Good camera for both movies/video and stills? - 800$

[R Jain]

I have an 800$ budget and I want to make hobby but hi-quality movies and also shoot good stills. I do not want a camcorder because I heard the affordable ones are terrible quality and that a digital camera and their big lenses makes for a pleasing narrow depth of field for a film look, plus they do stills too. The idea of interchangeable lenses appeals to me. So I want to know which is better, a DSLR, a MILC, or a Sony SLT.

From my reading: DSLR - read that it produces an effect where if someone moves, it goes from sharp to blurry then sharp again, or is that MILC? That seems bad. also may have poor audio, and operating the camera introduces noise. but it is better for sports and BIF birds in flight stills which has less priority for me, but I wouldn't mind if my camera had that capability.

MILC - is small and lighter. don't know if I should go for a micro four thirds models, are any support full lens? I want good availibility of lenses to buy later that are affordable. I heard MILCS are much better for video than DSLRS, you can shoot for a long time on MILC and only for minutes in DSLR, is that true? how do MILCs compare to camcorders? Can you fix these on pods.

SLT - I don't know how good these are for video or stills, but someone recommended one to me. ARe there any advantages to these?

Since I'm a beginner, I'm not seeking to do everything, immediately. So I think I don't want to heavily accesorize, I want to start with a camera body and one lens, which will keep me busy shooting stills and small videos and figuring out my camera for some time, until I'm ready to move to different lenses. But, of course, I want my camera to have these capabilities so I can do all this. I know my budget is low, but I can't really afford too much.
Any advice what to buy and which models to look at?
I want hi-quality video, but with very hi-quality stills too.

Edit: I forgot to mention, I'm located in India if that makes a difference as to which camera models are available. I've heard that if I'm supposed to be serious about filmmaking, I need a data rate of 70mbps, so I'm hoping I can get a camera which supports it.

 

[Micehorns]

A 2nd hand Panasonic GH2 with a second hand 14-140 will give you great video and a decent stablised lens that will cover a good range. A hacked Panasonic GH2 can give you as many mbps as you'll ever need, very customisable as well. The stills will be good enough for most situations, unless you're shooting in the dark and need the highest ISO. M4/3 have a great range of lenses from Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Tamron. I would also budget for audio equipment and a good tripod.

 

[R Jain]

A 2nd hand Panasonic GH2 with a second hand 14-140 will give you great video and a decent stablised lens that will cover a good range. A hacked Panasonic GH2 can give you as many mbps as you'll ever need, very customisable as well. The stills will be good enough for most situations, unless you're shooting in the dark and need the highest ISO. M4/3 have a great range of lenses from Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Tamron. I would also budget for audio equipment and a good tripod.

Yeah, that's why I mentioned my location. I had read great reviews about the Panasonic GH series and G6, but I'm sad because I couldn't find them anywhere, and if they are if I buy new, they are extremely overpriced and cost about the equivalent of 2000$ and over. So I'm looking for others that can rival these. Someone recommended Sony SLT, but one model I saw, a58 which is a bit cheaper than my budget, but it doesn't have manual photographic controls while in autofocus according to a post in dpreview and one blog says.. "There are a few caveats - the focusing can be heard on the soundtrack, although using an external microphone gets around this, it sometimes struggles to keep up with the subject, and more notably the shallow depth of field that's inherent to a large-sensor camera produces noticeable and often unwanted "jumps" as the AF system locks onto different subjects in the frame." http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_a58_review/ So I'm not sure I want one with inferior autofocus, and I also don't know what data rates I can get with this. Is there a better model which rivals the Panasonic GH/G series within my budget? Thanks.

But I really want a camera where clips can be taken in hours, not for just a few minutes. And manual control options for the video and a silent autofocus that's continuous and has no issues with jumping or going blurry. And good framerate and datarate. I hope I can find one.