Gdday house,m about to venture into videocoverage biz on a small scale for a start, bt,d problem i gat is choosing d best n affordable camcorder dt wil bring out d quality of my videos, pls hlp me out.tnx

You need to specify the kind of events you will be covering. There are several things you need to put into consideration.
- You should know the kind of lighting the venues will have. This would determine if you also need to get a lighting kit. If you want to do weddings, then you will need some kind of camera mounted light (www.litepanels.com)
- You need to know the body form of the camera that suits you most. For instance, I wouldnt advise you to get a handheld compact camera because they look too unprofessional. A shoulder mount or prosumer cam would serve your purpose because perception matters to you.
- You need to know how you would be editing your footage. Tape/tapeless. If you go the tape route, which I would suggest, you would also need a DV VTR that would set you back another $2000-3000. If you decide to use your camera to capture, then you reduce the playhead lifespan by half. You also need to know the system you want to use to edit. If you have no editing experience but want to edit yourself, you would need to decide on the editing software you want to stick to. Another route is to hire editors with their systems but this would greatly reduce your profits. Honestly, a fairly decent laptop with a dual core processor and at least 1GB RAM and plenty of hard disk space would do the trick.

Now for my final piece of advice: That industry is pretty saturated so you really need to provide a service that is fresh. A tip is doing a short documentary for couples (if you are doing wedding videos). This would include how they met and funny interviews from their friends and family. All this would be put on an authored DVD with menus and chapters.
Be creative bro.

thanks bro.but,m thinking of buying a small camcorder for a start, and dnt know d one to choose, ds are the ones i have in mind SONY DCR-SR80,DCR-SR100,HDR-HC3,HDR-SR1, they are all sony, the attachement are the pics for your perusal, counting on ur ideas, thanks

Before you make the decision, you need to answer the question of how you want to edit the footage (tape or tapeless).

goodday bro,i think i will go with tapeless cos ,its less stressful, or wots your opinion?,

There are 2 formats adopted by Sony for their tapeless camcorders:
1. AVCHD: THis is High definition mpeg 4 and is a very new format. In order for you to play/edit footage, you need fairly new software. Sony Vegas is a good option for you. Adobe premiere CS3 might need extra plugins to edit AVCHD
2. Mpeg 2: This is standard definition footage and can be edited by most NLEs. You just need to configure them.

Another thing I forgot to mention. The Sony camcorders come with an AC adapter that uses the camcorder to charge the batteries. First of all you will have to ditch that. You need a standalone battery charger and extra batteries so you can be recording and at the same time charging other batteries. The battery that comes with the camcorder just does 70mins recording time.

I would advise that you stick to SD for very long events depending on the hard disk space the camera has.

Thanks.u're truly a big bro, since u advisd dt i shld stk to SD cam,which product,make n model wuld u advis me to buy, sinx 'm new in d industry n ow much wil it cost me, cos,'m lukin at 40-50k, u knw as a student na, also,i'd lyk to av ur contact n ofx add cos,i tried to opn ur site ystaday it ddnt com up, n do u ofa training?, 'm hopin 4 ur quik rspons as usual, onx again tanx.

baba soji,

I recently acquired the Sony HDR SR7 and it is a fantastic toy. It was about 120k Naira. You can get any of them in that range (with at least 40GB hard disk space). It comes with a cradle and you can easily copy mpeg files to your system.

Thanx bro soji for al d info u gav to me free of charge, bt,i'd b hapi if u culd tel me particularly,d one to buy for a stat, dnt forget dt d money i hav is jst 40-50k, tanx 4 bn there.

I would advise to get a camcorder that is future proof (so it is not entirely old fashioned by next year). Up your budget to about 80k then you could get one of the HDR series.
If you insist and dont mind getting an SD cam then this is ok:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665738347

But if you want to up the budget, then these are ideal:
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-HDC-SD9-Definition-Camcorder-Stabilized/dp/B0011FTKFY/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1236588486&sr=1-19
OR
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=HDRSR10

Does CCD size not matter anymore?

