Now this all depends on your money situation and how serious you take your career as a Camera man. Do you really want to spend your life savings to make a few home movies? This is my opinion on the format situation, to me it's either MiniDV or HD.
MiniDV is likely to be the first choice, if you intention is merely to learn the craft of movie making, filming documentaries, entering short film competitions or broadcasting a mini series over the Internet then the DV format is flawless, it has the ability to maintain the quality of the original no matter how many times it is copied. But...
If your deciding to form a business of film making group with a bunch of friends then I would advise for all of you to chip in for for a Pro-level HD camera. most professionals are using it now and it will give the projects your shooting clear footage. can be a bit messy in editing but overall results compared to MiniDV are at a higher standard.
