Foto camera with good video

[jimmyy]

Hi,

I have a one time only project of recording on the street, and I would like to buy a device to record the video. I was thinking to record separately the audio via two independent lav mics connected to two audio recorders and sync the video with the audio afterwards.

For the video recording though, since it's an one time recording, or maybe two times, I was thinking to invest more in a foto camera , since anyway they all record video as well.

My budget is about 650$ for the camera.
I do not have any particular requirements, I'm just searching for the best price/performance ratio. I'll record on the street and it will be quite sunny.

I'm quite a newbie when it comes to video recording, and I do not know whether I need a wide angle lens, or not.

I could certainly use some advises.


Many thanks

P.S. If this is not the right place to post this thread than can a moderator please move it to the right place

[mike20021969]

Sorry, I cant recommend a camera.

But don't be sucked in that "you need a camcorder for video" (as been suggested in the past).

(HD) video from a decent DSLR camera gives superb results.

Yes, onboard mics from a DSLR can be poor (but you have a solution as mentioned in your post).

Good luck in your choice.

[smrpix]

Mike, I don't think anybody serious has suggested you can't make nice video with a DSLR. Vimeo and Hollywood prove that you can every day.

A purpose-designed video camera just makes the task less cumbersome.

Jimmy, even though you're in Europe, the B&H photovideo site lets you browse through many models and lets you refine your search in many useful ways. The customer reviews are generally reliable too.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

[julitomg]

People shouldn´t be sucked into the ""Buy a DSLR and you´ll automatically, magically get Hollywood quality results" either.
Pros and cons have been very well covered in other threads with serious, real arguments, of course there´s also a lot of fanboy hype (for either option)
As for Jimmyy´s request, I agree with smrpix, b&h is a good place to start looking, and when you narrow your search to a few models that look interesting (features, performance and price wise), take a closer look at their specs in their respective manufacturer´s sites for more details like for example running time of coninuous video, many models can only shoot a few minutes at a time. That may or may not have an impact on the type of sooting yor´re planning (I have a Panasonic camera, albeit "old" for current standards, it´s an FZ40 that can record for more that two hours straight at 720p, more recent model have added 1080 resolution but lower running times, I use it along my camcorder for two camera shoots of satege plays and things like that with no problems)