I'm starting a broadcast journalism course at the high school where I work, and one of our top priorities is buying a suitable video camera. I have a solid background in print journalism, but broadcast is something entirely new for me.

Basically we'll be producing weekly or monthly news broadcasts that will air on our school network, and we'll produce an end-of-year senior video that students can purchase. We'll also publish video content to complement our print product on our website.

I've done a little research already, but I want your input on the following before I rush in and burn up what little money my class has raised this year:

- a quality camera that is versatile enough to sit on a tripod in our makeshift classroom studio and also go out to shoot events in the field (including sports). We're dealing with high school kids here, so the more unbreakable it is, the better. Also a possibility is a higher quality camera to stay in the room and a couple of cheaper alternatives to use in the field.

- audio and video editing software (Freeware would be nice, but we do have a small journalism account with some money set aside for the project). I'd tilt toward ease of use over a ton of bells and whistles, but I want the kids to have a "real" experience with production and editing.

1/18/2012 12:32:01 PM

budget?

1/18/2012 12:37:08 PM

Oops, I meant to post that in the OP. Probably in the neighborhood of $2,500-$3,000 immediately with about as much coming in each new school year.

Also, I forgot to mention that I have a computer lab dedicated exclusively to journalism. We're running older Dell PCs (3-5 years old), which may be an issue for some of the software. I want to run editing software on as many of our 22 PCs as possible, but I'd also settle for 2-3 stations set up specifically for editing if/when price becomes a factor for our software.


[Edited on January 18, 2012 at 12:42 PM. Reason : .]

1/18/2012 12:39:34 PM

As far as cameras go, you could easily spend your budget on a professional video camera. I guess it just depends on how you want this to look, whether you will use interchangeable lenses, etc.

I would suggest starting with something from Sony's HDR series.

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11034787

this is a $2000 camera so it might be more than your budget wants to spare but it will deliver quality, no question.

if you are just looking for middle of the line but decent quality camcorders, I can recommend a few.

[Edited on January 18, 2012 at 12:57 PM. Reason : .]

1/18/2012 12:55:10 PM

Ideally, of course, I want top of the line. Practically, I may have to settle for the middle of the line. What would you recommend there?

1/18/2012 1:04:17 PM

I would again go back to Sony on this one or Panasonic. Sony's handycam line is pretty decent.

I use the HDR-CX160 and like it alot.

I've also read good things about the Panasonic HDC series but haven't used them myself. They are a little more expensive but you usually get what you pay for.

This review might help you decide.

http://www.techlicious.com/buyers-guide/the-best-digital-camcorders-2011/

The Panasonic HDC-TM900 is $600 through this retailer, but often much higher everywhere else - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/749839-REG/Panasonic_HDC_TM900K_HDC_TM900_High_Definition_Camcorder.html

The Sony HDR-CX160 is $450 through most retailers.

[Edited on January 18, 2012 at 1:34 PM. Reason : .]

1/18/2012 1:30:42 PM

well; you're in a bit of a pickle. Your budget is nowhere near high enough to go top of the line; but you can still do a lot of awesome stuff in that budget.

Software: There are some choices here. If you want to learn pro level stuff you want to go with Avid, Premiere Pro, or *maybe* Vegas 11. You'll also want the fastest Nvidia graphics card you can buy. IF ANYONE MENTIONS APPLE SLAP THE BEJESUS OUT OF THEM. They have no idea what they're talking about within the last 3-5 years. For what it's worth I use Premiere Pro on my workstation (because it plays nicely with photoshop and after effects) and the rest of the office uses Vegas. Speed edit is also a brilliant choice, but you gotta bring the hardware - they haven't optimized for graphics cards yet. And they don't offer the toys (weird animations/fades/etc.) of Premiere or Vegas.

I would go with Canon Vixia R-Series cameras. They're less than $300; they take an incredibly good image; they record to SD cards and they take the same batteries as about 80% of canon cameras (read: cheap.) You can also buy enough to play with a multipoint setup and other fun things! Of course they're stripped down, no IS, etc. But the image is such money at the price point. Also a good opportunity to teach a single light source setup since they're pretty mediocre in low light. (Sony/Panasonic cameras are also great in the category - but the pannys are usually overpriced and the Sony's used to record to some weird format that I had to convert for use in Premiere *not sure if they still do that.) I'd also give more weight to having SD card slots instead of internal memory. The SD cards are faster cheaper, replaceable, and people can take them home or to the lab to work without worrying about you camera...

