New Cam for an old newbie

Mani wrote on 2/3/2005, 7:41 AM
Hello all, I’m new to this group and video editing in general. I run an audio recording studio in NB, Canada and have been doing digital audio recording/editing since 96. Lately, I’ve been thinking of adding video to my services. I could start off by offering enhanced CD type services to my recording clients and eventually perhaps film in studio videos of the rec sessions combined with location shoots and compile these to DVD for local sale. No one is doing this kinda thing in the area and I am convinced it could work as long as it doesn’t cost me too much to get setup. I already have a good PC that I think would do the job for now but what I don’t have is a good camera. What would be a good/reliable DV Cam for this kind of application? Anyone know of a good video equipment distributor in Canada?

Thanks in advance

Rob A
www.studiomanitou.com

Comments

boomhower wrote on 2/3/2005, 9:03 AM
Welcome to the forum!! This is a great place to pick up valuable info.

You just opened the "can-o-worms" since there are as many opinions about cameras as there are members of the forum :-) The good news is, once you determine exactly what you are looking for in the end product, the choices narrow a bit. For example, do you want native 16:9 etc....

Personally, I spent a lot of time deciding and finally went with the PD170 from Sony. I liked the fact it already had the XLR onboard and it came with a wide angle lens/hood etc (plus a nice rebate). I wasn't looking for the "film" look so much since most of my stuff is documentary/corp style projects. (Just did a behind the scenes for an animated series and it worked great....An associate who uses Canon XL was impressed with the quality) Besides, if I want a film look, I can play around with it in post using plugins etc.

Prices will vary a bit, the range for 3 chips is roughly $2000 and up ($2000 for GL2 type maybe a bit less if the rebate is still going). My 170 was about 2800 after rebate and the new HD cams are in the $4800 range (US).

Best advice I can give you is to figure out what you NEED the camera to do and go with the best camera that fits that need. I started out looking at the GL2 but by the time I added everthing to it to get it where I wanted it, it was just as expensive as the 170 which (in my opinion) is a little bit better camera overall. Lots of folks tried to get me to go with a DVX etc but the 170 fit my current needs. Hope that makes sense and I'm not rambling here......

I know there are some Canadian members so hopefully one of them will chime in with info on dealers.

Good Luck and welcome aboard.....

K

EDIT: for what it's worth....some of the behind the scenes footage I mentioned was filmed in a recording studio while the voice actors delivered lines etc.....
Lili wrote on 2/3/2005, 10:36 AM
Bought my PD 170 in Toronto and love it for all the reasons listed in previous post, and then some. However, with regards to price, in Canada you will likely pay around $4800.00 (plus applicable taxes), except for Montreal, where it costs a bit less. I'm guessing it would be around the same price in Vancouver as in TO.
logiquem wrote on 2/3/2005, 1:14 PM
The Pana DVX100a is also a serious contender for that. Very, very easy to use , good mic preamp for a camcorder, and the cabability to go progressive if desired, wich is a definite plus if your artists prefer a more filmic look (probably more in tune with general videoclip esthetic btw...).
busterkeaton wrote on 2/3/2005, 3:08 PM
What's your budget? It's going to be easier to narrow down the candidates

Mani wrote on 2/4/2005, 5:00 AM
Thanks for the very warm welcome guys. The intended use of this cam would be music video footage in my studio for starters and then go from there. As for $, I would like to stay below 4000$ Canadian if possible. I suppose there is other equipment such as lens and tripod that are necessary?

Rob
logiquem wrote on 2/4/2005, 6:11 AM
A correct basic tripod i use with the DVD the Manfrotto is the 055C / 501 head combinaison. Don't go cheaper than that.

Speaking of cheaper, i would say: avoid any camcorder with non balanced mic inputs. You will soon regret it, cause you will rapidly have to buy clumpsy adaptors. I would say that the choice is narrowed between DVX100a / PD170. Maybe you could get slightly used /demo of the previous DVX100 or PD150 ?

From my personnal experience with the DVX100, you could very well live with the stock lens alone at first in common situations, cause it has a sufficiently large wide angle aperture. You could later add a polarised Tiffen filter or a wide angle adaptor to cope with special situations. A Tiffen UV add on filter is also a good idea to pretect your costly stock lens (the cost is negligeable).

Don't forget also to plan some lighting equipement. A couple of Lowell units with umbrellas or alike for beginning...
beatnik wrote on 2/4/2005, 8:36 AM
I have a sony pd-150 and a sony dsr-250 for sale. I am in Toronto. The cameras were rarely used. I bought 3 cameras thinking I was going to be doing a lot of "multi-camera" shoots. Ended up doing NONE!

email me at amorias@sympatico.ca for more details. I am also giving away
all the extra batteries and chargers I bought for them.

Regards,


Alex Morias
Toronto, Canada.
busterkeaton wrote on 2/4/2005, 12:02 PM
In that price range only the Canon XL series allows for switching lenses. So you don't have to worry about that. A good tripod definitely improves the quality of the stuff you shoot.

As for sound, it most cases you are probably going to be using the music from the board and not from the camera.

If you want to record behind the scenes stuff, you may need it from the camera, but I'm guessing anytime you are going to be videoing, you will probably have the other mics recording.

You may want to consider a lighting package. You would want something that doesn't get in the way of the performers and is not too hot. As an audio, I suspect this is something you would have to learn. For music I would lean torwards dramatic shafts of light with a lot pools of darkness/shadows.

For what you are doing, you can probably get tremendous value by used gear. The Sony PD-150 is a really nice cam with excellent low light capability.