What is the best camera for movie making?

Question

I have heard good things about Cannon XL1 and XL2, are they difficult to use?

Answer 1

No they aren't difficult if you know how to use them, but the XL2 costs a lot, although you could probably find an XL1 for $1500. If you have enough money for an XL2, get a DVX100B instead. This is why. Both the XL2 and the XL1 allow use of interchangeable lenses, but a lens will cost you hundreds, if not a thousand. Also, if you're using it for filmmaking, you might be interested in the film-look. Even if you're not, it doesn't hurt your movie by adding it. A simple film-look can give a viewer the first impression that your movie is good. Even if your story and directing is awesome, people will get distracted by the video-look. The XL2 offers some film-look options, but the DVX100B is the undisputed king for offering a film-look without post work. It's got a short lens, yes, (10x), but if you're going to be making movies with it, you wont REALLY need anything above 10x anyways, right? (unless you plan to shoot a thriller in the grand canyon). Or if you really want to save money, you could get what I have, a canon gl2 (but I didnt buy it to save money, I didnt have any to begin with :-) I got mine for $1500 off of ebay, but you could probably find even better deals than that. It's not strictly pro, but from my uses, it really is worth the money. If you're not looking for anything fancy, and manual controls with a great picture quality is all you need, then the GL2 is perfect. Plus, its not too big, but not too small either, so people wont think you're tv crew, yet at the same time know you could kick some serious *** if you wanted to. And plus, you'll have all the leftover cash for other stuff as well. Hope this helps!