For the "big" camera you've got some issues. The models that record to solid state media (Panasonic P2 cameras or the new $$$$$$$ cameras that take like 4 SD cards) are probably way out of your price range. You'd be much better served with a tape solution; but they're a pain in the backside - requiring firewire capture and freak some tapes. Flash 4 Life. Or you could be a chump and use portable firewire disks; but those suck monkey balls.

To me you'd be better served getting 3-5 R100's and dropping the rest of the money on other stuff. Like a TriCaster (EVERYBODY uses these things; and they handle teaching multipoint setups and editing in one box.) Or a nice light set. Or a good green/blue screen (for those TriCaster live sets.) Or some nice external mics (booms/shotguns/windscreens/lapels/boundary/5.1). Or build a sound recording box. Or a fig rig. Or a 3D shooting rig. Or a nice screen to watch playback on. Or a stedicam (they're cheap for these little cameras!). Or a shoulder mount. Or some tripods/ball mounts. Or a GoPro/ContourHD with windshield mount (most versatile thing you will ever buy.) Or some lens adapters (yay fisheye!). Or some radios with headsets to coordinate that multipoint setup. Or to pay for some lumber so your FFA department can build you a nice platform to record basketball and football games from. Or one of those $300 10' cranes. Or one of those $50 helicopters for your GoPro.

If it was me teaching I'd rather them have a mastery of the basics (sound/lighting/depth-of-field/etc) and a big cabinet full of toys that they want to use and you don't have to worry about because they're relatively cheap. Give it another 2-3 years and those big sensor solid state cameras will come down where you can get them.

[Edited on January 18, 2012 at 2:01 PM. Reason : .]

1/18/2012 1:57:36 PM

Quote :

"Sony's used to record to some weird format that I had to convert for use in Premiere *not sure if they still do that."

Mine doesn't.



The Canon vixia line has some models that are definitely nice but I've also used some that are pretty terrible in low light situations. The lower end ones (starting at $329) don't have the best quality for the price tag in my opinion. If you go Vixia, I would suggest starting with the HF R21.



[Edited on January 18, 2012 at 2:17 PM. Reason : .]

1/18/2012 2:13:08 PM

I agree on the Canon Vixia line for simplicity

Check out Sony Vegas for editing, can get the consumer version very cheap!

Other things, lighting and audio will be key...

Check out light kits on amazon and they have some cheap clip-on LAVs that are highly rated (for like 20$ a pop)

1/19/2012 10:05:21 AM

Quote :

"The Canon vixia line has some models that are definitely nice but I've also used some that are pretty terrible in low light situations. The lower end ones (starting at $329) don't have the best quality for the price tag in my opinion. If you go Vixia, I would suggest starting with the HF R21."

Yea I would agree with everything in there. It captures a great image - when it's lit. But they're not any worse than another camera in that category. They pretty much all suck - you need a big sensor to get anything worth a flip when it's dark/dim.

R21's are good too - We installed one at a customers chapel for his webcasting. My only complaint with it was the IS is mechanical. Basically it stabilizes incredibly well; and once you settle on a shot it slowly drifts back to center. Is it worth the extra $100? If you're hand-held absolutely. If you're on a nice tripod not at all. My 2cent is still to go with any R series (they're all HF-RXXX).

[if you want to see images from a R100 go to http://live.connect2crossroads.com . Our church has been meeting in a cafeteria for a few weeks. Lighting SUCKS BALLS but they can't bring in any more because the room doesn't have the power. Current lighting is about 1200watts from par-cans at 25ish feet (too far, too low, too little ). Skip the latest one; it's corrupted on it's upload. This total setup lights+camera+tripod was just over $500 and is a fraction of our normal setup...]

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 10:56 AM. Reason : those are also recorded at the 1.5Mbit setting to keep our upload time reasonable over a cell modem]

1/19/2012 10:55:22 AM

Get a GoPro HD. I know people doing professional work with them and some of the 60 minutes footage on wingsuiting used them. I think the new ones can be narrower in view angle and for 150 bucks you can afford to be wrong in your purchases

1/19/2012 11:00:06 AM