greetings from texas.
 

My friends call me Andy. At the moment the only camera I own is a small Samsung miniDV camcorder. I'm trying to put together a film project for a city-wide Art celebration next month. The project would consist of a few short films made with different people from around the area. I plan to have a donation jar somewhere with the hopes of the contents funding my next project.
All of the films would be about music somehow and I've already a few ideas in mind that I would like to shoot but I'm trying to get a hold of a good camera. My camcorder is nice but I would prefer to shoot it on something else. Something a little more professional and with better quality of video.

Any recommendations?

Welcome to DVinfo Andy!

How much do you think you'd be willing to spend on your next camera? I'm kinda in the same boat. The only equipment I really have access to is what my college will let me use.
I personally have my eye on the re-release of the Sony fx7. It's got great specs for $2000 and a lot of people on this forum have positive experiences with it.

A few of the many things to keep in mind when choosing a camcorder:

1. Make sure it shoots in a format that your computer can handle if you plan on editing at all (unless you feel like buying a fancy computer as well). If you don't have a killer computer, I'd shy away from cameras that shoot in AVCHD.

2. Make sure you budget in a decent tripod

3. Make sure you budget in a decent mic if you plan on your work being seen.


Good luck!

alright i'll definitely keep all that in mind.

I have another question, what type of film format do most of the current motion pictures use if they even use film at all?

Most feature films use 35mm/super-35mm film...then have the film digitized for the editing process.

I think IMAX uses 70mm but I am not sure...

Some indie productions use 16mm.

I really don't know much about it though. Digital video and Films you see in theaters used to be completely separate worlds until pretty recently with the development of new cameras that can shoot in a high enough resolution to hold up well on the big screen (i.e. RED cameras).