Recommendations - Shooting semi-pro film

[gmccafferty]

Hi folks,

I am looking to get pushed in the right direction as to what Camcorder to buy for a semi-pro short film. Budget can be ?600-800, and my preference would be a hard disk camcorder, however I realise this would push the price up. Would love the option of shooting in High Definition. Quality is a must, ease of use and manual options required.

Can anyone make some suggestions? - as I realise there is so much to choose from!

[lovehateHDV]

Most of us would now agree- HV20.

[jaelupo]

HV20 most definitely!!!! I still like tape based camcorders over hard drive ones. Until mirrored 1TB hard drives are under $300 it is way to hard to archive your high-def video on hard drives. It may be faster to trasfer to the computer but that is about the only advantage at this point.

Jae

[immersive]

i would suggest HC7.
Yes the HV20 has more details.. but slightly more that is if you scrutinize it..
anyway why i recommend HC7 it is because it has a natually movie-like colours to it wheras the hv20 look very "video like" and HC7 has better manual controls and if you are into movie project, good manual control is a must and further more HC7 has lanc control.

Last many said HV20 is better in lowlight.. but in movie project most of the time we work in controlled lighting environment.

[andrewnick]

Immersive, my friend i think that it is not only better low light shooting that makes them suggest hv20 but the 24p cinema mode, as he want this for semi pro filming purposes.

[paramon]

I did side by side comparison of HV20 and HC7, HV20 has better, sharper image, I'd say daylight image of HV20 is "better" than my FX1, well at least I like it better,
so I'd say HV20 is the best bet,
:-)