Video geniuses, help me with this one please.
We are a small non-profit theatre company that works with actors who use sign-language (the actors are both deaf and hearing).
Our current camera (a decent Canon tape DV camera) has broken down so I am looking for a new one quite quickly.
I need:
1. A very simple way of filming and playing back / copying the best bits of rehearsals
2. A camera that films the final production as high quality as possible given the budget, with a final release on standard-def format.
I'm not sure if one camera can satisfy both situations, so I'm thinking something like a Flip for option 1, and a cheap but decent in low light flash-based HD camera for option 2.
- sound doesn't matter as the dialogue is all physical.
- for the same reason, it has to be pretty good at capturing the subtle details of movement and motion.
- We don't film much at all. An entire day of rehearsals will end with less than 30 mins filmed. We only film the best bits / the end-of-day run-through. A production is about 100 minutes, filmed in one go, on one night.
- rehearsals is in bright light, but a production is always in low light (theatre lighting is much lower than film lighting) so it needs to show good quality and low noise / smooth motion in low light.
- we use very little zoom or panning in both rehearsals and production filming. Just stick the camera on the tripod and leave it there.
-For rehearsals, auto-mode is good enough.
-For production, I set up the camera on the tripod, lock it down, fixed manual focus, white balance, sometimes spotlight mode, tweak the gain / noise, iris, and generally babysit it through the performance.
- The rehearsal camera has to be incredibly, stupidly easy to setup and use. I can't always be there, and I want a video camera that lets the non-technical people here easily transfer files to our macbooks for review and easily make copies on DVD or flashdrives to give to the actors for home review.
My budget is about £600. ($1000) Going a bit under would be better.
Like I said, I don't think 1 camera can cover both situations, but I'm happy to be proved wrong.
I'm thinking a 60i or 60p HD camera would be good for capturing smooth movement in productions, but all the reviews I have read say the cheap ones are poor and noisy in low light, which is a no-no for me as productions are always in low light.
Any ideas?
We are a small non-profit theatre company that works with actors who use sign-language (the actors are both deaf and hearing).
Our current camera (a decent Canon tape DV camera) has broken down so I am looking for a new one quite quickly.
I need:
1. A very simple way of filming and playing back / copying the best bits of rehearsals
2. A camera that films the final production as high quality as possible given the budget, with a final release on standard-def format.
I'm not sure if one camera can satisfy both situations, so I'm thinking something like a Flip for option 1, and a cheap but decent in low light flash-based HD camera for option 2.
- sound doesn't matter as the dialogue is all physical.
- for the same reason, it has to be pretty good at capturing the subtle details of movement and motion.
- We don't film much at all. An entire day of rehearsals will end with less than 30 mins filmed. We only film the best bits / the end-of-day run-through. A production is about 100 minutes, filmed in one go, on one night.
- rehearsals is in bright light, but a production is always in low light (theatre lighting is much lower than film lighting) so it needs to show good quality and low noise / smooth motion in low light.
- we use very little zoom or panning in both rehearsals and production filming. Just stick the camera on the tripod and leave it there.
-For rehearsals, auto-mode is good enough.
-For production, I set up the camera on the tripod, lock it down, fixed manual focus, white balance, sometimes spotlight mode, tweak the gain / noise, iris, and generally babysit it through the performance.
- The rehearsal camera has to be incredibly, stupidly easy to setup and use. I can't always be there, and I want a video camera that lets the non-technical people here easily transfer files to our macbooks for review and easily make copies on DVD or flashdrives to give to the actors for home review.
My budget is about £600. ($1000) Going a bit under would be better.
Like I said, I don't think 1 camera can cover both situations, but I'm happy to be proved wrong.
I'm thinking a 60i or 60p HD camera would be good for capturing smooth movement in productions, but all the reviews I have read say the cheap ones are poor and noisy in low light, which is a no-no for me as productions are always in low light.
Any ideas?
