Buying Camera...need help with purchase

[Lawless420]

Ok time is of the essence, tomorrow morning I'll be heading to Best Buy to buy a new camera. Now I've narrowed it down to 3 possible cameras, I'm looking for a good all-around camera, something to film wildlife, local fires and crimes, to making short films. I thought I'd ask the experts(or more experienced filmmakers) here before I made my purchase.

I'm thinking of the JVC Everio, I took it on a cross country roadtrip lastyear and took some great videos and pics, so I'm familar with it. But is it good for making movies like you guys do??

If you can lend a hand and help a fellow filmmaker, it'd be greatly appreciated.



Panasonic - Digital Camcorder with 60GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9207002&type=product&id=1218058780192

JVC - Everio Digital Camcorder with 60GB Hard Drive and 2.7" LCD Monitor - Diamond Silver

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9185794&type=product&id=1218049842248


Sony - Handycam Camcorder with 60GB Hard Disk Drive - Silver

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9178258&type=product&id=1218046368421

[chickenproductions]

Sorry, but I don't know much about any of those. I do have a JVC Everio but I think its a worse model...

[Sacman]

I don't know about any of them. But here are a couple of pointers:

You want audio in jacks if at all possible.

You need to be able to manually set focus and white balance.

If it can shoot 24p which I doubt any of them do then go for that one. Since this is most likely not and option. Look for a slow shutter option. It is probably under the digital effects settings. This allows you to get a bit closer to the film look on smaller non prosumer handhelds.

You are actually better off without image stabilization in my opinion for any serious video making. It will seriosuly increase the size of your files and I am just not a fan of it.

I personally have an older model Sony DV Handycam and I am happy with it. I hope to upgrade to a Panasonic DVX-100B sometime this year but the wife has to agree. And yes before anyone brings it up. I know that is an SD camera. But boy what a camera. And I just don't see the need to spend a whole lot of extra cash for the same features that the 100B has in an HD camera.

Hope that helps some.

[WesScog]

Out of these three the Sony is the best based on all the samples I was able to dig up.

But frankly, there are better cameras for $430, and I think you should save your money a little and you could get a vastly VASTLY superior camera to any of these.

For instance the Samsung R10 is around the $400 range, and it's WAY WAY better than any of these. I would warn you to not limit your choices to these alone.

[KMProductions]

Out of these three the Sony is the best based on all the samples I was able to dig up.

But frankly, there are better cameras for $430, and I think you should save your money a little and you could get a vastly VASTLY superior camera to any of these.

For instance the Samsung R10 is around the $400 range, and it's WAY WAY better than any of these. I would warn you to not limit your choices to these alone.

Are you sure you typed down the right camera? I looked at it on B&H and I think it would be a terrible option. Hardly any zoom, which would be bad for wildlife, or fires. It also has no mic or headphone jack. I see it's HD but I wouldn't say it's a far superior camera. I'm not trying to argue with you but are you sure that would be a good option?

[Davo Tron]

Just looking at the R10. That slow motion thing looks rather impressive.

[WesScog]

Are you sure you typed down the right camera? I looked at it on B&H and I think it would be a terrible option. Hardly any zoom, which would be bad for wildlife, or fires. It also has no mic or headphone jack. I see it's HD but I wouldn't say it's a far superior camera. I'm not trying to argue with you but are you sure that would be a good option?

For the $400 range it'd be better than any of these.

[Koolpenguin89]

For $400 you could go on ebay and find a used HV20, which will blow any of those other cams out of the water, garunteed.

Dylan

[gonzo_entertainment]

I don't know about any of them. But here are a couple of pointers:

You want audio in jacks if at all possible.

You need to be able to manually set focus and white balance.

If it can shoot 24p which I doubt any of them do then go for that one. Since this is most likely not and option. Look for a slow shutter option. It is probably under the digital effects settings. This allows you to get a bit closer to the film look on smaller non prosumer handhelds.

You are actually better off without image stabilization in my opinion for any serious video making. It will seriosuly increase the size of your files and I am just not a fan of it.

I personally have an older model Sony DV Handycam and I am happy with it. I hope to upgrade to a Panasonic DVX-100B sometime this year but the wife has to agree. And yes before anyone brings it up. I know that is an SD camera. But boy what a camera. And I just don't see the need to spend a whole lot of extra cash for the same features that the 100B has in an HD camera.

Hope that helps some.

IMO, DVX100b is the BEST of the lower end cameras. If I only had $2000 to spend on a camera it's what I'd buy.