A good camera for an amateur?

Good Amateur Video Camera?

• Hey, I am a amateur photographer, and I am looking to get into cinematography as well. I was wondering what a good camera would be, I am looking for a lower price line to start out, and if its something I really enjoy, upgrade. I know about 1080p video cams, and I was wondering if one of the more compact, consumer level ones would be a good start. I want to do all kinds of videos from short skits, music videos, to maybe something a little longer (documentaries). Any help would be awesome!

• Answer:

  Suggested list (depending on your budget pain threshhold): If you go the camcorder route: Canon HV40 Sony HDR-FX7 Sony HDR-FX1000 Canon XHA1 Panasonic AG-HVX200 There are lots more, but this is a decent start. Less than the HV40 and there is no manual audio control - and many times no audio-input for using external mics. As the lenses and imaging chips get bigger, the low-light behavior improves and the manual controls migrate from the camcorder's menu to the outside of the camcorder. Then there's the Nikon D60 and D90 and similar higher end units form Canon and others). These DSLRs happen to capture high definition video. It is very compressed. Audio controls are very limited (which paints you into the corner of recording audio separately to an audio "field recorder" like those from Zoom, M-Audio, Edirol, Tascam and many others). When you import the video for editing, just import that separately captured audio, sync and mute the audio captured by the camera.