Notes,

I spent most of the day trying to figure out what the best answer is for you. Most of the answers given are decent so I wouldn’t argue with them. The new digital video capabilities of our phones and other devices is amazing. On the other hand, the last generation of video cameras is considered obsolete by professional and advanced amateur videographers so they can be had for a song on eBay. The miniDVs were and still are an amazing camera with a lot of Pro capabilities. When the Canon gl2 came out about 18 years ago, I bought one for our wedding/portrait business and the cost was painful. 5 years ago I went online and bought 4 more for less than half the price I had spent on the one when it was brand new. What do I need with 5 camcorders? How interesting is a video with just one perspective versus 5 perspectives synced together and edited in a good video program like Vegas? The only problem right now in working with the miniDVs is that it is getting harder and harder to find the old firewire cables and connectors needed to tie them together. At any rate, looking for a number of cheap older camcorders that you can set up a different locations, with different points of focus, and different zoom beats the hell out of an expensive camera just sitting there with no variation in the look.

There are two other things that are more important than the camera though. If you look at most of the bad videos on YouTube, they fall short on lighting and on audio. You can spend 20 grand on a video camera but if you don’t understand back lights, hair lights, fill lights etc, you end up with a flat dull looking video. Spend a little less on the camera and buy sufficient light to light yourself and create separation between the subject and the background and you will have a better product. Also, at this point, you probably have invested way more money in recording technology than you are ever going to invest in videography. Learn to sync a live recording with your video and leverage what you are already good at and invested in rather than rely on in camera audio.

Keith
2026 Audiophile Windows 11 RYZEN THREADRIPPER 3960X 4.5GHZ 128 GB RAM 2 Nvidia RTX 3090s, Vegas,Acid,SoundForge,Izotope Production,Melodyne Studio,SONAR,3 Raven Mtis