Technology: When buying a camera do you invest in something pricey or just get a good cheap video camera?

New new new. There is always something newer. There is always something better and everyone is always looking for a good cheap video camera. But, there are so many options; digital camera vs video camera, just video vs video and still, high megapixels vs lower megapixels, full frame vs cropped and the options pile up.

The other day I came across a video of a graphic artist that has virtually designed computer graphics to look amazingly close to reality. One of the main problems with cgi up until now has been how light plays off of the generated images. Alex Roman seems to have solved this problem. 
http://youtu.be/lZOnrN4x0Zk
http://gizmodo.com/5691747/

With the rebirth of 3D, it's explosion back into the film world and now the works of Alex Roman, it will be interesting to see where technology goes in the future.

Arri Alexa (http://www.gizmodo.com.au)

The new thing in the film world now is the advancement of digital video. DSLRs are popping out one after the other trying to capture the best quality video. Cameras dedicated to video, like the Arri Alexa and the RED, are making considerable strides towards reaching, and even surpassing, the quality of film. Film has a dynamic range that hasn’t changed much in the past 100 years. Digital video on the other hand has made leaps and bounds over the past 10 years alone. Each year technology and what people are doing with it are advancing and changing the way we do things. Digital video is relatively new. 

RED ONE
(body only - http://tech.nocr.at)

The RED ONE claims to be a digital cinema video camera comparable to the quality of film. “Because the RED ONE is a digital cinema camera (and not an HD video camera), the list of competitors is a short one……  “It is safe to say that RED's biggest competition comes from film, and as the sensor technology continues to improve, while film's days of progress are numbered, the promise of digital acquisition will be realized. The advantage film has currently is one of dynamic range. With each generation of RED sensor development, the gap becomes narrower and narrower.” http://www.red.com/faqs

It will be interesting to see the advancements in technology in the future and what it will add to the film world.