Best Video Camera for newbie amateur film maker on a budget?

[Ben H]

I want to get into amateur film-making and I don't have a clue what kind of camera to get. At first I fancied one of those big chunky shoulder cameras that they use on film-sets but I don't really see the difference and I think I need something for a beginner. It needs to be able to take a bit of a beating because I'm going to be living in Uganda for 12 months next year (Where I hope to be doing most of my filming). It also needs to be within a budget - realistically 600 quid but I think I'll stretch to a grand for this question just so I can see the variety of possibilities. I don't really know what to look for in a camera but I want something that will look good when I upload and edit it (No grainy footage), has enough 'pro-features' for me to learn and muck about with, and is still fairly kind on a beginner. Any idea what I should be looking at, what features to look out for, or any good comparison or review websites? Any advice will be very much appreciated.

 

[LMF_Eddie]

The cannon 7d looks like a good choice for you HD and with a lens, Shoulder cams start at about £6000 so don't think you'll be getting one lol. Unrelated to your question the difference with the shoulder cams are that; they have lens that control focus iris and zoom, they have mic and headphone plugs, HD, control over FPS, better movement cause of the shoulder bit, manual exposure ect and many many more little features lol.