new camera

[Jeremy Fabiano]

I’m in the same boat (camera wise).

I use a pair of early 1990’s VHS cameras. I chose these because of some of the settings I wanted to use plus they were CHEAP!! $20 for the pair + a 640×480 capable usb Video capture box.

While this works fine for screwing around and learning the program, it’s only slightly better than a camera phone.

The question comes down to this:

Do you need to do production work (as in get paid?) or are you just learning the program because you love compositing and effects (or perhaps want to mess around with your friends).

For production work, I’d get a serious camera. For hobby usage, I’d get something nice, but not overly expensive. I’ve been using my crappy cameras w/ afterfx for over a year and only now am I really concidering spending any money on one. This is mainly due to wanting to change it from a hobby to something I can do freelance work on.

Panasonic and Cannon have some nice cameras (I can’t give model #’s as I don’t remember). I’d go with something that has FIREWIRE (1392?) on it as well as the USB.

For myself I was looking at one camera that did DV tapes for video and digital for the pictures. It was about $1,200 but could be found online for $800-$1000. It’s a really nice camera but unfortunately I can’t remember who made it.

Good luck to ya, I know this doesn’t help too much but hopefully it’ll give you something to at least point you in the right direction.

[Jeremy Fabiano]

Have to agree on a tripod!!

God I wish I had one… setting your camera up on a stack of books is rather lame (and quite annoying as you can’t lock the camera down, or pan, or… yeah…)..

There’s actually some rather cheap ones floating around, but I hear you do get what you pay for in that area..

-Jeremy