What's the best high end camcorders?

[IShopaholic]

Looking for one for a friend, but i dont know what are specs to look for in camcorders. What's the best camcorder in the market right now to make HD Cinematic Movies, for like professional movie making.

So to recap. Best Camcorders if money is not an issue? And Best Bang for the buck Camcorders?


P.S. Whats the different between digital cameras, regular cameras, camcorders, point and shoot, and DSLR systems?

[heavylee]

P.S. Whats the different between digital cameras, regular cameras, camcorders, point and shoot, and DSLR systems?

All of these, except 'camcorder', are usually used to refer to still cameras that take photographs; not movie recorders.

[toology]

http://reviews.cnet.com/best-hd-camcorders/

[oldmonk]

Choosing a Pro Camcorder?, I am not sure (but you are looking at a range $3-5k+). We out here at SD maybe jump to prosumer models though max(under 1k), so I am not sure if someone will be able to answer your question, specially from personal experience.

In Prosumer Camcorders. Canon Vixia HF S10 and Canon Vixia HF S100 are pretty safe bets, but if your friend is going to shoot for TV stations or Movies, that is a different league. Prosumer Camcorders will not work for him if he is half way serious.

[mustardayonnais]

LOL if money is no object go get yourself a RED One camera. ~$17,000 for the body, and then there's the lenses, which will run you 5 to 10 grand each... at least.

www.red.com

That's the best digital cinema camera out there, and it's the first REAL challenger to film. Tons of directors and DPs out there think this camera is the bee's knees.

Now, coming back down to earth, if you're gonna be serious for a second, I think you have two 'real' options: the Panasonic HVX200, or the Canon 5D Mark II. Both of these will run you about $3-5k for a decent setup, and will give you the 'HD Cinematic Movies' you talk about in your first post.. and if money truly is no object then 3,000-5,000 should be pretty reasonable. The 5D Mark II is a pretty sick little puppy, I'm likely getting one for myself.

Speaking of money being no object, I've heard from some people working on the new 'Transformers' movie that they actually used a lot of Canon 5D MkII's in shooting. Michael Bay is notorious for trashing a lot of cameras during production, and because the Canons are so relatively cheap and deliver such a high quality image, the studio was GLAD to let him destroy dozens of them- because it was still cheaper than destroying one 35mm motion picture camera, which can cost upwards of $250,000. Go figure.

Oh, and to answer the last part of your question (Whats the different between digital cameras, regular cameras, camcorders, point and shoot, and DSLR systems?): They're all just different solutions to capturing imagery. 'Digital cameras' is a pretty general term and could refer to all sorts of different types of cameras, either motion or still. 'Regular cameras', I guess, by contrast, would refer to cameras that use film (how quaint). 'Camcorders' generally refer to cameras that capture video, be it professional or consumer-grade. 'Point and shoot' refers to the small, portable cameras that you can slip into your pocket and carry conveniently. DSLR stands for 'Digital Single Lens Reflex' and refers to the big, beefy cameras that have interchangable lenses (like the Canon 5D Mark II)- they aren't as portable but the quality of the images is much improved.

[IShopaholic]

LOL if money is no object go get yourself a RED One camera. ~$17,000 for the body, and then there's the lenses, which will run you 5 to 10 grand each... at least.

www.red.com

That's the best digital cinema camera out there, and it's the first REAL challenger to film. Tons of directors and DPs out there think this camera is the bee's knees.

Now, coming back down to earth, if you're gonna be serious for a second, I think you have two 'real' options: the Panasonic HVX200, or the Canon 5D Mark II. Both of these will run you about $3-5k for a decent setup, and will give you the 'HD Cinematic Movies' you talk about in your first post.. and if money truly is no object then 3,000-5,000 should be pretty reasonable. The 5D Mark II is a pretty sick little puppy, I'm likely getting one for myself.

Speaking of money being no object, I've heard from some people working on the new 'Transformers' movie that they actually used a lot of Canon 5D MkII's in shooting. Michael Bay is notorious for trashing a lot of cameras during production, and because the Canons are so relatively cheap and deliver such a high quality image, the studio was GLAD to let him destroy dozens of them- because it was still cheaper than destroying one 35mm motion picture camera, which can cost upwards of $250,000. Go figure.

Oh, and to answer the last part of your question (Whats the different between digital cameras, regular cameras, camcorders, point and shoot, and DSLR systems?): They're all just different solutions to capturing imagery. 'Digital cameras' is a pretty general term and could refer to all sorts of different types of cameras, either motion or still. 'Regular cameras', I guess, by contrast, would refer to cameras that use film (how quaint). 'Camcorders' generally refer to cameras that capture video, be it professional or consumer-grade. 'Point and shoot' refers to the small, portable cameras that you can slip into your pocket and carry conveniently. DSLR stands for 'Digital Single Lens Reflex' and refers to the big, beefy cameras that have interchangable lenses (like the Canon 5D Mark II)- they aren't as portable but the quality of the images is much improved.

nice detail reply, thx dude! so what would you recommend if say the budget is 10k?

[supercar]

I would say this for a 10K budget.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-XL-H1A-Camcorder-Review-36185.htm