Have filmmakers ever had it so good?

Video production has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years, and now the tapeless camcorder revolution has made cinematography cheaper and easier than ever.

Director Shane Meadows' seminar at BVE North 2011, as well as the opinions of other professional filmmakers we chatted to all echoed the same sentiment - "we've never had it so good!". Cinema-worthy footage that would have formerly been shot on hugely expensive cameras and tape can now be achieved on digital camcorders costing under 20 grand.

Shane Meadows and Sony

In a packed-out talk at the BVE expo, film director Shane Meadows explained how he thought it was a great time to be a cinematographer because of the quality of the camera you can get at such a low price point. The creator of This Is England, Dead Man's Shoes and more, picked out a few examples and, in particular, waxed lyrical about the Sony PMW-F3.

The F3 has been one of our favourite cameras for budget filmmaking since its introduction a year ago, and it's certainly one of Jigsaw's most popular with customers too. It's great for film, with nifty features including both dual HD-SDI and XDCAM format support, and S-Log and Hyper Gamma. Most importantly, the footage looks great, with a cinematic shallow depth of field and 35mm, 50mm and 85mm Prime lenses included. Add a couple of longlife batteries and SxS cards, and you've got everything you need to get shooting straight out of the box. In fact, our Sony PMW-F3 starter kit includes all that, as well as a battery charger and Shotput Pro software for offloading your footage.

Another offering from Sony which makes filmmmaking more affordable is the NEX-FS100. With an Exmor Super 35 CMOS sensor, virtually noise-free low-light performance, cinematic depth of field and support for variable frame rates, the FS100 produces incredible looking results for less.

Affordable Panasonic camcorders

Shane also used the example of the Panasonic AG-AF101. This micro 4/3 camcorder can rival the gorgeous shallow depth of field you get with the F3, through the use of an adaptor that allows you to add a 35mm lens for a cinematic look. One area where it beats the F3, though, is on price - body for body, the AF101 costs around a third. (We're even currently running a promotion where you can buy a Panasonic AF101 and get an iPad 2 free!)

Panasonic have good form when it comes to affordable camcorders, and have also just released an HD camera which can shoot in both 2D and 3D. The Panasonic HDC-Z10000 gives great image quality with low noise, and at just over £3000, it's not going to break the bank if you're considering your first foray into the world of 3D...

That direction may not be of interest to that many people at the moment, and the future landscape of filmmaking may be very different, but right now we don't think filmmakers have ever had it so good in terms of choice in affordable cameras.

- Do you agree about the current climate of camcorders? We'd love to know your opinion, so drop us a comment in the box below...

Find out more about the Sony PMW-F3 camcorder, NEX-FS100, Panasonic AG-AF101 and our full broadcast and post-production range. Call us for more info on 03332 409 306 or email broadcast@Jigsaw24.com; you can also keep up with the latest news by following @JigsawVideo on Twitter or 'Like'-ing our Facebook page.