Time to buy a camera

[Hyde]

Birthday next sunday, I only want to spend around £150.

Cheers.

[salvador]

Personally, I dont think I'd bother if you can only afford £150. I spent £400 on a miniDV camera a few years ago and wish I hadnt bothered cos the quality just isnt good enough. But like I say depends on what you are looking for and what you want to make.

[Dazza]

Hi Hyde

If you wanna make films the standard of your camera shouldnt stop you, its like this if you have a top camera and a shit film idea the film is gonna be shit. If you have a camera that is just ok and a good film idea, people will still watch your film.

I made almost all of my films on a cheap Sony Handycam, my new one cost me £120 off ebay and was brand new boxed and sealed and that included the delivery. What I found though the heavier camera you can get then the better it sits on the tripod, stiller you can hold it etc, becuase my new camera is a little smaller and lighter than my old one but my old one was easier to use handheld.

Basically if you look at youtube the video quality when you are watching films people have made and put on there are more or less the same if you had used a cheap camera or an expensieve one.

I made all my films that you have seen on a budget camera so far because it was all I can afford to use at the moment. The only downside you will find is the sound, firstly you get a quiet whirl sound when using a built in microphone instead of a boom microphone and secondly you have to be fairly near the camera in a shot to get the best sound.

That last film I made about war and PTS was made on a budget camera and has had great reviews and my latest film which I think you will like was made on the same, the only reason I havent uploaded my new film yet is I'm trying to get the sound quality right.

The other thing to bear in mind is your editing software, now i would recomend you use something like sonic vegas (have a look on ebay under software you can pick it up cheap) basically its easy to use and good video quality software, after you have uploaded your footage you just drag and drop, shorten, etc. You can then add your effects like make it black and white or whatever and then add the titles and credits and turn it into a file you can upload or burn to DVD.

Hope this has helped :-)

[Dave]

I agree with Dazzab. A regular domestic camera will do just fine, as long as you can get the shot footage into an editing package.

There really is no point in blowing huge sums of money on a camera when it is your first one, and like Dazzab says, if your ideas are sound, then it doesn't really matter! If you are indeed a new film-making genius, then people will be able to spot it if you make a film on a £150 camera or a £1000 camera.

[shanemeadows]

I've seen the old panasonic 3 CCD cameras going on ebay for £200. I made some of my early shorts on those, the Dx100 and Dx110's are great little cameras and are also great in lowlight. Personally, I would rather have a 7 year old 3 chip camera than a bottom of the range modern DV camera. The older camera's were much better equiped with firewire in and out, mic inputs and audio controls. Nowadays, you have to pay through the nose for them gubbins.

Also, the dx's have a frame mode built into them which gives your shot's that filmic look 'off the bat!' If you want to see a film I made on a DX110, check out 'The Man with no name' on Shane's world. But put some money aside for a half decent stereo mic as built in mics are always total shite. No point having great images with pap sound!

[Hyde]

Thans for all the advice! Much appreciated, I guess I can get round the sound issue, as I see you have Dazz mate.

Shane sterio mic? whats that haha. Might be an idea.

another thing you know the bit the mouse plug goes in? well I have two slots there on my laptop for something to be plugged in, is that the standard way for a camera to be plugged in?

edit: Shane mate could you maybe link me? I cant find them anywhere, its all over the thousands and shipped from china haha, what you said makes a lot of sense, its prob better to pay that bit extra if its better in the long run. And you right about having to pay for the little extras I never buy anything out of Curry's or places like that cause there money hungry bastards there only nice to you cause they want to sell you something and they make everything sound great then you take it home and its shit. wankers.

edit: is this any good? cgi.ebay.co.uk/JVC-Digital-Video-Camera-DX100_W0QQitemZ190013891638QQihZ009QQcategoryZ20333QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

it says its usb, its JVC though I forgot to put in panasonic but look at that price!

edit: Dazz could you find me the same one you have on ebay? that way I can play it safe you know, how do you plug that one into your laptop?

cheers.

[wiggy]

hello hyde, the summer sales are on at the moment so you can still pick up a bargain at your major chains, i would try to get one that has dv in/out and buy a cheap firewire card for your pc so that you can easily get footage to and from your camera, most handy cams don't film well in poor light so always bare this in mind, use a bit of lighting to help with this, i have a very good 7 million candle power head light which i got from work and it works a treat positioned in places to create shadows and light up the subject matter etc. dazza is right, if you have the imagination then you can film on anything, even on your phone.

[jtrodreigez]

I know we have been through this before but you guys seem to know your stuff on cams so can we try and get a list going of good cheap cameras people have used and maybe a little info or rating thingy. Its just there are so many on the market and even with you lot trying to help when i look at the specs i have no idea what i need to get. Also if anyone on the site has second hand equip to sell then maybe they could post it up here. Im pretty much in hydes position of wanting to get a cam but have limited cash but i know if the picture quality isnt good enough no matter how well written or shot my film is i will not be happy so id rather go for something in the middle giving better quality. Also i dont want to buy another cam till i have mastered everything and think i can really make a proper film so this cam will have to last me a while if not forever.

[Dave]

Yes! Firewire is the best! USB will invariably lead to hours of trying to get the capture to work without resulting in choppy footage and dropped frames and depending on your computer, it may never work properly through USB.

