Hello all

[ladiespassions]

Just a quick introduction, as I think we'll be asking a few daft questions over the coming weeks, but from what I've read it seems to be one of the friendliest and well used forums I've seen!!

OK....first stupid quesion. I've decided I'm going to make my own movies, as I'm not being catered for in the wider market, so can I please have a few suggestions on cameras??...what should I be buying and avoiding, without it costing my the earth??

Thanks in advance,

Liz x

[R18 DVD Shop]

Depends what the output is going to be - if its for DVD then you need as close to production quality as you can get which means a 3 CCD camcorder.

If its for web use then any DV camcorder is sufficiently low that you wont notice the extra quality of a 3 CCD camcorder mainly as the quality of web movies is much lower (and is compressed so loses a lot of the detail anyway) to allow it to be downloaded or streamed in reasonable times.

As for models the weapon of choice seems to be the Canon XL1 (there is a newer version just out so prices should start to drop on the XL1) but Sony do a few good 3 CCD cams too.

Prices are high for 3 CCD tho - you can expect to pay about ?1800 - ?2000 for the XL1 for example but if you are considering DVD its the only way to go.

I guess I should say tho that no matter which way you go the most important thing in my opinion is light - make sure and get the light right, the best camera in the world with the best sex will still look shite if the light is poor or wrong!

Jay

[marcusallen]

Jay's advice is good. However, look at Panasonic, they have a great range and are both cheaper and more user friendly.

[davewells]

All the best tv companies (includin BBC, Granada etc) and film companies all over the world use Sony. Says everything to me.

[ladiespassions]

Thanks for the camera advice, at least we now have a good idea where to start and what sort of costs we're looking at, and yes Jay, we were looking more at DVD than the web.

Having read a few of the posts on here I'm starting to think we may live to regret getting started, at least financially, but it may be a lot of fun finding out!!

Liz + Andy x

[woodgnome]

this site should help to keep any 'regrets' to a minimum.

[videokim]

Hi Liz & Andy

I'll e-mail you in the morning with a reply to your message, its nice to see you on the forum.

Kim xxx

[JFT Media]

Liz & Andy

Good luck with your new planned project, when you are up and running and want to promote the company, please feel free to add your press release to the news desk at

Regards

Jason