Welcome to filmmaking.net!

I?m sure you understand that to get the look of the films you
mention experienced professionals worked hard. The camera itself
is just a tool - an important tool, but a tool in the hands of
experienced, talented professionals.

Even shooting at night needs a lot of light. No camera will give
you the look of The Terminator The Crying Game Jacob's Ladder
and Blue Velvet without a lot of lighting equipment.

With a limited budget you are restricted to the camera, lenses and
lighting equipment you can buy and you are limited to the level
of experienced people needed to get the look you want.

You can still make a great movie, but to get the look you want the
camera alone won?t do it. Even if you spent $100,000 on a top of
the line digital camera or a 35mm film camera if you don?t have
the skills, talent and experience, you are going to find it very
difficult to get the look of the film you mention.

Lastly, the camera isn?t what determines black and white or color.
Every camera - film or DV - can shoot both. With a film camera
you choose black and white film and on DV you take the color out
in your editing program.

There are three things that are VERY important when getting a
camera:

Three CCD?s
Manual controls for the iris, shutter, focus and white balance.
A microphone input.

In the $1,000 - $1,500 range:

The JVC GZ-MG505 is in the $800 range. It has a mic input and
records to a 30GB HHD.

I like the new JVC GZ-HD7. I?ve seen these on line for as little
as $1,200. A really nice Fujinon lens makes a huge difference and
full manual controls is important. Three 1/5? 16:9 progressive
scan CCD?s are pretty impressive for a camera in this price
range. It records directly to a built in 60GB hard drive. It has
manual controls, a mic input and an excellent focus ring which is
surprisingly rare on small cameras.

Both the JVC HD5 and HD6 have a mic input and both record to HDD -
the HD6 can record 1080/60p through HDMI - pretty impressive.

The Panasonic PV-GS400 is terrific 3CCD cameras. Unfortunately,
it?s hard to find and that?s too bad. It?s a great little camera.
The 500 doesn?t have a mic input - what are they thinking?

Close is the Canon HV20. It records in HDV (1080i) and 24p (60i),
has a mic input and manual controls of white balance and focus
but it uses one 1/2.7? CMOS sensor rather than 3 CCD?s. For me
the jury is still out on the CMOS. And it?s so small the handling
is difficult.

The HV30 adds a 30f (Canon?s ?frame mode?) in addition to 24p.

The Sony HDR-SR12 has a mic input and a good sized 120GB HDD. It
uses a 1/3? CMOS chip and like the Canon is really small. Because
of the input placement, the mic cable kept getting in my way. The
HR9 (which records to tape) is also a nice, very small, camera
with the essentials. Again the mic input is just below the lens
which is rather poor placement, in my opinion.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Thank you. Your response was very informative. I'm going to investigate all the cameras you mentioned.