The similar socket next to the mouse socket is probably a socket for a keyboard!

[Dazza]

Hi Hyde

Sure the video camera I have is a Sony TRV265E, which is similar to this one:

cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-New-Unopened-Sony-DCR-TRV270E-Digital-8-Camcorder_W0QQitemZ160013218087QQihZ006QQcategoryZ96996QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Whatever you buy make sure it has either USB or FIREWIRE on!

I have no fire wire on my laptop or on my camera so I have to use USB to get from the camera to the laptop.

You can see an example of what I made with the camera here mate:



IF YOU DO GO FOR SONY MODEL MAKE SURE YOU BUY A DIGITAL 8 AND NOT A HI-8 MODEL. If you are unsure before you buy something just ask one of us on here to give it a quick look over mate.

Once you have a camera as long as it’s a Windows laptop you have and not a Mac then P.M me with your address and I’ll see if I can get a copy on CD of Vegas software and a keygen posted to you.

[RydCook]

hey peeps, i've said alot about camera's before, havn't got much time tonight i'll keep it brief. i agree with all that say you can make an awesme film with a shoddy camera, if your idea is good, your film will be good simple as. you can even utalize the quality, and make it an actual feature of the film.

i reccomend Canon Cameras, aaand an Apple Mac Computer and a firewire for the least hassle. but thats just my taste, all the other suggesttions sound good here too, this combo just works best for me.

i'd reccomend getting a cheap camera, and then work your way up as you go along. shane idea of getting an old decent camera is a goodun, which i'd have thought of that.

shane, "The Man With No Name" is my favourite short of yours! it's brilliant, and the filmey effect is sure good actually, woo for that.

anyway good luck with gettin your camera hyde mate.

[Hyde]

admin said:

Yes! Firewire is the best! USB will invariably lead to hours of trying to get the capture to work without resulting in choppy footage and dropped frames and depending on your computer, it may never work properly through USB.

The similar socket next to the mouse socket is probably a socket for a keyboard!

Haha yeah but bare in mind this is a laptop, I'll take a picture of the back of my laptop and you's can tell me where the USB cable would go? I'm rubbish with all this haha.

I hope it does work, that would be horrible, but with my luck it might happen

Cant thank you all enough for the help. Dazz I see that camera's gone sold, I would have bought it.

[Dave]

Right..... be warned that the following logic makes no sense! ;D

From my own personal point of view, I really enjoy seeing something that looks amateurish in it's visual style. For me, it makes me sit up and think, "Someone without access to all the bells and whistles has gone out and made something, and the lackof swanky kit hasn't stopped them! Nice one!".
There's something about such films that make me pay a bit more attention than something from an amateur film-maker that looks highly polished.

When I see a short film from an amateur that is highly polished visually, it makes any story telling errors or ropey dialogue stand out like a sore thumb.... and in turn makes me think that the project was probably made by someone obsessed with having all the swankiest kit on the market, yet without the talent to back it up.
Obviously I maybe completely wrong about that more often than not... but in my head it makes some kind of sense.

When you get story telling errors or bad dialogue in the amteurish looking films, it doesn't slap the viewer so harshly in the face as their expectations are probably lower. I think this makes it an ideal medium to test the waters and find out what you're good at.

[Hyde]

Yeah spot on mate, it really gives people like us a chance doesnt it. I reckon my short movie is gonna be sweet. I have two written. One heavy with dialogue and one not.

Dazz was it easy to do narrations for your film? I might just stick some masks on the characters and film them then put the voices in. Sounds crazy I know, but it would work.

and Dave one film where I think all the technical jarble worked was Irreversible which I saw two days ago. Its my new favourite film (I havnt said that since I saw Dead Mans Shoes, and I saw that when it first came out)

[Dazza]

Lol Irreversible is really f**ked up I have a copy upstairs, the film is really brutal without saying too much to spoil it for anyone the fire extinguisher and the subway scenes. I found it hard going because of the subtitles and the film being end first and beginning last but a great kind of idea and very shocking. I also think for an older women Monica Belusi is absolutely stunning.

RIGHT NARRATIONS, well when I did that Bringing War Home the narration and mike worked ok and good enough for what I wanted, but I have just made a new film and it does feature some narration in it and its being a complete nightmare, because I have three different sound areas I have the Narration, the actor speaking in certain parts directly and recorded to the camera and also a piece of music playing in some parts of the film to give it an edge and the sound levels are all over the place. I am going to have to do the narration bits again today, what my mate explained yesterday was to hold a piece of card in front of the mike when speaking as at the moment you can also hear like when I breathe and its making the sound crap but he said the card would catch the breathing.

In this new film I have tried some new styles, some camera shots freestyle without the tripod, some close ups and I have a great piece when the guy gets beaten up that I think works brilliantly.

When you make your film just try allsorts Hyde you could put the masks on and then use the mike to narrate and see how it comes up.

I agree with what Dave says in the post, it does make sense and he’s right about watching other film makers work, I like to see what guys or girls for that matter are doing without any budgets and stuff, I have seen some stuff that was amateur and I thought was better than some short films on budget. That film we were all talking about the other month scummy man, I have seen some better shorts that had a better story and were made on a zero budget.