Teenager in Video Production Class « Videomaker Community Forums

quicksilver8907
Member

I am currently a junior in high school and I want to major in teledramatic arts when I graduate. Next year I am taking a video production class at school. THe only camcorder my family has right now is an old vhs-c and it sucks. My parents said we might be able to split the cost of a new digital camcorder. I was thinking mini-dv. What would be a good camcorder to get? Is Zoom Microphone really that helpful or should i not worry about it? Thanks for the input.

Posted 6 years ago #
alohrey
Member

what kind of money are you working with? $300 or $3000 that is the most important thing we need to know to help answer any of your questions.
later
~Adam

Posted 6 years ago #
quicksilver8907
Member

About 300-500

Posted 6 years ago #
alohrey
Member

Ok, so you are looking at getting a single chip minidv standard definition camera. You should go to http://www.bhphotovideo.com and do a consumer camcorder search and sort by price. I personally recommend going with sony or canon in that price range a panasonic might be good to give you some of the good features. Typically the more money you can spend the more features are offered. Do not get a mini DVD camcorder, not good for editing! Here are some great features if you can afford to get them: A larger ccd (chip) gets better image quality. so a 1/3inch chip is better than a 1/4inch chip, which is better than a 1/5inch chip. Audio inputs are great, that way you can use any mic that you choose. Zoom mic is not that cool of a thing. Last thing to keep in mind, digital zoom is stupid... digital zoom degrades picture quality, the only zoom that matters is optical zoom. Hope that helps..
Later
~Adam

Posted 6 years ago #
quicksilver8907
Member

Thanks Adam
I can get a Canon zr100 for about 140 dollars would that be a good buy or should i spend a little more?
thanks and my aim is qckslvr8097 so when your on next send me a message

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

The lower priced camcorders handle contrast and color saturation poorly. Get the best you can afford. Previous poster is right on about everything.

Posted 6 years ago #
quicksilver8907
Member

But would the canon zr100 be a good starter camera cuz i dont have much money to spend

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

Most of us rarely get everything we want in an expensive piece of equipment, it's always a compromose between quality & features and price.

Reviews on this cam say that the manual controls are not easily available. That is not a good thing. It has a 1/6th inch CCD, also not great. I didn't notice whether it had external mic jack or not, but that is pretty much a "gotta-have".

I was in a similiar situation when I was in the eighth grade and wanted a Yashica 2 1/4 twin-lens reflex camera and new enlarger. I took the family mower and went out and landed half a dozen mowing jobs to do each week. After a couple of months, I had my new equipment.

The good news, is that you can do better than this camera. The bad news is that you may have to work and wait for it. By the way, you will find this to be a recurring theme throughout life.

I shot my first "videos" with a Kodak Brownie 8mm movie camera. I don't think I ever noticed the poor quality - I just enjoyed the creativity of it all and learned to edit those movie clips into actual stories. So, maybe you don't need to worry that much about camera features and quality. These are decisions you will have to make and live with.

Good luck to you!

Posted 6 years ago #
quicksilver8907
Member

What does changing the lense do on digital video cameras? Can you change a lense on any digital video camera? Cuz I decided I want one where you can change the lense and add filters?

Posted 6 years ago #