With the budget in question, I don't think it does.
Oga Seun, how far na?

thanks bro soji, but u advised in your former post that i shuld stick to sd camcorder for a very long event, can u pls give me a brief explanation and diff btw DCR-SR and HDR-SR camcorders, THANKS

The HD cameras (HDR-SR) have the ability to shoot SD footage and have better chips. They would still be relevant to you even in 6-8 years' time.

alright, which means i should go for the HDR-SR SERIES?

yes!

thanks very much.may the god almighty also heed to ur voice, so lastly,which model and make of HDR-SR series do u think is good that will not consume much money, hoping for ur quick rsponse.thanks

The SR10 is the best bang for buck now.

morning bro soji,is it true that camcorder that has function keys on the screen side does not last, someone advic me not to buy such cam, is it true?cos,u are an expert.

Most of the camcorders in the range have touch screens. I never use the buttons by the screen. Buy the camcorder and don't worry about all those details.

thanks big bros, more grease to ur elbow.

good morning bro soji,ow is ur family?, i knw u will s its bn a long tym u grd frm me abi?, dnt mind me jare, and hope u will not say i like asking too much questions from u huh?, abeg o, do u know anything about Panasonic NV GS85 MiniDV Camcorder?, is it reliable?, abeg tell me something big bros, experience counts alot, thanks

It is a fair camera and uses mini dv tapes solely. You will need a deck ($3000-$4000) because if you use the camera to capture footage, it shortens its life span by about half. I would suggest sticking to a hard disk based camera.

Oga paxon  your budget  of 50k is toooooooooooooo small for tapeless or hdv in my opinion
AVCHD is kool but if you or de person whey go edit no get powerful pc (we are talking quad core here) FORGET IT
Plus not all NLE's support it natively (You would have to convert your footage this adds time to your workflow)
Like I said AVCHD is kool but you need to have the right tools to use it
One of the problems of using a small consumer camera for professional  work apart from the fact that it does not look professional it that it's hard to keep your shoots steady.
So you would need to invest in some kind of camera suport (steady cam or tripod with nice fluid head  )
This alone go chop your 50k finish.
You could make your own cheap steadycam  try this link     http://steadycam.org/     to find out how
Then there is lighting
For now I would say that dv is your best best
A great dv camera that comes to mind is   the Panasonic DVX100 . This camera will give you a very professional look  easily to edit and it produceses mind blowing pictures .
BUT it will cost you a lot more than your 50k

Other great prosumer  (semi professional ) cameras are

canon xha1
panasonic hvx200 (P2 cards are not cheap)
sony Z1


No matter how you cut it my friend 50k is toooooooooooooooooooo small

All de best

@L_funk,
The man has said all he has is 50k. I am sure he won't mind a loan from you, abi paxson?

@l_funk-9c piece, bt,dnt 4gt dt evrytin is basd on d 50k capital huh?like oga soji z,i wldnt mind if u go borrow me money o, @oga soji-abi na?

paxson & sojioguns

By ANY standards, 50k is a ridiculous amount of money to do coverage with. Ive been in this bz for over 15yrs and even in the time of panasonic m9000 vhs, 50k did not work.

Quite frankly those tiny things will make you look and feel rather inadequate. Plus the CCD or CMOS chips they use are VERY small and would give far to low picture quality for pro work. I have a sony DCR-SR42 so I should know. I have also worked with everything from U-Matic, betacam, VHS, S-VHS, all the way down to everything on the market now.

AND you DO need to consider edit options. HD footage will drain batteries quicker and result in files that a serious number crunching PC would be needed to work on. And as L_Funk said not all cameras are supported natively.

Unless you just want to use this as a pastime or just want to feel around, 50k wont get u far.

Nuff said bro . . .

@Rogbese, The man has said he has only 50k. If anyone wants to help him out, feel free to. His budget shouldn't hinder him from making his launch into the business. Great things start small.

I believe I am helping him by letting him know his options. If he wants to be serious he should be ready to spend SERIOUS MONEY. A Toyota corolla and a Toyota Land Cruiser will each get you from A to B but in different style. This is the point I'm trying to make. It saddens me every time I go out for a shoot and see so called pro people totting those tiny things.

The man wants to start and as you know our country is not exactly a great place to get such help. I started my career from my bedroom with a borrowed pentium 3 desktop that crashed 80% of the time. I was encouraged by many people and today I run a production facility. I would still encourage the man. I know things aren't they way they are supposed to be but that doesn't mean we should stop or wait till someone comes to put things right.

Another thing is you under estimate those "tiny" things. You would be amazed with what great DOPs could churn out from them.

No amount of tweaking on a 1/6th inch ccd will compare to the output on a half inch or 2/3 inch ccd. I am not trying to discourage him. I'm just saying it as it is.