Way OT: semi-pro video production?

[Ken Ford]

I've been considering picking up an industrial grade camcorder as an adjunct to my railroad action photography interests. I was involved in video production back in middle school, so the concept isn't totally foreign to me.

The last time I considered doing this was back when Canon released the XL1 (mid 90s?). I have no idea what's out there now, but suspect I could easily find a used XL1 or XL1s for not much more than $1000US. I'm willing to consider it, especially since I can easily sell my take if I can re-learn simple editing.

Anybody out there that works with this kind of gear that can comment, offer advice, or point the way to good on-line resources for learning video production?

 

[DavidH]

Well, I never liked the XL1 but there are a whole raft of cameras around now that would do the job. Only drawback with the older ones is that they will still be 4:3 ratio rather than 16:9 which is pretty much demanded everywhere in the world these days - not sure of the US market for SIV but most people prefer a native 16:9 picture to go with their TVs.

The modern options include hard disk (tapeless) recording...which again I'm no fan of - we use P2 cameras and while a pile of tapes can be easily transported in a bag and be robust, file footage has to be backed up on hard drive (so at least 2 drives everywhere) and we all know how robust hard drives are right...?

DV is cheap as chips, well supported, can be digitised straight out of the camera, will run with pretty much any edit package and still gives good pic quality.

In your place I would pick up a used Sony PDX10 - one of the best 16:9 DV cameras I ever used (in broadcast) - probably kick about for about 1200 these days.

Edit wise, well depends on what format you buy into at the end of the day.

Dont forget a tripod...

Have fun

 

[Ken Ford]

David, thanks for the tips.

I've registered for a community TV production class at the local community college so I can get a low-cost taste of current day video. I'll know more after then.

Any websites you can suggest with discussion forums?

 

[ywenz]

I 2nd that the XL1 is no good. It was a poor camera resolution wise even back in the day. The main thing the XL1 had going for itself was at the time, it was one of the few cameras in its price range that offered 4 channels of professional audio input.

If not the XL1, what is your budget? do you want to go HD or SD? I would imagine having a long optical zoom is useful for railroad videography.. For an SD camera, the Canon GL2 has a great optical zoom (20X) and is brand new for $1900.

You might also need to consider a good tripod for smooth pans when filming a passing by train.

 

[rogue_designer]

I'll second the GL2, I shot a few interview reels with one and loved it. The quality surprised me, and the zoom is quite good.