I’m going to be shooting a doc on my own dime, and I need to get a camera that can get the job done, but hopefully won’t cost me a ton.  Any suggestions?

What would be a “ton” in your mind? The type of documentary might dictate what you can get away with. Are you doing interviews, shooting at night or in extreme conditions? Are traveling internationally, need the ability to capture images from a long distance (requiring large zoom)? Will you shoot on a tripod or hand held? Tell us a little more about your project and suggestions can be tuned more specifically to your needs. - PJ

The Panasonic DVX-100 is a safe bet for about 3000 dollars.  If you can afford to go HD, which is probably a good idea, its big-brother, the HVX-200 is a good, inexpensive choice at 5000.  I highly recommend Panasonic for independent moviemaking having shot a feature and a few shorts with a DVX100.

Of course, if you can afford it, High Def Video (as opposed to miniDV) or 35M is always a good choice.  I just haven’t had a high enough budget to use either… yet.  :)

Depends on your budget. I’m asuming you’re thinking of spending under $10K.... so:

For around $3500 I would recommend the Canon XH-A1 (HiDef). Image quality is on par with the much more expensive XL-H1 but the A1 has a fixed lens and no SDI out. It shoots HD on tape (plusses and minuses to that).

In fact all of the JVC and Canon cams shoot HD in Long GOP on tape. This makes it easy to shoot with but can be a pain to edit. You can also record to an external hard drive with any of these cams, but factor in the cost of that hardware.

Around the $6K mark you’ve got the JVC HD-GY110U. Has interchangeble lenses. Shoots nice looking pictures.

If you can afford around $10K:
There’s the upgraded JVC 200 series with SDI out, timecode and a few other extras, but may not be worth the extra $ over the 110.
The Canon XL-H1 shoots quite nice pictures, has interchangable lenses, SDI out.
The HVX200 is a great camera (I have one) with tapeless HD workflow, but you’re looking at close to $10K to build an HD production kit (HD monitor, P2 cards, backup drives).

The new Sony XDCAM EX cams just being released are worth checking out. At around $7K, these cams could burst Panasonic’s P2 bubble.

Best,
Simon.

bought a second hand canon gl2 for about $1000. Good camera.

The Panasonic DVX-100 but also consider a second hand.

I see they are shooting Crank 2 with a Canon XH-A1