Good video camera up to $500

[da na]

After an unstable tripod broke my Nikon D5100's lens, I have been shooting video with an older Canon Vixia HF-R62 and have realized that shooting video with a camera actually designed for that purpose is a significantly better experience. As such, I am now in the market for specifically a video camera. My criteria are simply that it looks better than the Vixia (3.28MP, 1920x1080 60P video @35mbps) and, of course, is explicitly designed for video (meaning it does not have a maximum recording time of 20 minutes, like the Nikon, and features autofocus during video). Almost all of the ones I can find online are action cameras or no-name "8K TURBO HD best quality YouTube camera", neither of which are what I need. Do midrange camcorders still exist or is there no demand for such a thing anymore? I'll be using it exclusively for indoor shooting.

Edit: I do not mind buying a used camera, in fact I would prefer an older higher-end model rather than a brand-new, low end one.

[itsabearcannon]

I mean, to be brutally honest at a midrange budget you'd probably be better off with a used iPhone and a gimbal.

 

They shoot in fantastic video quality, generally regarded as the best among smartphones, and many models allow you the option to shoot in ProRes which is supported by Final Cut, Adobe Premiere/After Effects, LumaFusion, and many other popular video editing apps.

 

An iPhone 13 Pro (the oldest model that supports ProRes recording) is about $500-$550 for the 512GB model which should give you plenty of recording space, and an Osmo SE gimbal is $89. You can get lens kits for it as well. Entire good-quality feature-length movies have been shot on an iPhone, it's plenty good enough for anything you'd need to do personally.

[da na]

15 minutes ago, itsabearcannon said:

I mean, to be brutally honest at a midrange budget you'd probably be better off with a used iPhone and a gimbal.

 

They shoot in fantastic video quality, generally regarded as the best among smartphones, and many models allow you the option to shoot in ProRes which is supported by Final Cut, Adobe Premiere/After Effects, LumaFusion, and many other popular video editing apps.

 

An iPhone 13 Pro (the oldest model that supports ProRes recording) is about $500-$550 for the 512GB model which should give you plenty of recording space, and an Osmo SE gimbal is $89.

I would like to stay as far away from anything regarding smartphones as possible, but I do appreciate the suggestion - I will consider using a phone if I cannot find a suitable actual camera. I've been finding used prosumer cameras for around my budget, though, so I doubt I'll turn to a smartphone.

[Brian McKee]

Anything canon with magic lantern. Which camera specifically will depend on your needs. You doing youtube videos? Corporate work? Low budget films? Documentary?

[da na]

6 hours ago, Brian McKee said:

Anything canon with magic lantern. Which camera specifically will depend on your needs. You doing youtube videos? Corporate work? Low budget films? Documentary?

YouTube videos, all shot indoors.

[Brian McKee]

10 hours ago, da na said:

YouTube videos, all shot indoors.

Canon 70d has best bang for buck on follow autofocus. Their hybrid AF when released was well ahead of its time, so ahead of its time in fact we haven't seen cameras catch up until recently.

 

 

The downside of the 70d is the fact that it is limited by the SD card. The magic lantern hack gets it closer to its theoretical max https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=25786.0 but it's still gonna be more so at around 40ish mb/s. If this bothers you then maybe it's not for you. However, I'd look at test footage and see if the quality is good enough for your needs.

 

Another option which will certainly be good enough quality wise but may fall short in other places is the Panasonic GH4. The GH4 is a wonderful camera, packed out of the box with great features. The downside however is the fact autofocus on this thing is pretty incompetent. It's fine for adjusting shots but it isn't good enough for a dynamic shot like the 70d is. If this doesn't bother you, the GH4 can be had for very cheap these days and is basically a steal.

