Home video equipment

I was ballparking in the $400 range for a decent camera especially if it is only going to be used at home or personal use. When it gets down to the nuts and bolts of editing the frame rate is going to give you more to play with than resolution ultimately will. If you are just splicing some weekend fun clips together with a Barry White overlay you don't need anything fancy. 720 Looks great on your phone and you don't really have to shoot at 4k unless you're going to hump on the big screen. 8mm still doesn't look bad as long as you do lighting well. You would just have to make sure no one shaved their woohoos so it would have the right feel.

@Holly

What models and price point are you at with those camcorders?

And how is the battery life for recording?

2Outdoor, a long while back we did a series of outdoor videos and relied on some mid-level Sony camcorders. If you aren't really going to do anything complex like tracking an arrow you can probably even use an Iphone or just a mid-lever camcorder with a mic port. If you are going to use multiple angles and multiple cameras it is a good idea to have two of the same camera. Every camera deals with light and especially color differently. Tracking was mentioned with DSLR and that is tech that started with the video camera and was shifted over. The video camera will track and focus a bit better than a dslr. The important thing is making sure you get your audio done well. Get a decent shotgun mic for your camera and then find a lapel and connect it to an audio recorder or your phone. You always need at least two decent sources for audio. An Iphone does well with most of this especially if you are close to the subject and static. Experiment with different equipment as much as you can before you make a commitment.

Pretty much stationary video I think. My imagination says 75% stationary 25% moving.

Not hunting vids like you see all the time like kill shots etc. Rather instructional videos for kids and such. I've recently gotten my hunters safety instructor certification and want to expand on that via you tube.

I love working with kids in areas that I feel comfortable saying that I'm knowledgeable in.

@2out

Are you filming YOU, the weapon used for hunting, the area or the animal? Those are different focal ranges.

You might want to look at something that has a gimbal or some damn good stabilization if you are moving around. Imagine that you are filming getting out of the vehicle to the spot where you are going hunting. Do you want the image to go up and down as you walk or do you want it stable?

I assume that you are not going to shoot at night.

GoPros are interesting devices. They do a good job, but . . . they really like to friggin overheat EASILY. That pisses me off. They have lots of attachments and that IMO is what made them what they are. You can attach it to your chest. You can attach it to your head, like the old miner's lights. You can attach it to your arm, etc. Hell, someone probably even made a mount for over your shoulder :)

If you want to use the camera and NOT have it overheat, honestly, don't film at 4k.

Interesting thread to follow.

I myself have thought about buying a dig vid camera for doing you tube vids about hunting. Mainly outdoor daylight stuff. I have ZERO idea where or what to even look at.

@Melvin

I mentioned AF because of the mention of go pros. That made me think that there may not be a cameraman, but a camera. It is also why I kinda pushed a DSLR over a dedicated video camera. When I was looking into doing my production work, I needed autotracking. Finding the person in the frame to focus on. As sex is not the same as a still, I thought that may be an issue. Honestly, I am not sure if the video camera offers that feature. I suspect that they probably do, but I am not sure. I also mentioned the DSLR setup because of the availability of lenses and . . . wait for it . . . cost! But again, if the budget supports it, yeah, a dedicated camcorder would be better.

BTW, Rhode mics kick butt :) The issue with lighting as mentioned about shadows is dead on accurate. I think the OP may not be thinking of the color of the light. As was also mentioned, that will have a huge impact on the production, more so than the camera.

@Erotic,

I know you know your stuff with audio-visual production, as you and I have talked about it before. But, why mention autofocus, when that is the dead giveaway of someone that knows what or knows not what they are doing, behind the camera. Why not just simply explain how to properly manual focus a cheap or expensive camera and that a camera or even a hunting rifle scope properly focused will still give a quality shot? Once I learned the fundamental of proper focus, I use that on cell phone cameras, any video camera and when setting up hunting rifle scopes.

@Demos,

When searching for equipment, look for a camera that can shoot in a wide range of aspect ratios and can shoot in standard format AND high definition format. When using lower aspect ratio, the less clear the video will be, but it won't be a lot of memory/file size. The higher the aspect ratio you go, the more clear the video will be, but the more memory/file size is used.

Demos, one of the secrets of the trade in videography is well Lighting. For ages production companies have used less expensive cameras with the same resolution as the more expensive cameras. When you buy an expensive camera you are paying for essentially flexibility in how you can shoot. However, if you fully control the scene or setting that isn't necessarily an issue at all. The only issue we have ever had with any action cams is the wide angle lens may or may not fit the shot you are looking for. We have used YI action cams for most all of our general/ static/ wide angle shots and they will work similarly to your Go Pro. Now if you are wanting to have a dynamic or moving camera for a panning shot and your lighting isn't uniform it won't matter what type of camera you get. Human bodies in motion create lots of shadows which can be great for still shots in black and white, but aren't great with video. That takes you back to having more lighting than you think you need. It will feel like being caught in the headlights of semi. If heading toward other cameras lean toward a mid-level or a semi-pro camcorder as opposed to a dslr. The camcorders are made for doing what you want to do whereas the dslr works best as a static camera. The camcorder will focus and adjust to subtle changes in lighting much faster than a dslr will. We use Rhode mics, but any good mic will work and you will want to set up an audio recorder with a mic separate from your cameras. You can never have enough lighting or audio sources. With the camcorder you can get a very capable used one for the price of the best Gopro. Head to BestBuy or a camera shop and play around with the cameras there and see which ones you really like and don't like.

Lighting, amusingly, is the very least of our worries with the lamps I use as a miniature painter being remarkably suited to lighting action in the bedroom. I've done some very low quality filming with higher end web cams that isn't bad but I'd like to move up to something a little more professional grade in the camera dept. Something like 2 or 3 remote controllable gimble mounted vlogger cams with microphones is what I'm considering

As was mentioned . . .

LIGHTING.

and

LIGHTING

and btw . . .

LIGHTING.

Then it depends upon the quality level that you are looking for as well as the budget. And when I say budget, I mean budget for camera, lenses, stands, microphone(s), and software.

I have done a bunch of very professional looking videos for training on software applications. I have done some that are 5 minutes long to me ranting for over 2 hours on a topic. I am a HUGE fan of the Sony cameras. I have a 6600. They are now in the 7 series. But Sony, imo, has the best and fastest autofocus and I can shoot at 4k 30fps. I pull the data into Davinci Resolve and then edit/produce. For the work that I have done, I do not need to shoot light that far, so I use Neewer 5600k lights on tripods. They shot all of about 3' to my face. But I like the brand. For microphones, I am a fan of Shure. I pull the microphones into a Mackie ProFXv3 10.

Be careful if you go down the Canon route. A LOT of their cameras will ONLY shoot videos for 30 minutes. They do not want people buying their digital cameras instead of the video cameras.

If you want something a little better than GoPros and not at Sony pricing, look at the Insta360 products. You are stuck with the fixed lense but it will not suffer from the GoPro overheating issue. :)

Good luck!

I have used a Go-Pro and various phones to capture moments. It isn't so much the camera used, but the lighting, the scene background, the action being recorded, and the camera operator that makes or breaks a good video. A professional camera will make zooming in/out easier and have better aperature control. But spending 10x what a Go-Pro costs won't fix a messy background. Just my tuppence.

My wife and I are interested in some video production for our own entertainment and I'm looking for suggestions on cameras. Thus far the only camera selection I'm certain of is no go pros- neither of us enjoys the adult entertainment we've seen shot with them.