Bruce Weaver: Cinematographer in Bellingham, Washington.

Good point Edwin, but I was responding to the technical question. If we are going to that point , then I would take something shot on a iPhone and decent sound design and ADR over a nicely shot film with bad sound. (like so many student and amateur efforts have) And with a good script and artful design and great acting , you can do something good on an iPhone.. but you are not likely to do so. You want to chose a camera that is practical within your budget and I advise to know go too cheap on the camera department or you might waste all the rest of the efforts in your well-designed and well-executed production.

Well, gee, I dunno. I know of at least five TV Series that are shot on DSLR's (particularly the 7D), and many an Indie Movie is shot on them. They're easier to handle and easier to Post with. I'm planning on shooting my Indie projects with one. Only the Big Features still shoot celluloid.

but as you say Simon, the cost difference of 15,000 USD or so is not a risk you might be willing to take in a feature budgeted at a few million USD. But it is dreadfully critical to the semi-pro. Depends upon the production and the intended distribution.

first, we all have macs so, apparently, we were all using mac formatted hard drives. that clears up the 4GB question. second, I do not know how they connected their cameras to the laptops, but they did and got great footage - definitely not 480. next, I never said anything about DSLRs. I don't use one so, why does that matter to me? my cam has firewire and hooks directly to a computer via firewire, which allows me to use the OnLocation or Firestore solutions just fine. I will probably switch to thunderbolt and/or USB3 eventually. firewire was awesome, but thunderbolt is killer. it has it's problems, as do all the different connection possibilities. but, it much faster than USB3 or firewire. until then, the system I'm using now, with the discontinued OnLocation software, or the first generation firestore system (the FS-100), and FCP 7, is working just fine. I wondered what others were doing. I'm amazed more people aren't going this route. if you're doing a lot of hand-held, it can be cumbersome, and cards may be the best way to go. but, if you're on sticks, this gives you a nice monitor, and allows you to shoot for a long, long time, without having to change cards, mark cards, document what takes are on the cards, and then load the cards before importing to your NLE. you just shoot, import to the NLE and start editing. a much simpler process. I'd like someone to tell me about the systems that are out there and their experiences with them. then, if they want to add some info on DSLRs, that's ok. but, that is not my main concern.

Do not use a spinning hard drive. You'd want to look into something like a Hyperdeck Shuttle with SSDs. Movement on spinning hard-drive platters is a recipe for disaster. The SSDs may be more expensive (now) but they are far far far more robust.

I agree, solid state is the way to go.