I am about to start on a feature in the next couple weeks and was trying to decided what camera to use. I will need two cameras, since this will be shoot done over several months were renting camera's is just not possible since I will be having to work around crew, actors, and location schedules.
My current budget has $7000 for cameras and I have heard decent things about the XH-A1 and I have found a place selling them for $3300 a piece which would obviously fit my budget.
About 75% of the film will be shot outdoors and probably 25% will be shot outdoors at night. Has anyone had experience with this camera at night?
I'm most certainly not a camera person either, so is this a camera that I would be able to work if my camera people or DP are unable to make it to a shoot?
If this camera is not really good for what I am wanting, do you have any suggestions for a camera that I would be able to buy 2 of for less than $7000 that would suit my needs better?
Since my budget has been raised from private investors, I am also hoping to get this film into festivals and hopefully get a distribution deal, as my co-writer and I have been writing this script for over a year and we feel it is really good and also very marketable at the moment(as it is a genre that is very popular at the moment).
Any help is appreciated.
hey
Ive been trained with this camera my self, an would definatly recommend it as a good camera to use, Though I have never used the camera in the dark.
Its an easy caqmera to work with and I would imagive that if you play with the exposure setting that it would take in enough light to serve your perpose if you light the scene properly? Or my suggestion to you is to go with day-for night shooting in which you use a dark filter to represent night time.
Hope that helps?
Cleary.
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I have purchased this outstanding camera. I have been able to test it out in various different settings and let me say that it performs very well, the colors are very true and deep. On the topic of shooting in low light situations let me say that it is very well suited. I have taken it out during the "magic hour" where the sun is just about to fully disappear from the sky and the video was still pretty clean. Of course you would need just a few more lights to make it perfect, but if you are filming a "skateboarding thing" (just an example) in a park on evening this would be able to do the job fairly well.
I've used it before and it's definitely a great camera, in fact I'm almost sure Crank 2 is being shot on this camera. I found some nice footage shot with that camera, so you might want to take a look at it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqFHKLNRIA0&feature=related
If you can spare some more cash, I would suggest going for a Panasonic HVX200. This camera shoots in true HD and the image is beautiful, especially if you're using something like the m2 adapter. I'm not sure how much they cost now but probably somewhere around 4 or 5 thousand. Here's some footage I shot with that camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O-7YIcTGzI I'll post something a lot better, this was my first time using the camera after only using it a couple of times.
If you're still going for the Canon though, it's definitely worth it, like I said earlier, Crank 2 is being shot with that camera...so the camera is being considered for major theatrical releases.
quote:
Originally posted by MovieMagicMan
I am about to start on a feature in the next couple weeks and was trying to decided what camera to use. I will need two cameras, since this will be shoot done over several months were renting camera's is just not possible since I will be having to work around crew, actors, and location schedules.My current budget has $7000 for cameras and I have heard decent things about the XH-A1 and I have found a place selling them for $3300 a piece which would obviously fit my budget.
About 75% of the film will be shot outdoors and probably 25% will be shot outdoors at night. Has anyone had experience with this camera at night?
I'm most certainly not a camera person either, so is this a camera that I would be able to work if my camera people or DP are unable to make it to a shoot?
If this camera is not really good for what I am wanting, do you have any suggestions for a camera that I would be able to buy 2 of for less than $7000 that would suit my needs better?
Since my budget has been raised from private investors, I am also hoping to get this film into festivals and hopefully get a distribution deal, as my co-writer and I have been writing this script for over a year and we feel it is really good and also very marketable at the moment(as it is a genre that is very popular at the moment).
Any help is appreciated.
I've owned a an XH-A1 for a little while now and, while it does shoot great images, you have to make sure that your tape is of decent quality. I've recently had problems with some tapes I shot, lot's of drop outs and digital distortions. Just something to be aware of, before you invest.
Also, make sure whoever is editing understands the A1 workflow. Some people just plug in and it works, but for me it took many hours of trial and error, researching the internet, etc.
I've done some low light shooting (ie night), but you have to increase the gain, which makes the images noisy and washed out. I would definitely have decent artificial lighting. But in a pinch this camera can shoot in very low light conditions.
Overall, once you get it into the computer, just beautiful imagery. Watch this amazing video, shot with the A1:
Good luck.
