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Looking for inexpensive camcorder. Tips?
Hey everybody, student filmmaker here, and the people on this site have been indispensable.
To the title of the post, I currently own a Canon t2i, which has been great. But I’m trying to do more documentary/live type work and I sometimes need more than the 10-minute video limit. Any advice on a camcorder for around $400-$500 or less? All I’ve got a zoom h1 for audio, so something with so-so audio is fine as long as it shoots HD.
Thanks for the help I’ve gotten in the past & future!
P. S., not sure if this is the right place to ask, if not feel free to have it moved or let me know where to start a new thread.
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7 Replies
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Try to import from here…. with that amount of money you can buy a really good stuff… right now each dollar is teh equivalent of 4 of my money. This is a used one will cost like $450 plus freight. Just don’t try to buy it alone. If you need help I can talk to te seller for you. Mercadolivre has security so if you pay using their service and the delivery using their service too the only give the money to the seller after you say you got the product and product is ok. Anything you need just let me know
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Ebay is the best place to get a good value for your money. You didn’t mention whether you could live with a very limited set of features or not. I found that the best value with semi-professional features in the low en of the camcorder range are Panasonic camcorders. The current 970k series or even on eBay for the previous versions of it, all are good solid performers, that I’ve used in the past as b cams for live performances. You get audio ins’, manual focus and exposure, and dual card features.
Al
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Thanks for the advice. I’d love something with a manual focus, white balance, etc., but since I have a relatively limited budge I’m only really looking for something that shoots good HD video, even it’s mostly automatic.
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GoPro?
Al
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Nathanael – if you want your documentaries to look like this (please watch at 2160p and your monitor’s highest resolution):
Dawn at the river bend by Martin Wallgren
LUMIX FZ300 – Autumn Impressions 4K
Wild ~ Panasonic FZ300 [4K] Lumix DMC FZ330 Camera by Irfan Khokhar
FZ300 600mm zoom with stabilized control by Gos
2 weeks in Myanmar – Birmanie by laxe333 (downscaled to 720p)
You might want to consider the $497.99 4K Panasonic FZ300 with the 24x constant f2.8 lens. Like a camcorder, this camera can record for hours continuously at 1080p.
This camera also has a built-in intervalometer for timelapse, records slow motion at up to 1080/120 fps, its LCD flips out and turns around for self-shooting, has fast and quiet autofocus, an external 3.5mm mic input and it records at a maximum resolution of 3840x2160p “4K”.
In addition it is weather-sealed.
I started with a T2i also, and in my view, this camera will be a great complement to your DSLR.
Hope this is helpful and good luck!
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Wow, thanks for the advice, Bill.
I’ll definitely be looking into that one.
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Panasonic or GoPro camera)
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