I recently bought a professional video camera, in order to start producing web shows. I wanted to share with you some of my considerations when I chose my camera – you might find it useful:
Buy or rent – you can rent pro camcorder in every major city. The pros here are simple – you can get a great camera for a low price. However, god is in the details. You should first check the cost of rental as % of a brand new camera. For instance, I found that I can rent a camera for 250$ per week, while a new pro cam (though not HD) will cost me approx 1500$. Hence, if I buy a camera and use it for ~7 weeks, I am better off then renting one. Add to that the fact that with a rented camera you probably have a limited time experimenting (cause you won’t just rent it to play with it) and you see that in some cases it is better to buy one.
HD or not HD – HD is hyped a lot these days, and no one argues that the picture is as crisp as it can be. I decided to go SD. HD requires stronger editing computers. This is a major consideration, as I am going to use desktop for my editing. Also, as I am producing web and mobile content, it seems that HD is not my top priority. Due to the fact that HD is hyped, you can get a decent SD camera for a relatively low price.
Camera Considerations – Part I
I recently bought a professional video camera, in order to start producing web shows. I wanted to share with you some of my considerations when I chose my camera – you might find it useful:
Buy or rent – you can rent pro camcorder in every major city. The pros here are simple – you can get a great camera for a low price. However, god is in the details. You should first check the cost of rental as % of a brand new camera. For instance, I found that I can rent a camera for 250$ per week, while a new pro cam (though not HD) will cost me approx 1500$. Hence, if I buy a camera and use it for ~7 weeks, I am better off then renting one. Add to that the fact that with a rented camera you probably have a limited time experimenting (cause you won’t just rent it to play with it) and you see that in some cases it is better to buy one.
HD or not HD – HD is hyped a lot these days, and no one argues that the picture is as crisp as it can be. I decided to go SD. HD requires stronger editing computers. This is a major consideration, as I am going to use desktop for my editing. Also, as I am producing web and mobile content, it seems that HD is not my top priority. Due to the fact that HD is hyped, you can get a decent SD camera for a relatively low price.
Part II coming soon….