MiniDV, flash or hard drive camcorder?

[sunfunbill]

So I'm going to start making some movies once I get back to Florida from my vacation in Vermont, finally! Ashley will be the camera babe, Bilinda will be the star. Now at first I will have to make do with the cheapest camcorder I can find that will still do the job.

I see the best formats are MiniDV, flash memory and hard drive. I don't think I need to go with HD right now. So, what's the best format to use? I know I need to learn a lot, that will come in time.

Right now I just want to make sure I start out with the best format for youtube and some downloadable movies, short ones (30 minutes or so). I want to try to get one that only cost around 300-400 right now. Any advice is much appreciated, thanks.

[balls_deep]

I'm a fan of flash memory, Nothing beats unlimited capability only restricted by the amount of cards you own.

Sorry, but i dont have a specific camcorder recommendation.

[porn punk]

I would go straight to HD. I know it sounds like no big deal, but by the time you get things going correctly and learn everything you need to know, older formats will look like mini thumbnails on computer screens. The pixalation will be blurry and remember that people now more than ever who have money to spend are not going to spend it on cheap quality productions continually.

Quality screens are just too cheap these days. Unless you're going to film everything for youtube. If it's a money issue scan ebay. You'll find something HD very very reasonable. Also you'll want at least the fake 3 seperate color chips which probably won't be a factor with HD, but just in case (it's been a long while since I've filmed anything).

Others should weigh in though

[sunfunbill]

Ive heard that flash can make almost HD quality images. It seems to be the cheapest format too. Thanks, I'll keep this in mind and see what others say.

[housekeeper]

I'll agree with porn punk in that HD camera is really the only starting point in todays market place, trying to release product based on your economic status won't please your customers. You'll need plenty of hard drive space or a external one to handle your source files. Most camcorders come with disc drive or flash, I prefer shooting on tape still. You'll also need a good editing program, I'm not talking WMM, something that can handle or convert file/mime types.

With regard to quality brand names, panasonic, sony, canon. Also, surfers/customers are not forgiving when it comes to video, so your quality must be good, not nessecarily great, but very good...

[housekeeper]

Also, when checking out equipment/stats, be mindful of whether the camera functions well in low light situations. Lighting is a very important aspect of shooting video...

[sunfunbill]

Thanks for the info housekeeper. I'm thinking of buying a used HD camcorder. That way I can get quality vids while still being able to afford it. Got to have a 3CCD also. Time to see what's good used at Amazon.

[SteveHardeman]

Bill, don't know your budget but I might recommend that you go ahead and just go with a cheap camcorder that will take MiniDV tapes at first. You're not going to like your first few shoots anyway so it's a great camera to work with to get your lighting and your angles down. In addition, if the content is hot enough, you can shoot it on super8 and it'll sell. I started with a 5 year old Sony handycam and it was just fine for what I was shooting. I honestly never had one complaint and I sold a ton of videos.

If you can afford HD, I highly recommend a Canon HV30. I also have an HV20 which I thought was good too till I got the HV30. Amazing difference. And, I understand an HV40 is coming out soon that's supposed to be even better. I'm sure there are other great cameras out there as well but I use an HV30 and I am happy with it. I think I paid $800 for mine but some buddy of mine told me he found one brand new for $650. I think that's a great deal.

I'd also get Sony Vegas for your editing. I've never used anything but that so there may be something better out there but I love it. It's relatively cheap as well. And you can get a free 30 day trial to mess around with it at first. If you like it, then you can upgrade to the Pro version which isn't dirt-cheap but isn't too terrible.

Hope that helps.

Oh, and also, I'd highly avoid used video cameras. Typically, you're going to get a dead battery and going to have to spend another $50 on a new battery anyway. And trust me, the camera itself will start going bad within a year. If I were starting out, I would go out and buy myself the cheapest brand new MiniDV camcorder I could find and roll with it as I increase my videography skills and make more money. You can prolly get one for $199 somewhere.

Good luck.

[sunfunbill]

HI there Steve. Wow, so many different views on this. I have this post on another board and I've gotten the whole spectrum of what to use. I know my first dozen or so clips are not going to be that great.

But they should be ok to sell as amateur sissy clips on clips4sale and a few other places I know of. I have heard that you can't take any good movies unless it has a 3CCD chip, or whatever it is. Is that true? Not many low end ones have that. Anyway thanks for your input.

