Basic Camera Kits

Tape

Sony HC-9 – $799 – This high definition camera captures broadcast quality footage on easy to find miniDV tapes.  This is the camera that is used in the Travel Channel Academy courses.  Smart, small and powerful. We recommend purchasing the Sony Zoom Microphone (below) for vivid and lively audio.

Highly recommended accessories :

Extra Battery – $35
Sony 60 min miniDV Tape – $2.20 (get at least 10)
Sony Zoom Microphone - $45.59
Pearstone Camera Bag – $18.95
Lens Pen – No more dirty lenses – $9.95

Tapeless

Canon HF20 – $649.99 – This is one of the most compact, 1080p HD cameras available.  This captures at very high quality, true 1080 HD video (higher than HDV tape based cameras) with the option to record in 30p (for HDTVs and computers) and cinema-like 24p modes.  Record up to 12 hours at once with the internal memory and add additional memory by using easy-to-find SD cards.  With the Canon DM-50 microphone, you will capture lively audio that blocks out unwanted noise.

Highly recommended accessories :

Sandisk 16GB SDHC (4 Hours of Extra Video) – $49.95
Canon DM-50 Microphone (specific for this camera) – $136.99
Extra Battery – $52.99
Canon Wide Angle Lens (specific for 37mm cameras) – $174.89
Pearstone Camera Bag – $18.95
Lens Pen – No more dirty lenses – $9.95

Compact Professional VJ Camera Kits

Tape

Sony HVR-A1U – $1,809.00 – Small, professional and amazing quality. With professional audio inputs to handle a shotgun microphone (one comes with the camera) and a wireless lavaliere microphone system (separate, see below), this camera provides top-notch professional results in a small, compact unit.

Highly Recommended Accessories

Extended Battery – $98.99
Sony 60 min miniDV Tape – $2.20 (get at least 10)
Sennheiser G3 Wireless Lavaliere Microphone Kit – $599.99
Sony Wide Angle Lens – Good for confined spaces or buildings – $133.95
Sony V6 Professional Headphones – $62.59
Kata Compact Backpack – $60Wind Sock – Very important for outdoor shooting – $23.95
Lens Pen – No more dirty lenses – $9.95

Tapeless

Panasonic HVX200A - $3,699.95 – The Panasonic HVX200A is a great tapeless camera for indie filmmakers and journalists.  It works with P2 cards and on the DVCPRO HD high quality video format.  It has a wide angle lens that is great for video journalism and can do fast or slow motion playback for dramatic or stylized effects.

Highly Recommended Accessories

Panasonic 16GB P2 – $399 each (Recommend at least 3)
Panasonic Extended Battery – $174.95
Sennheiser G3 Wireless Lavaliere Microphone Kit - $599.99
Sony V6 Professional Headphones - $62.59
Lens Pen – No more dirty lenses - $9.95
Sennheiser ME66 Shotgun Microphone Kit – $479.95
Wind Jammer for ME66 – $29.00
Kata HB-207 GDC Hiker Backpack – $309.90

JVC HM-100U – $3,495.00 – This camera is a video journalist’s dream.  Small, professional, with incredibly high quality 35Mbps XDCAM EX 1080p HD that records directly onto SDHC cards.  Professional XLR a

udio inputs, great lens, fully automatic or fully manual, multiple formats (NTSC, PAL, HDV, XDCAM EX), and multiple frame rates (including cinema-like 24p).  And this THE  fastest camera for editing workflow out there. The camera optimizes the video files for direct use in Final Cut Pro, completely removing the Log and Transfer process so you can get into editing faster than any other camera out there.  This is our main camera we use for our in-house video journalists.

Highly Recommended Accessories

Sandisk Extreme SDHC 16GB – $109.09 (recommend at least 3)
Extended Battery – $68.50
Sennheiser G3 Wireless Lavaliere Microphone Kit – $599.99
Sony V6 Professional Headphones – $62.59
JVC Wide Angle 0.7x – Great for small spaces and architecture – $215.95
Wind Sock – Very important for outdoor shooting – $23.95
Genus Camera Backpack – Compact backpack with extra protection for your camera – $149.95
Lens Pen – No more dirty lenses – $9.95

Editing

Software

Basic

Final Cut Express (Mac Only) – $157.99 – This is the “lite” version of Final Cut Pro, but they really didn’t take too much out.  Anyone using HDV, DV, or consumer/prosumer tapeless cameras will find Final Cut Express to be a full featured editing powerhouse, for a significantly cheaper price than the Final Cut Studio Suite.  With almost all of the features of Final Cut Pro, you will be able to create polished and professional videos with ease.

Premiere Elements (PC Only) – $79.95 – Premiere Elements is an incredibly easy to use video editing program that allows you to create great looking videos very easily.  With lots of great templates for text and graphics, you can spice up your videos and easily send them out to YouTube, the web, or burn to a DVD.

Professional

Final Cut Studio (Mac Only) – $819.00 – This is the industry standard for video editing.  Everyone from commercial editors, Hollywood movies, television networks, and full-time video journalist use Final Cut.  This is what we use in all of our offices and what we teach at the Travel Channel Academy.  Besides coming with Final Cut Pro, the best editing software available, the package also contains Motion, Soundtrack, DVD Studio Pro, Color, and Compressor.  These additional applications allow you to professionally create motion graphics, mix sound and music, create highly polished DVDs and BluRay discs, and compress your films to almost any standards to deliver it to the most people as possible.

Premiere Pro CS4 (PC and Mac) – $623.94 (Mac) - $668.00 (PC) - Adobe Premiere Pro is an excellent, professional editing program that works for both PCs and Macs.  It is full of advanced editing tools, and can handle just about any video format you throw at it.  It has advanced color correction tools, a strong DVD creation program, and full encoding program as well to get your video out to as many audiences as possible.  Premiere Pro works seamlessly with After Effects, Photoshop, and other Adobe products.

Computers

MacBook Pro Laptop – $2,349 – Great for professional high definition video with a fast two core processor, plenty of memory, beefy graphics card optimized for churning through video, and a fast 7200rpm hard drive for rapid HD editing.  We recommend Final Cut Studio with this.

• 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB (2x2GB) RAM
• 500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
• SuperDrive
• nVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512MB Graphics

ASUS G51JX-A1 Notebook Computer - $1,429 – A quad-core powerhouse of a laptop that will crank through high definition footage with no problem.  We recommend using Premiere Pro CS4 with this computer.

• 1.6GHz Intel Core i7-720QM Quad-Core
• 6GB RAM
• 500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
• SuperMulti DVD Burner
• nVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M 1GB Graphics
• 15.6″ Full HD Widescreen Display
• Integrated Camera and Microphone
• Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• 7.3 lb

Fun Equipment

Flip MinoHD High Definition Pocket Camera – $187.99 – A fun and easy high definition camera that fits right in your pocket.  Great for always being ready to capture anything.

Contour HD 1080p Helmet / Action Camera Kit – $392.50

Are you into extreme sports? Biking, snowboarding, skydiving, scuba diving, motorcycling and more can be captured in full 1080p high definition with this small camera that can be attached to helmets, goggles, cars, flat surfaces, clothing and about anything else.  Capture the adrenaline rush.
with Waterproof Case – $39.99