Camera under £1000 for filmmaking and online content?

Jessicaaka

Hello.
I’ve just finished with my first short film with a wonderful camera operator but want to buy my own camera best suited for filmmaking.

The camera will be used for online content but also short films. I have a steadicam and sound equipment like an audio recorder already.

The camera used by my operator was a canon 700d and the resulting film looks good but they mentioned that it lacking a global shutter was one of its main flaws although there’s ways of dealing with that. Great Lenses on mounts and tripods etc.

Are there any good filmmaking cameras under £1000 that people would recommend? Should I be concerned about whether the camera has a rolling or global shutter? I like Canon but I’m open to other brands too.

Thankyou for reading!

dosdan

Depends on how much movement there is with your subject.

Rolling Shutter (RS): Standard for CMOS Image Sensors (CIS) - horiz. sensor lines are read out sequentially. This takes time. The lines are captured in turn so if significant horiz. movement occurs there will be a slant from the top to the bottom of the image. Look at the slant at the back of the arrow quill in the first msg and the slant of the ruler (supposed to be vert.) taped to the side of a moving car in the 2nd msg in the thread below:

Electronic Shutter Readout Speed

Global Shutter (GS) - Standard on CCD sensors (now almost obsolete, except in special fields such is astrophotography). All the horiz. lines are captured at the same time and then stored. They are then read out in-turn. The simultaneous capture means that no slanting occurs. A CIS does not normally have in-pixel storage - it can be added but this increases complexity, expense and uses part of the pixel's area for storage which would otherwise be used for light capture, so a CIS with GS has lower light sensitivity than a CIS without GS. This reduction in sensivity is not a problem when shooting under studio lights, but important if shooting under natural low-light levels.

The weirdly twisted/curved helicopter and aircraft propeller blades you often see in docos nowadays are due to the camera-person using CIS without GS.

Here's a 2012 Aptina white paper on CIS with GS:

http://www.guillermoluijk.com/article/rollingshutter/aptinaglobalshutterwhitepaper.pdf

Since that Aptina paper was written, Sony has commercially developed "stacked" CIS. The electronics can be on a separate plane behind the front sensor plane, which means that the front plane can be completely devoted to light capture, while individual pixel storage components can be on a plane behind this. This stacking is technically complex and is still expensive, but like all things will become cheaper with greater production. Eventually it may become cheap enough that most CIS, even in phones, will have stacked sensors with GS.

I do a lot of fast pans following the ball in junior soccer. This means the goal uprights often look quite slanted. Unless you do fast panning or your subject is moving quickly, RS may not be issue for you.

Dan.

Terfyn

Do you want a DSLR or a camcorder for recording video. A 4K camcorder should be the best for video plus a camcorder is more versatile than a stills camera. I am still using a HD camcorder but the pictures look brilliant on my new Panasonic TV.

Kamakazie

I thought Panasonic m43s we the go to for this sort or thing?

12harry

I suspect the clue is in the intro  "....I've just finished with my first short film with a wonderful..."
Therefore I suspect OP will want something like the  Canon 700D ( £450 - £900 depending on zoom range) - which as you all know is a DSLR.  Whilst they are not as convenient to use as a camcorder, the extensive range of lenses and that "Cinematic feeling" appears to persuade many folks that a camcorder is nothing like what they want.
Some  Movie-Making clubs rather foster this, with arrays of expensive gear and the odd Blackmagic with borrowed-lenses.
However, all that clobber is very expensive and time-consuming   heavy to move about. That's not so much an issue when film-making, but a woeful overhead if you just want to make a short film about something or other with a zero-budget, on your own!
RS   GS . . . .  can't say I've ever noticed these, - - - except on YT where folks are complaining. I don't film "sports" so I guess it's rare for anything to show-up ....even if I did pan quickly [ which I don't -  landscape-pans are done slowly, then cropped/speeded-up in the Edit. Since you can't "fix" a (too-fast) pan, but you can create one later...]

I guess it depends what Jessicaaka wants to do - film-making with moody lens shots  - & where having the "right-gear" is important amongst some - OR a modern 4K camcorder with decent Audio facilities and some useful film-making tricks, for those situations you can't find competent crews.
I think the £1000 is the toughie - it's good for  Sony and Pana Camcorders and might get a decent DSLR Lens from Canon - or the Blackmagic "pocket cinema" which has almost no facilities at all. But if Film-making is really important then the Camcorder needs to be in the £4k bracket, giving improved Audio and ND filters - like HXR-NX80 - good for streaming and has the Log feature for colour-grading, it has a 10-bit colour option too . . . but all this comes at a price . . . However, if your next short-film has a "budget" then maybe paying a little more towards the Camcorder could be worthwhile...?

Steadycams ( do you mean the full-harness, or maybe a gimbal-unit?) - are difficult to use IMHO and need a lot of strength. In many situations there will be an alternative and a small change in scrip will work wonders.
Audio-recorder . . . this doesn't tell me anything... they are available form a basic ( but anything's better than a DSLR - or Blackmagic ), up to quite fancy multi-track recorders that need a Manual attached to record even a small drama.

Perhaps you should be waiting until the next short-film appears....  After the Story-board, the shooting-list and several re-writes - then you'll know if RS GS is really worth worrying about.

The "pro" cameras (DSLR/Camcorder) do lack many features found on the top-consumer camcorders - which almost always do stills- typically 20Mpx. It maybe this dual-service that attracts folks to DSLR - but their  kit-lens is poor and those others cost £££ots.... their
Audio is severely limited....usually.
Have you thought of joining a movie-making club? - there will be many cameras on show with all their faults exposed.
...Good Luck...

Jessicaaka

I know great sound people and other crew etc that’s not the problem. Just having my own self shooting set up for videos on a social platform and potentially being able to use that too for filming if operating the camera myself instead of another person. I’d love to have £4K to spend on that but as an intern/student just don’t have that kind of cash. Good to know the shutter thing isn’t a huge issue as I’m not intending to shoot race cars or sports anytime soon.
Jessica

JabbaNut

Start simple or even go 1080.

If doing video blogs, go look what other folk are broadcasting, showing the videos in. 4K is nice but it limits viewers to those with a fast enough connection. Do you have a powerful PC and editing software for 4K?

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/cameras-and-camcorders/camcorders/camcorders/digital-camcorders/panasonic-hc-vx1eb-k-4k-ultra-hd-camcorder-black-10176059-pdt.html


PANASONIC HC-VX980EB-K 4K Ultra HD Camcorder - Black


Or film with your webcam, phone or tablet?

Terfyn

Or you can convert to HD and edit in the old fashioned way.

JabbaNut

Just film in 1080 the old fashion way.

12harry

Knowing that Jessicaaka is a Media-Student changes things - esp Budget.
However, HD is perfectly acceptable to audiences - and also some competitions for "Film-Makers"
However, try waiting ( then buying "good" from a known User), as it may be better to wait. Facilities on camcorders are being improved to compete with DSLRs  ( and phones!). While the number of ProCamcorders sold is small ( and hence the high price). Many of their facilities are just not available, without some accessories and messing-about.  
In particular having a shallow DoF - by using a large-aperture lens and some neutral density filters ( to get the exposure correct ). Few consumer cameras have this facility and any that do are about £1k5 . . .  which is out of the reach of many. Also, any camera outputs for a mixing-desk are usually absent - the best you may expect is HDMI.

Good Luck with your projects.