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Camera Advise
We are a small company that produces corporate videos and news-style commercials for broadcast. Traditionally, we outsource production and have been filming using Sony Betacam and sending BetaSP tapes to the stations. We are now bringing everything in in-house and purchasing our own equipment.
I am wondering if someone can give me some insight into the best camera/format to purcahse? I hear that everything is going to HD and that soon stations will require only HD. Obviously, we would like to keep our costs down, but not make a purchase that is only going to serve us only for the short term.
What camera would you suggest that we purchase?
Thanks!
Stephanie
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3 Replies
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Dave,
I feel like you are mad that I am bringing production in-house ;-)!! lol I don’t take anything or anyone for granted and I do appreciate your camera recommendation.
Stephanie
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Hi Stephanie
I’d recommend you use the Cow resources. Research, research, research. Go to each camera forum and the HDV and HDTV forums and see what the industry pros face. Everyone has an opinion. Those are useful because it gives you a wide range to apply to your situation. While Dave likes the HVX-200, others like the JVC GY-HD200/250, which can be adapted for the studio. Others like the Sony XDCam HD, which is more expensive than the HDV cameras, but less that the top of the line HDCams and VariCams. We were early adopters and faced a limited selection of HD choices so we spent a lot of money, but are well pleased with the results. Had we waited, we wouldn’t have had any money. We ended up with 4 GVG LDK-6000 studio cameras and a Sony HDC-700a field camera. Today our choices would be much greater and much less expensive. Those choices await your company, so good luck and good hunting.Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS2
Charlotte Public Television -
Hi Stephanie,
My suggestion would be to ask your most significant regular clients what they anticipate for future delivery formats. I would also do some research on the clients you would like to have. What are they using? What are your competitors shooting on?
Are you hiring a camera operator/lighting technician? Have you asked them their opinion?
All the camera accessory gear, lighting gear, and microphones that Dave recommends in his post
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