Tell me what you think. My camera for my budget.

Am I making a mistake or would this be good for me to get started. It falls more into my budget and seems to have majority of my requirements. The biggest con I have concern with is audio. This is easily solved with an external audio adaption. Tell me your thoughts and for those that know what they are talking about (not me) I would appreciate being pointed to a compatible external audio set up.. Also how do I know what tripod would work for me or if it would even hold the camera? Sorry really new to it all.

Thanks for any help.. Trying hard to get started.. A new 4GB imac with High end graphics card is in the works too. Here is the link to the camera.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/518555-REG/Sony_HVRHD1000U_HVR_HD1000U_Digital_High_Definition.html#reviews

Ok, that camera isn't that bad, but if I were you I'd buy something like a second hand Z1U or so, considering the fact that the HD1000 is lacking some features which oyu would expect on a pro camera.

So my advise is to just take a look at Ebay first ,

Yours, WVD

You saying to consider a used camera? I think I would be setting myself up for failure going with used..

Well I take back my last post. Its not that I think I would be setting up for failure. Its just with such an investment and the camera being used just scares me at the possibility of things turning out poorly with me suffering of owning a possible problematic camera. Ill look into it though.

I searched ebay for the zu1 with a couple search terms. I found one a little over $2G and the rest were new over $4G. Little over my financial levy.

I would tend to stay away from ebay when it comes to pro grade cams. You should buy new and get the extended coverage. This protects you against any type of damage, be it a burnt out pixel on the screen or lens problems...
We don't expect these things to fail but it's always nice to have that backup.

SonicOrbStudios wrote:I would tend to stay away from ebay when it comes to pro grade cams. You should buy new and get the extended coverage. This protects you against any type of damage, be it a burnt out pixel on the screen or lens problems...
We don't expect these things to fail but it's always nice to have that backup.

Agreed. That is how I felt.

Yeah that's how I felt earlier too, but last year I talked to a pro videographer who has his own production company, and he said that professional videographers are as careful with their camera like it would be his baby

Personally I still probably wouldn't buy a 2nd hand camera, but of course I didn't know how you felt about it

-WVD

You may also want to look to make sure your cam has XLR mic inputs on board. This isnt needed if you plan on using an external recorder but recording audio with the cam is very quick and easy.

For external mics I suggest the Azden SGM-1X when it comes to lower budget consumers. I plan on getting this mic soon and it has a good review.

For higher budget mics, stick with Sennheiser or Audio-Technica. Shotgun mics are the best to use when it comes to video but they range from $100 - $2,000+ It's a good idea to pick a budget and look up reviews to see what works best for the price. With audio, the more you spend, the better quality you get.

Thanks Dave very helpful..

I think getting started in all this is harder than doing it. At least I hope so. I am learning more and more about cameras everyday and what I need and what things mean when it comes to CCD, lux, recording drive type, XLR, and the list goes on. So that I can afford to get started a bit quicker and get everything I need I have thought about getting a good Z1U or something similar and doing it on payments. What is really putting a damper on my budget is that I need to get a new computer with all this that does well performance wise and graphically. I want to get nice things from the get go and not short myself. I am getting a $2,500 iMac with the best graphics card they got, 750GB storage, and 4 GB of RAM. Oh and a 3.06GHz processor so there is no way my computer is holding me back. I have 2 computers now but one is an old desktop compaq presario that well the best it has worth mentioning is 1GB of RAM I plugged into it myself. Its old, worn, and just would not handle the editing and publishing process. My other is a laptop and well it runs Vista system when vista was introduced if that says enough and with only 512MB of RAM. So a computer is a must.

Then on two editing software. I have to have after effects because so many learning tutorials and methods are based around it and special effects really spikes my interest. I thought about getting the adobe bundle but I just do not need and will not use all the software that comes with it. Vision Lab seems more user friendly anyway when it comes to green screen from what I understand. I am going to give it the best I can. I have already bought a domain name and started building a website around the name Toxic Tank Productions.

Thanks to everyone who has helped point me in the right direction so far.

Ok because I am not yet that bright I still need some help. I want to record in High Def. However in a video I watched Mark mentioned mini DV being the most compatible with my providing videos on the internet. Because of ease of taking video from the camera to the computer and uploading. Those are surely not his exact words but I believe that is what I took from it. However every mini DV cam I find such as the GL2 standing out does not mention any high def possibility. Does mini DV not do high def? Everything I see for high def is an HDV camera and does that not mean it uses are hard drive and some harsh compression for editing and such? Really lost again.

MiniDV tapes are often used for HD, and HDV records on MiniDV tape too.

MiniDV camcorders also are in comparison with HDcam or XDcam way cheaper, so in your case I'd go with the miniDV.

And there actually are 3 types of HD:

- HD720, which has a res of 1280x720
- HDV, which has a res of 1440x1080
- HD1080 (also known as full HD), which records at 1920x1080.

In an HD camcorder, normal tapes will do, however Sony's HDV tapes or any other pro tape media will provide you with just a slightly cleaner image.

Another thing to take notice of when buying a comcorder is if the cam is interlaced or progressive.
An interlaced system will shoot (in case of NTSC) 60 times a second half the image, in lines, where progressive systems shoot 30x the full picture, which is better, sertainly at shots where there's a lot of movement, cause interlaced video will result in a phenomena called 'staircasing'.
Interlaced can be recognised by an 'i' as in "1080i" and progressive by a 'p'

Hope to have you informed on HD, WVD

Thanks that was informational... Seems like I read though that HDV cameras use a compression that sometimes make it difficult process extracting the video in for editing. Perhaps that only stood for one camera I was reading about. Can not remember. I did see however that HDV cameras also used mini dv. All I am looking for is a high def shot, firewire/usb, XLR, manual controls, and I am too tired to think of everything else.. I am about ready to toss the budget out the window and get a camera on payments. I know this is sad but I am almost at a point where I wish someone would say buy this camera.. Overwhelming when so much is out there and it appears so much of it could be wrong for me.

Found another one that caught my interest for under 4,000. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/357486-REG/Sony_HVRZ1U_HVR_Z1U_1_3_3_CCD_HDV.html#features

I did not see XLR or fire wire mentioned though.