 

Another option I'd recommend would be for the lowlight capability. While this option bounces off the top end of your budget range it's worth looking into because these are also rapidly falling in price. The Sony A7S/SonyA7SII are absolute low light monsters, being able to get good shots at high iso basically in the dark. Sony's E mount is also extremely well supported, being autofocus capable if you so desire in the future with basically every major brand that makes APSC/Full frame lenses, From Canon to Pentax. Autofocus and rolling shutter on these are also kind of whatever, but you can't do better in terms of low light. The a7sii if you can find it cheap enough even has built in 5 axis body stabilization which is excellent if you're ever doing a hand held shot. Lower light capability = less expensive lighting you need for good shots, so it's something to consider.

 

 

Last options I'd consider are more "cinema" focused with the 5D MKII/5d MKIII. These cameras have a softer image to die for if you were doing short films. They look amazing and are completely unlocked with magic lantern. However they lack autofocus in video entirely and require CF cards for max speed which gets mighty expensive mighty fast. Depends on the look you're going for, but these are probably a skip.

[da na]

3 minutes ago, Brian McKee said:

Canon 70d has best bang for buck on follow autofocus. Their hybrid AF when released was well ahead of its time, so ahead of its time in fact we haven't seen cameras catch up until recently.

 

 

The downside of the 70d is the fact that it is limited by the SD card. The magic lantern hack gets it closer to its theoretical max https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=25786.0 but it's still gonna be more so at around 40ish mb/s. If this bothers you then maybe it's not for you. However, I'd look at test footage and see if the quality is good enough for your needs.

 

Another options which will certainly be good enough quality wise but may fall short in other places is the Panasonic GH4. The GH4 is a wonderful camera, packed out of the box with great features. The downside however is the fact autofocus on this thing is pretty incompetent. It's fine for adjusting shots but it isn't good enough for a dynamic shot like the 70d is. If this doesn't bother you, the GH4 can be had for very cheap these days and is basically a steal.

 

Last option I'd recommend would be for the lowlight capability. While this option bounces off the top end of your budget range it's worth looking into because these are also rapidly falling in price. The Sony A7S/SonyA7SII are absolute low light monsters, being able to get good shots at high iso basically in the dark. Sony's E mount is also extremely well supported, being autofocus capable if you so desire in the future with basically every major brand that makes APSC/Full frame lenses, From Canon to Pentax. Autofocus and rolling shutter on these are also kind of whatever, but you can't do better in terms of low light. The a7sii if you can find it cheap enough even has built in 5 axis body stabilization which is excellent if you're ever doing a hand held shot.

 

Last options I'd consider are more "cinema" focused with the 5D MKII/5d MKIII. These cameras have a softer image to die for if you were doing short films. They look amazing and are completely unlocked with magic lantern. However they lack autofocus in video entirely and require CF cards for max speed which gets mighty expensive mighty fast. Depends on the look you're going for, but these are probably a skip.

Thank you so much for your suggestions! Really appreciate your suggestions - will absolutely look into the 70D in particular, sounds great.

[Brian McKee]

3 minutes ago, da na said:

Thank you so much for your suggestions! Really appreciate your suggestions - will absolutely look into the 70D in particular, sounds great.

Good thing about the 70d is it's so cheap you can pick up a real nice lens for it like the sigma 18-35 ART and still be under the budget if you're thrifty enough. The 650D I believe is around the same price and can do slightly better bitrate, but the downside in my opinion is the fact that the 650D feels like crap to hold and use, I'm not a fan of Canon's rebel line at all.

[da na]

Just now, Brian McKee said:

Good thing about the 70d is it's so cheap you can pick up a real nice lens for it like the sigma 18-35 ART and still be under the budget if you're thrifty enough. The 650D I believe is around the same price and can do slightly better bitrate, but the downside in my opinion is the fact that the 650D feels like crap to hold and use, I'm not a fan of Canon's rebel line at all.

Regarding the 70D, do you happen to know if it has a 20-minute limit on video like the D5100 does? I find that remarkably bothersome.

[Brian McKee]

3 minutes ago, da na said:

Regarding the 70D, do you happen to know if it has a 20-minute limit on video like the D5100 does? I find that remarkably bothersome.

Magic Lantern should have a setting to turn that off. I'd check in relation to the 70d (since the builds aren't "official") but it should be there. But with my 5DMKII I can turn it off.