcorder-Internal-Memory/dp/B004HW7E3I/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1326266013&sr=1-4]Amazon.com: Canon HFM4 Camcorder: Electronics[/ame])

Course #2:
A digital SLR, possibly a Canon EOS Rebel T3i [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Canon-T3i-Digital-Imaging-18-55mm/dp/B004J3V90Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1326255122&sr=8-3 or it\'s slightly bigger brother the Canon EOS 60D [url=http://www.amazon.com/Canon-60D-3-0-Inch-18-135mm-Standard/dp/B0040JHVC2/ref=cm_cmu_pg__header]Amazon.com: Canon EOS 60D 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD: Camera & Photo"]404 Looking for Something?[/ame] .

Course #1 is an easier out of the box experience, but probably will not overly wow. Can record at 60p which is a plus. Not sure how it compares to recording with a digital SLR.

Course #2 is going to take time to learn (not against learning). Can only record at 30p, 25p, 24p. However can put on new lenses, change settings, etc.. Wider range maybe to grow. All in one package. The 60D is really just a little bit more souped up Rebel T3i, not sure if it's really worth the extra few hundred bucks.

What I'm recording I may eventually want to put on a DVD, not sure if one course is really better than the other. However videos made will for surely end up on line, so on that aspect it probably doesn't really matter as they may end up getting shrunk down.

Also, is there any extra gear I should get? I'm planning a tri-pod, but not sure on lenses, filters, etc...
 


Hm, I'm not a huge expert any more so my info may be out of date but it depends on your requirements..

Will your subject be moving? If not and you're just going to be speaking into the camera or presenting to a whiteboard? If so, the SLR would probably be a good long term choice.

But SLR's kinda suck for anything moving as they only have manual focus and their image stabilisation is optimisted for still photos not video. I bought a canon 5d2 thinking I could do video, then immediately (ie. that night) ordered a panasonic HD camera the day it arrived. It's painful to use, unless you're shooting like you would a movie or short film - and then you would have a crew.

As you say, video quality won't matter much and for online but sound quality will be way more important so I would recommend that whatever option you go with, you get an external mic.

I have the S95, it's a great camera and also does video. You could always get it and try it out, sell it if you don't like it.

If you don't have a cameraman, you definately need a tripod. Apart from a polariser, filters aren't really necessary anymore as you can add everything in photoshop or after effects, etc. Depending in what stills you're shooting you will probably need an external flash.
 
What Dream said, SLR isn't the easiest thing to use for shooting video of any kind of moving subject because of the focusing. There are some people out these making brilliant movies on the likes of the 5D MKII, but they have add ons that turn the camera into a steady cam rig with focusing mechanisms.

I would go with option 1 if I were you at least for the video side of things, I think it'll be easier to master. You could always invest in a better stills camera than the point and shoot but that S95 will take nice photos. You might want to look at the S100 though, it's newer and a bit more versatile with a wider angle lens, 24mm vs the S95's 28mm and its zoom goes to 5x at 120mm instead of 3.8x at 105mm.

dpreview.com is a great place to research cameras if you don't already know it... Canon Cameras: Digital Photography Review
 
you don't need awesome camera for this, iphone quality is good. Or you can consider panasonic?
 
DSLR's require too much setup and extras to produce simple videos. The canon s95/s100 are really good camera's, but I'd also look at the panasonic lumix models especially if you need extra focal length for zooming to possibly avoid a separate camcorder. You could easily spend more on a decent tripod and fluid head if you want your video to look more professional, so keep that in mind with your budget. External mic input is definitely important.
 
DewChugr said:
iPhone. No, really. They used it to shoot part of the Avengers film.
Click to expand...

At first I didn't believe you, I didn't think a cell phone could get that great of resolution. But then went out and looked at some comparisons. Pretty decent quality actually. But I hate both Apple and the iPhone, plus you're stuck with the storage size you get. So... fuck that noise.
 
Rage9 said:
At first I didn't believe you, I didn't think a cell phone could get that great of resolution. But then went out and looked at some comparisons. Pretty decent quality actually. But I hate both Apple and the iPhone, plus you're stuck with the storage size you get. So... fuck that noise.
Click to expand...

I can't believe you didn't believe me. :(
 
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