Which Camera Should I Get To Shoot My Indie Feature?

Here’s a question I get asked just about every day: “which camera should I get to shoot my indie feature?” Well of course with anything in life it depends. These days the choices are wider than ever. You can shoot on anything from a Sony Handycam DV camera that costs $500 to a RED One that costs $30K+ with lenses to a Panavision Genesis that you can’t even buy- rental only.

I’m going to assume for the purposes of this article that most of our readers are somewhere in the mid-range. You have more than a few bucks to spend on the camera but you’re not rolling in the dough. You want something that looks good enough to project in a movie theater but it doesn’t have to be an IMAX camera.

So with that in mind I want to break it down to two cameras I think you should look at, the Panasonic HVX200 and the Sony EX1.

Both cameras are capable of shooting high definition at several different resolutions, the most common being 720p/24p and 1080/24p. The 720 and 1080 refer to the vertical resolution of the image in pixels and the 24p means it shoots 24 frames per second progressive, just like a film camera. You can learn more about what all that means here. The short of it is that both cameras shoot a picture you can project onto a movie screen that will look good(assuming it’s lit and composed well.)

Why not one camera over the other? Well, personally I think that both of these cameras are quite evenly matched, which is kind of a rarity in the digital camera world. The HVX200 has been around longer and so the workflow in post is a bit more standardized, it also shoots DVCPROHD as its compression format. That’s a better quality of compression than the EX1’s XDCAM EX. But it’s also a less efficient codec, meaning it takes up more space on the memory cards that both cameras use. There are a lot of other minor differences in terms of workflow and ergonomics that brings it down to personal choice.

That’s right, both the EX1 and the HVX200 shoot their footage to memory cards, much like the SD or CF card you probably have in your digital still camera already. The HVX200 uses P2, while the EX1 shoots to SxS. The upside is that without an HD tape deck involved, these cameras can be a lot cheaper, durable and lightweight. The downside is you have to be really careful when you’re shooting that you don’t accidentally erase footage before you’ve had a chance to transfer it to a hard drive, but you can figure that out pretty quick.

The HVX200 and EX1 are also variable frame rate cameras. This means you can shoot cool slow motion and funny high speed motion just like some film cameras do. The creative possibilities are endless- but don’t overdo it. A little slow-mo can be cool, a lot can be pretentious and boring. So pick your battles.

Both cameras work with Final Cut Pro, which I highly recommend as your editing platform of choice. Final Cut Pro is very powerful and reasonably easy to learn. It’s also priced relatively cheaply at around $1,200- you can even get it for less if you’re in school or a teacher. Most importantly, FCP is in use on many films, TV shows music videos, etc. So on those days when you’re not working on your own movie, you can potentially use your FCP skills to edit for a living.

Finally for a little bit of shameless self-promotion, I do think it’s critical you learn to use these cameras properly. They are not exactly point and shoot and with both having solid-state memory cards to record to rather than tape, the workflow may be completely new to you. So with that in mind, I humbly offer my own training DVDs. I have one for the HVX200 and one for the EX1.

Anyways, hope that’s given you a bit of food for thought. I highly recommend renting or at least demoing both cameras at your local camera shop, which if you’re in L.A. or NYC I’d suggest Abel Cine Tech. Determine which one you like better in terms of look and workflow. Then get out there and shoot your movie!

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