Whey-hey!
Great - let's expand the market!
I can tell you what I like and dislike about mine, and you can read more about the trials and tribulations if you really want to by going to my blog.
I bought a Panasonic GS180. It is small, compact, and gives a good image. There is an onboard stereo mic, but given that the separation is just a few millimetres, I don't really see haow it workd differently from mono. Plus it picks up everything, so that's why I've been experimenting with other mics. I'm now using an Audio Technica radio mic and it is great. Also half the price of a Sennheiser. It plugs into the camera itself and records on the audio track, so there is no problem with synching a separate recording.
It does have an automatic white balance, but to be honest, this has caused me a few problems. I've had to correct several shots in the software. I'm doing a manual white balance for every single shot. Lights and whites, as we now call it. I now know that the reason why my YouTube video (3000 hits - not all me!) is so weird is because we didn't set the white balance. It's crucial.
There is quite a decent zoom on it, but it's not as smooth as a professional camera. And you can't preset the zoom-to point (although you can't on many pro cams either) so zooming, especially if it is combined with pan and tilt, is a real skill. Bob's getting good at it - I didn't realise how good untill I tried to do it myself. It's tricky.
You MUST get a good tripod. If you already use a little ali one for a compact, it will not be adequate for a camcorder - not if you ever paln to move the camera, anyway. I have a Hama which has been great for stills - all my mag pictures havfe been taken on it, but it was hopelessly inadequate for even this little camcorder. I've ended up with a big, heavy and expensive Manfrotto. It's superb.
Talking of stills, you can take stills with this, but as I've never done it, I don't know hw they come out. Another option is to export stills from your footage using the DV editing software.
Now then DV editing software. It is a MINEFIELD. There are lots out there, and you get some with the camera. I tried loads and it took me ages. Seems like weeks in retrospect, but it was certainly many days. I've finally settled on Adobe Prodution Studio. Yes it's expensive, but it is excellent, and I've not yet found anything that I want to do that it can't do.
You know, if enough people were interested (it would need a few to keep the cost down) I'd consider running a weekend course on all this. I guess I must be quite knowledgable really. No expert yet, but I've made all the mistakes that everyone else is going to make, and then some.
Finally, you probably want to know if, after all that, I would recommend the camera. Yes I would, with reservations. It's good for the money, but it's not professional
I'm being offered a JVC GY-DV300E, for about £1500. It's recon, ex-JVC themselves. It's no longer available, but had a good reputation (according to the sales guy!) when it was the latest thing, about 5 years ago. I'm tempted. It will give me broadcast quality, and has inputs for two separate stereo mics. It big, though, the sort you hold on your shoulder. Bob has even offered to go halves with me. My main reluctance is due to the fact that this project has already cost me more than I've earned in the last year, and I've still got no idea if I'll sell a hundred copies or a hundred thousand.
So for now, I'm sticking with this, and if it all starts to take off, I'll upgrade later.
All the best with it!
