best camera?

Tommy Hughes · June 2, 2007

Hey you guys, I'm a director looking to be my own DP so I really would like to know. i'm a total newbie. What is the best camera i can get in the like 1,500-2,300 range? thank you so much!

chuck colburn · June 2, 2007

Hey you guys, I'm a director looking to be my own DP so I really would like to know. i'm a total newbie. What is the best camera i can get in the like 1,500-2,300 range? thank you so much!

What format? Body only? Silent or MOS? Reflex or non reflex? etc. etc.

Edited June 2, 2007 by chuck colburn

Matthew Buick · June 2, 2007

That would entirely depend upon the format you wish to use. Super 8mm, you're absolutely golden, you can basically have your heart's desire. 16mm, Krasnogorsk with decent lens, filters, matte box, tripod and such, or perhaps an ARRI 16S body. 35mm, you may be able to get a bashed up Konvas 1M.

Tommy Hughes · June 2, 2007

That would entirely depend upon the format you wish to use. Super 8mm, you're absolutely golden, you can basically have your heart's desire. 16mm, Krasnogorsk with decent lens, filters, matte box, tripod and such, or perhaps an ARRI 16S body. 35mm, you may be able to get a bashed up Konvas 1M.

the thing is...i have no idea... not silent... something like digital video... what did they use for 28 days later and how much did it cost?

Tommy Hughes · June 2, 2007

What format? Body only? Silent or MOS? Reflex or non reflex? etc. etc.

Oh and the format is digital. u mean no lenses? yes unless necessary. MOS for sure and i don't know what you mean by reflex and non reflex?

Matthew Buick · June 3, 2007

the thing is...i have no idea... not silent... something like digital video... what did they use for 28 days later and how much did it cost?

I believe 28 Days Later was shot on 35mm film. I'm not sure, though. And video camera bought for the price you plan to pay will certainly not stand up to much. I think that you should buy a Krasnogorsk K3, they're about $200.00 on ebay.com and are great cameras. With your budget you'll be able to get a nice set of extras for the camera, perhaps some lights. You could always buy a load of film.

Come to me with any questions you may have. I'm only 16 but I'll do my best to answer them. ;)

Zamir Merali · June 3, 2007

28 days later was shot on an xl1. This is a low cost prosumer mini dv camera that has now been replaced by the xl2. If you wanted an xl1 it would cost about 2000 maximum because these cameras are outdated. However, 28 days later replaced the standard xl1 lens with a much more expensive 35mm lens so your images wouldnt be quite as good as the movies were. If you want a good low cost digital camera i would recomend the dvx-100. A second hand one on ebay would be quite cheap and it is better than the xl-1 because it can do 24p.

Troy Warr · June 3, 2007

28 Days Later was shot on a Canon XL-1S and printed on 35mm film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289043/technical

Just to clarify, silent and MOS mean the same thing. I'd assume Chuck meant to ask "sound or MOS."

In your price range I'd recommend against film, with the exception of Super-8. You might want to look at something like a used Canon GL-1 (similar look to the XL-1S, still a moderately professional feel without the cost and added complexity of the XL-1S). If you do some searching on eBay, Craig's List, etc., you should be able to find someone selling an old GL-1 with extras (wide- and/or tele-conversion lenses, sound equipment, extra batteries, etc.) within your price range. You might try to limit yourself to $1750-2000 for the camera kit so that you'll have a bit of extra money for lighting equipment, tapes, and other expenses.

This question comes up very often so you might also search this forum for other threads with a similar budget.

Also don't forget that the camera is just a small part of the package; you'll need editing equipment (a PC with editing software in this case), something to record decent sound (the on-camera mic won't cut it in most situations), lights, tripod, filters, cast, crew, food, transportation, etc.

Tommy Hughes · June 3, 2007

28 Days Later was shot on a Canon XL-1S and printed on 35mm film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289043/technical

Just to clarify, silent and MOS mean the same thing. I'd assume Chuck meant to ask "sound or MOS."

