Rebecca Varni

Thanks for all the info. Michael! It was really helpful. Makes much more sense now.

I know this sounds very amateur (I'm a student so I am), but can you explain this a bit further? I haven't even had a chance to work with cameras that allow adjustments to the shutter angle.

I've been in other situations, martial arts, where I can contact dealers and get test items. Like a test katana that's worth a lot and they'll let me demo it for a while. It's essentially a katana that's only lent out for demos. Do major camera manufacturers do this? And how on earth do students go about getting them to allow some demo time with the camera?

Thanks for all the information. I think it's starting to make a bit more sense to me. And as far as cameras go, what do you think of Panasonic's HVX200? It's relatively cheap, so I worry about picture quality, but I like the idea of the P2 card. And, even though I'm a student, I really am possessive and want my own equipment. So, I'm considering buying a camera as opposed to a new car. In that case I think I'm leaning towards the HDX900. Any problems with that? I've read through the forum talk around here, and people seem to be pretty pleased with it all around the net. But, as always, money is an issue and that really does mean no car, just a camera.

Yea, I really don't want it to look realistic. I want to create my own version of reality!

I've been in the market for a new camera, my Canon GL1 doesn't give me any control at all. I'm hoping to shoot an indie feature with it, and make some money doing commercials and music video stuff on the side (like most students). What I'm hoping to get here is some general and more specific information regarding color sampling rates. For instance, what does 4:4:4 HD really mean? I have been having a tough time wrapping my head around the idea. I'm sure that a larger sampling rate is going to give a more realistic look, but I'm not always going for realistic. So, any information on this topic would be helpful, as well as some general suggestions for what to look for in a not super expensive camera (around $5,000 preferably).