[SteveHardeman]

So many different views and they're probably all right :-)

Bill, my first 10 scenes were shot on a 5 year old Sony DV Handycam using MiniDV tapes and for lighting I used 4 painter lamps with 300 watt bulbs in them. I never had one complaint about the videos. Not one. When my budget allowed, I upgraded to a Panasonic 3CCD video camera and then to an HV20, than to an HV30. Eventually I want to get a $5000 camera but.....when my budget allows.

Upgrading to HD does allow me to do a lot of panning and cropping without losing quality but as I said before, for just starting out, I'd go cheap and upgrade your equipment as your budget allows. If the video is HOT, it will not matter what you shot it with.

[SteveHardeman]

Also, don't you have a user/pass to my site? If you don't, I'll give you one and tell you which videos I shot in HD and which I shot with my 5 year old Sony Handycam and you can judge the difference yourself. The HD ones are a lot better but it's mainly because of better lighting and experience in shooting.

[sunfunbill]

Ummm, nope, I don't think I ever got a pass. That would be cool to see the ones you made with the cheap camera. The type of videos I'm going to make are fetish types, with lots of bondage and fetish wear with sissys, if you even know what sissys are.

So there will not be that much moving around. The camera will go slowly around, showing the sissy straining with her bindings and so on. There also will be some action, but using devices I'm not going to say right now!

I guess what I mean is I think the type of stuff I will shoot will be ok using a more amateur look, with the quality not up there with the hot teen pussy in your face shots.

[SteveHardeman]

Originally Posted by sunfunbill

if you even know what sissys are.

My partner is a sissy so I'm very familiar with them.

Hi Jim. :-)

Kidding, anyway, I just shot you an email. I gotta run. My cumputer is encoding two separate videos at one time from HD raw footage so it's making my computer unbearably slow.

See the email I sent, should be everything you need to make a determination.

[cink2]

Hi, Bill.
Camera is very important but there are other important things too. I watched dozens movies recorded with mobile phone camera and people were buing it. Note that hiqh quality videos take much more storage space, transfer and time to download upload and covert to other video format.

good luck

[sunfunbill]

Thanks for all the advice. I got your email Steve, I'll reply back today sometime. Well, I guess I'll stick to buying something new. Still not sure what to get, I'll keep looking around. I know that lighting makes a huge difference no matter what your using.

I use to take pictures of luggage and leather jackets. I needed lots and lots of light, and still I wanted more. It's amazing how much better the sun is than any lighting. I'll get what I can afford for now and go from there. In my niche there is not much to choose from, so that helps.

[cink2]

i can't wait to see your movies

[housekeeper]

Sound advice from Steve, with the Canon HV30 and a program like Vegas, you could rule the world and make footage comparable to most. On the HV20-30 you can tweek the setting to include more light, it is forgiving in that regard. If you opt for Vegas Studio, just be mindful of your system requirments, it is a large program and surely would demand a significant amount of dedicated RAM I'm sure. Otherwise there are a couple of very good programs for editing $100 and under that could handle your input and output needs.

One very important aspect of using those smaller hand held camera's, in addition to the light, is keeping the camera still when shooting. You've got to have a steady hand if you're not using a tripod, excess motion is never good and will impact your file size and bitrate. The image stabilization function is not the best, the camera's are sensative in that regard, I recommend VBR 2 pass when encoding.

[Streamray Elli]

Originally Posted by SteveHardeman

So many different views and they're probably all right :-)

Bill, my first 10 scenes were shot on a 5 year old Sony DV Handycam using MiniDV tapes and for lighting I used 4 painter lamps with 300 watt bulbs in them. I never had one complaint about the videos. Not one. When my budget allowed, I upgraded to a Panasonic 3CCD video camera and then to an HV20, than to an HV30. Eventually I want to get a $5000 camera but.....when my budget allows.

Upgrading to HD does allow me to do a lot of panning and cropping without losing quality but as I said before, for just starting out, I'd go cheap and upgrade your equipment as your budget allows. If the video is HOT, it will not matter what you shot it with.

I hate to threadjack, but I have an HV20 and love it. Is the HV30 that much different that it's worth upgrading to?

[sunfunbill]

Well since I do have to watch my budget, I'm thinking of going with a cheaper model flash camcorder. Flash and minidvd seem to be about the same price. You can shoot decent still pictures with a flash. And I heard a flash one is better for moving around.

Plus once I make a few movies and then upgrade to a better one, a flash one sells easier than minidvd. I'm sure I can sell the type of content I will have using the "amateur" look for a while. Thanks for all the help!

[Cozy Monica]

Considering you are making amateur niche movies Bill, I think you have a lot of wiggle room in the quality of your first camera. Your movies don't need to be HD or perfectly crisp and clear because it ruins that amateur feeling that true amateur fans are looking for.