What is the best consumer camera to edit with in FCP that is under $1000?

[Michael Sacci]

Get a camera that is best for your shooting not your editing. There is a reasonable workflow for just about any format out there. If you look at FCP documentation that is on apples website they have a paper on all the different workflows for the different media and codecs.

[David Roth weiss]

The very best one is the one you borrow from a good friend for nothing.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

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A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Dan Brockett]

Assuming you need to buy one and have no friends you can mooch or borrow one off of, I would check out any of the Canon Vixias. Even the discontinued ones from last year are excellent and the new crop that replaced them are even more pro.

I ended up buying the 5D MKII instead but I really like the HFS100 but it is over $1,000.00. Check out the lower end models and the last years models. All are 1080p (over 59.94)

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[Russell Lasson]

I have a Canon AVCHD (HF10) camera for personal use and I must say that I really like the workflow with FCP 7. I found the camera for $550 at Costco. I really wanted to buy one of the new HFS series, but for $550 for a HD camera for personal use, it was hard to pass up.

I’ve been very satisfied with it. The dynamic range isn’t great and at 17Mb/sec, it still feels quite compressed, but I’m used to seeing footage from high-end cameras, so I guess my standards are quite high.

-Russ

Russell Lasson
Colorist/Digital Cinema Specialist
Color Mill
Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.colormill.net

[Joseph Willcocks]

I got one last Christmas and I’d second Russ’ opinion. BTW Russ, have you ever had any import issues with your HF10?

[Ben Scott]

i second Canon as being a good choice

why HD though it may be that if you looking for cheap kit for making DVDs that an SD camera fits much better to your workflow

I found the XM2 to be a very nice piece of kit, clean images and with an XLR adapter you get decent sound

spend your money on the kit like good mics and tripods as well, it will make the video look a lot better

[Greg Jones]

I have a Canon HV20 that I use for personal stuff, but it looks amazing. I believe it’s under $1000. Has a great looking ‘cine’ mode.

Greg Jones
D7,Inc.
https://www.d7-inc.com

Greg Jones
Orlando,Fl.
https://www.d7-inc.com

[Elijah Lynn]

[Dan Brockett] “Assuming you need to buy one and have no friends you can mooch or borrow one off of, I would check out any of the Canon Vixias. Even the discontinued ones from last year are excellent and the new crop that replaced them are even more pro.

I ended up buying the 5D MKII instead but I really like the HFS100 but it is over $1,000.00. Check out the lower end models and the last years models. All are 1080p (over 59.94)

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs”

These cameras are ok for still shots but forget about them for panning and motion. They turn to mush.

[Hector Silva]

On a simple level, I still recommend the HV series of Canon cameras. I know most don’t find HDV to be that sexy, but it has two nice advantages: it can be cut natively without transcoding, and you have a tape backup of what you shot. I think the only negative is that capture is done at realtime rather than faster than realtime.