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Personally, if I was thinking of buying a VX2100, I'd save a bit more and buy an FX1 instead. I don't see much point buying a DV camera today when you could buy HDV for not much more.

And if you don't, there'll be a lot of issues :). Most editing programs can handle different formats and frame sizes on one timeline, but not different frame rates.

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HDV is 3.5 megabytes per second, just like DV. What it does need is more CPU power and RAM as you need to decompress groups of 15 frames at a time, rather than single frames.

The easy way is to output a master to DV and pay someone to dub it for you. A slightly better way would be to do an uncompressed edit from the DV master and then output direct to Digibeta: that should look a little better if you're doing any significant color grading. A lot of festivals seem to...

Not sure about Final Cut, but in general you find the 'clap' on the audio and the 'clap' frame on the video and just align them in the timeline. The clap on the audio should be pretty obvious if you look at the waveform, on the video it should be the first frame where the clapper is closed...

If you're making a 'real' movie for cinemas then yeah, you're probably going to have to go to a decent mixing studio. Most of what I've been editing was for festivals, TV or DVD at best, so that's doable on a home PC.

Sounds like you have the same problem we've often had: deaf sound recordists :). A lot of Hollywood dialogue is re-recorded, but vast amounts isn't. One issue is the location: if you're shooting in noisy locations then maybe you won't be able to get good sound. I always like to go round there...

A monitor certainly helps, but the Z1 LCD can be configured to show the entire frame so you can keep crew and equipment out of the show... plus it has a 'zoom in' button which shows you the full HD resolution over the middle quarter of the frame for focussing. The big issue is that the gamma...

I'm not sure what you mean by 'direct sound'. Normally you record sound live and only replace it if the recording isn't good enough. With a decent mike, a competent boom operator and sound recordist there's rarely a reason why you can't get usable sound on the set (obviously if you've got wind...

To be fair though, a good mike is a fraction of the cost of a good camera and could last you a couple of decades if it's looked after. A 416 or MKH60 will give good sound in most situations, and the 416 design has already survived a decade or more in the industry. Sure you don't mean HVR-A1...

Yeah, I'd agree: if you can only have one or the other, get a decent editing system.

Well, you start with a good script :). In terms of cinematography, you'll probably be pretty limited in lighting if you're shooting a camping trip. Odds are you'll have to make do with reflectors (e.g. polystyrene boards) to bounce light back onto the actors and maybe flashlights at night: the...

I didn't see a Maglite on your list :).

What kind of tips? It'll be easier to make suggestions if you can narrow things down a little :).

Simple answer: get hold of a DV camera and a computer with Firewire input and an editing program (most have some kind of free software and Avid certainly have a free basic DV editing program you can download) and go shoot stuff with your friends :). That should be cheap enough that you can make...

Very odd. I export Quicktime reference files (or pure Quicktime files for HDV footage), then load them into Sorensen Squeeze (which came with Xpress Pro) and compress them to MPEG-2 at 7400 kbps 2-pass VBR, or less if they're really long. Produces a pretty good video for me. My guess would be...

Don't have one, but I have edited footage shot on the DVX100 and it looks good: is the B model the one which can shoot true 16:9 rather than letterboxed? Certainly if I was going to buy a DV camera it would be high up my list.

Didn't the guy who adapted 'Shawshank Redemption' have no previous credits other than adapting a short story by Stephen King? From what I remember King liked the short so much he happily let the writer have rights to the other story. One issue which I could do with some clarification on: when a...

Just be careful if you do find them: even blank-firers can be dangerous... particularly when you hand them to actors :). I remember one actor on a shoot I worked on was rather glad that he only suffered a little singing when he stuffed a loaded blank-firing gun down the waistband of his pants...