by Marai Rataj

Created on: October 27, 2009

Short Films are, as a pseudo-rule, tight budget affairs. They can be poetic pieces meant to boost your demo reel, and get you that in to a Festival, or larger job. Like an interview, we put our best feet forward, even if the bottom of our shoes are getting a bit worn. How? Camera quality. Going for a camera with interchangeable lens packages is a good start to being able to maintain a more film-like quality in digital film making. Getting that tangible organic depth of focus can take a starkly shot film, and give it a Festival glow.

No one is going to pay much attention to a camera with bad optics, bad compression, and bad depth of field. Welcome to the world of HD, where every brand has a different compression rate, ratio, and zoom. Where tangible film stock can get pricey, and development costs are expensive compared to the plug-and-edit system of going digital, it is in each short film maker's best interest to go for a digital HD camera with the best possible compression rate, memory bank, and quality. Unbeknown to some filmmakers, HD doesn't necessarily mean better quality then SD in some cases. You can have HD that looks pixel-lated and terrible next to a good quality SD camera.

Canon has several pro-sumer cameras which fit in this category, some in SD, others in HD, and some with a connection which handles still camera lenses for better breadth of focus. The most exceptional one I've found to date is a merger of Canon's legendary clarity, and function: The Canon XH A1. A 1080i HDV camera, the XH A1 is a blend of Canon's famous golden quality, includes all the necessary audio jacks, and bundles up some extra stability to keep your shots crisp.

The only down side is the LCD screen, it's less then exceptional but not nearly enough of a drawback to prevent a person from investing in this approximately $4,000 - $5,000 camera. Comparing the Canon XH A1 to Sony's HDR-FX1, the Canon comes out on top due to the XLR ports, and ease of use far beyond both the HDR-FX1, and Canon's notoriously difficult to use GL2.

If something a bit higher end is in your budget, splurge on the sister cameras of the XH A1, the XH G1, and the big sister, Canon's prize XL H1.

So why all the Canon? I love the compression system in the Canon digital HDV cameras, and Canon lenses tend to give a surprising amount of clarity and staying power compared to the other brands. Try them out, you won't be disappointed and neither will your audience.

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