In your price range I'd recommend against film, with the exception of Super-8. You might want to look at something like a used Canon GL-1 (similar look to the XL-1S, still a moderately professional feel without the cost and added complexity of the XL-1S). If you do some searching on eBay, Craig's List, etc., you should be able to find someone selling an old GL-1 with extras (wide- and/or tele-conversion lenses, sound equipment, extra batteries, etc.) within your price range. You might try to limit yourself to $1750-2000 for the camera kit so that you'll have a bit of extra money for lighting equipment, tapes, and other expenses.

This question comes up very often so you might also search this forum for other threads with a similar budget.

Also don't forget that the camera is just a small part of the package; you'll need editing equipment (a PC with editing software in this case), something to record decent sound (the on-camera mic won't cut it in most situations), lights, tripod, filters, cast, crew, food, transportation, etc.

Wow lol alot of insight. Well thanks, I most definetly would prefer digital as opposed to film. Also how much would a boom go for. Your right i DO deffinetly need something other than the built in mic. I have a very very fast mac and final cut studio so editing i'm okay with. I was looking at this. Can someone tell me if this is a good deal?

http://www.acephotodigital.com/sc/review-p...sp?id=964596263

Also would it be possible to be able to simulate the effect used on saving private ryan ,where i read they had to scrape off a certain layer on their lense in order to get flares in the picture, without having to scrape off the lense. Also how did they make the movie 28 Days Later look so gritty. I've looked for AWHILE and all i could found was that he did something like blew up the images or something like that. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Also so you know I'm deffinetly looking for a shoulder camera. I greatly admire the look of movies such as Traffic which if ANYONE has ANY insight about I'd GREATLY appreciate it. I'd KILL to make my films look like that.

Thank you all for your help!

Martin Yernazian · June 3, 2007

First of all.... change your name to your full name

Second, if you want to become a DP, educated yourself, educated your eye, and your mind.

You can't be a DP with out knowing basic terms, (Reflex, MOS, etc)

the best way to learned for me is that you pickup a 35mm manual slr and go and shoot every day going through diferent elements of photography.

Good luck

Best

Tommy Hughes · June 3, 2007

First of all.... change your name to your full name

Second, if you want to become a DP, educated yourself, educated your eye, and your mind.

You can't be a DP with out knowing basic terms, (Reflex, MOS, etc)

the best way to learned for me is that you pickup a 35mm manual slr and go and shoot every day going through diferent elements of photography.

Good luck

Best

Well Martin that's really what I want to do. I really want to become a DP and please if you could I would really appreciate it if you could maybe go over some of the basics with me. I'm in pre-production of a movie and there is a lot of things I still need to know. For instance what is shutter frame or something I've heard? How do i get "depth of field" If anyone could help me understand maybe a little bit I would greatly appreciate it. Another thing, I don't really have any availability to a 35mm camera Martin because I'm really tight on money right now due to hospital bills and this is forcing me to get a job and work as hard as I can and save my money and I don't think this project can last more than 6 or 7 months in pre-production which is around the time ,with money saving my money, I'll have about 2,400 dollars. If you could help me in any way I would very thankful.

Thanks for your time

Tommy Hughes

Kenny N Suleimanagich · June 3, 2007

Well Martin that's really what I want to do. I really want to become a DP and please if you could I would really appreciate it if you could maybe go over some of the basics with me. I'm in pre-production of a movie and there is a lot of things I still need to know. For instance what is shutter frame or something I've heard? How do i get "depth of field" If anyone could help me understand maybe a little bit I would greatly appreciate it. Another thing, I don't really have any availability to a 35mm camera Martin because I'm really tight on money right now due to hospital bills and this is forcing me to get a job and work as hard as I can and save my money and I don't think this project can last more than 6 or 7 months in pre-production which is around the time ,with money saving my money, I'll have about 2,400 dollars. If you could help me in any way I would very thankful.

Thanks for your time

Tommy Hughes

Read up on these forums. Start shooting still 35mm, learn some composition. Pay close attention to what people like David Mullen, Alan Frisch, Mitch Gross, and others are posting for there are many well educated people posting on the boards. Learn film stocks and distiguishing them. Save your camera money until you've done all of that, or started to. Don't jump the gun.