I am in an undergound Hip Hop group who has recently signed a record deal and is in the process of recording our new CD. I plan on filming a DVD called "A Year in the Life Of Potluck" I want to film... recording in the studio, touring (behind the scenes and the actual performances), mettings at the record label, interviews, home life, etc... basically every situation imaginable.

The biggest problem I have is that it will take me a year to film, several months to edit it, and 3-5 months to properly market the release. So I am looking at a minimum of 2 years before this thing hits the store shelves.

Technology changes so fast. What type of camera should I get now that can film all the things I need it to film now and still keep up with what will be on the shelves 2 years from now.

I am a newbe to cameras this will be my first one ever. I have looked on alot of forums and searched google for info. This is what i have learned i should get.

AVCHD
3ccd's
mpeg 4 technology
1080i
front facing mic
2.7 wide screen LCD
record onto minidv tapes

I have a budget of $500 but.... the give my very last dollar for my struggling career budget is $1000

I know all of you on here know more about cameras then me. And you all should feel my indie struggle. Can anyone PLEASE give me some advice?

Ah, okay - from reading the first part of your post I was thinking more along the lines of a professional camera...then I got to your budget.

You're in luck though as the Canon HV20/HV30 are out and are sleek, HD cameras. They provide EXCELLENT footage, records onto minidv tapes and to be honest, you should never use the on camera mic. You'll regret that if you plan to use if for DVD release. AVCHD is more of a consumer format and not necessarily tested for hardcore editing.

As for ease of use, the HV20 is way up there and I know a lot of people that shoot short films and events have abandoned their DVXs and other prosumer cameras to film with these little guys simply because they're smaller and easier to get around. They just didn't need the manual controls offered.

Here's a link where you can read up some more on the HV20 and maybe check out some footage, etc.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/forumdisplay.php?f=104

Hope this helps,

Kegan

Thank you for your help I have been looking into this camera on the forums via the link u provided.

What would u suggest Microphone wise?

Microphone wise, since you're not likely to buy an XLR adapter (beacktek is the most common, but is rather expensive..), I'd suggest the RODE Videomic. It's gotten great reviews and sound quality is as good as you're going to get without XLR (professional audio, which this camera doesn't support).

It does however have a built in shock mount which reduces vibration and noise interference with on-camera recording. It runs around $150.

-Kegan