Newbie from SD
 

Howdy all!
I'm a totally newbie from sunny San Diego. I am looking to do a documentary but have no idea what equipment I would need. (yeah I know it all started with an idea and NO experience whatsoever)
I would need something that would have good resolution for low light and pick up sound with out a lot of distortion. There will be a lot of low light/ night filming as well as filiming during the day/ studio. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking at the Cannon XL1 and the Sony VX1000 (seem to be really popluar and from what I've read good cameras) but like I said suggestions would be helpful

Sarah,

firstly welcome, you've come to the right place. It sounds like you are planning to follow a band around or something. I'm stoked to see someone getting their hands dirty from just an idea.

As for cameras, the XL1 is perfect for all the things you mentioned. The VX1000 is a great camera to, but I'd recommend the Canon GL1. Why? Some accessories are interchangable between the two cameras, batteries for instance. The XL1/GL1 images match each other better than the Canon/Sony. The GL1 has better optics/IS than the Sony. I'm not sure about the VX1000's low light performance compared to the GL1 but I can tell you the XL1 is better in that respect.

When shooting, i'd use the XL1 as the main camera, especially for critical audio, the XL1's on camera handling of audio is a little better and the GL1 with a wide angle attachment for second angle/close work.

Good luck

XL1S
 

For what its worth, I just bought an XL1s after researching the matter a bit. I started with buying the vx2000, then deciding that the xl1s was better because I liked the idea that you can slap options to it, unlike the sony. I decided I wanted the "film look", and I read about the xl1s doing 30 fps progressive scan, and the sony only doing 15. After getting the camera realizing that its not true progressive scan, and sony actually uses an algorithm to simulate 30fps progressive scan, but whats all that mean? I guess it just depends on the quality of the picture you want if you want to put it on film to the big screen. Oh, before I got the xl1s, and after the vx2000, I thought about buying the pd150, basically the vx2000 but considered professional. I guess they fixed the problem with the audio in the pd150 but not the vx. They were out of stock so I bought the XL1s. Anyway, I've been playing the the xls1 on a tripod with the stablizer on, I would bump the pod and noticed that the picture drifts. I guess thats normal but I dont know, other than dont bump the tripod, haha. When I turn the stablizer off, it doesnt drift. I'm just waiting to drop this puppy or at least scratch it so I'm dont have to treat it like an egg. Oh by the way, I'm not a wimp but this camera starts to bother my arm and my hand. I have long arms, so that the shoulder rest that it comes with doesnt work well, I feel it's too short a should rest. I guess I'm going to have to go and but the MA200. Oh the other reason I liked this camera, is that you can put my canon EOS lenses on it with an adapter. I hope that helps you somewhat.

Hey Sarah, just had a look at your site, props to ya, education is much better than prohibitation.

For raves, I'd suggest getting a Mini Disk recorder to hook up to the DJ's desk, that way you will get an uninterupted digital audio track to edit with. For people speaking, crowd reactions the XL1's onboard mike will do the job nicely.

thanks for the input!