Help picking out a video camera?

I'm in the market for a video camera. Probably a DSLR.
Price is an issue, so keep suggestions cheap lol.

We need something that can shoot 1080p, and performs well in low-light. An audio input would be great, but not necessary.
Right now I'm looking at the Nikon D3100. I've shot with it before and love it.

I don't mind getting an older camera if it works.

Best Lens For A Nikon: D3100 DSLR?

I'm very interested in the creative arts side of things, I study graphic design, I work for a TV post production company and I also do the occasional video with my phone or two.
Recently I've become a lot more interested in photography and video and as of in the next few weeks or so, I wanted to buy a camera that would produce some amazing pictures and HD video for a small price.

I decided after a lot of research that because I'm a beginner I would buy a cheap entry level DSLR as I have no experience with SLRs and I've only used the standard point and shoot cameras.
I decided that the Nikon D3100 would be great, but being a novice, I don't quite understand what lenses would be best for my situation.

As I do a lot of picture/video post processing, I would like to find out what lens would be the best for taking pictures and video of nature, towns, citys, landscapes etc. And maybe even some people for small movies. It will all probably somehow be incorporated into all my work.
Price of the lens doesn't matter as I would later probably invest into it if i really enjoy what I'm doing, but not crazy prices so I'd say the cap would be at around £300.

I would appreciate any information you could share with me and thank you in advance!

Added (1). Regardless of the price, could you name some of the lenses you guys have in mind or give me a price reference?
I may forget about a budget and just work towards buying an expensive one, but I want to know what lens would be the best all rounder for close and distant shots.

I have a potential Nikon D7000 problem?

I seem to have terrible performance with anything that is a dark black. I just bought this camera brand new from best buy.
I get an excessive amount of color distortion in the dark ends that don't seem to show up on my camera's view screen. Even if I shoot in a monochrome setting, the odd distortion in the dark areas is there.
I've checked my quality settings and everything I could figure might be the cause and I can't figure it out. It happens with both raw and jpeg no matter what viewer or converter I use (Including the nikon viewer that came with the camera)

Should camera companies be pixel cramming so much? - 1

Sensor technology is always improving, but what about quality? I think it's a shame that the new d3200 and upcoming d5200 from Nikon are going up to 24 megapixels. Perhaps this would be helpful for very large prints, but 16mp is pretty decent and I don't think the jump had to be so high. But if we put so mant pixels into a sensor, surely this will reduce the quality of the sensor overall. DXOmark puts the D3200 and D5100 pretty close in sensor quality, lower in ISO performance, but given that one was made later, there should be an improvement. Do you think cameras have enough pixels now? I sincerely hope we don't see crop sensors having their MP count unnecessarily upped to 30, 36, or maybe even more in the future at the cost of image quality. What about you?

Why is Nikon video poorer in quality than Canon? - 1

I was recently helping a guy get some better camera angles at a live performance in a record store, and I have a Nikon d5100 and he has a Canon crop-sensor camera, but I can't remember what it was called. There was not a lot of light available. He had an 85mm 2.0 and I had a 35mm 1, 8. We both shot at 30fps 1080p and similar exposure.

But his video looked almost perfectly clean while mine had noticeable noise. I don't know if he's going to be able to use it. Why is this the case for video? According to DXOmark, the Nikon d5100 has the best low light ISO capability of any APS-C camera except 1 Pentax one and most of the Canon ones are much less capable, so it must be exclusively a video thing.

Added (1). My lens was not stopped down or anything, it was at 1.8. Also, when I said 30fps, what I meant to say was shutter speed of 30, 25fps.

I'm looking back over the video comparisons and it's not actually as different as I remember, but it is still there.

As for what my ISO was set to, I can't say because on the d5100, the ISO setting doesn't affect live view at all, which is always set to auto-ISO, but I had my exposure set to -0.3 to give the right lowish lighting look and all my settings locked in manual.

Added (2). I know about the aperture bug in live view. I changed it before I changed to live view.

Why is Nikon video poorer in quality than Canon?

I was recently helping a guy get some better camera angles at a live performance in a record store, and I have a Nikon d5100 and he has a Canon crop-sensor camera, but I can't remember what it was called. There was not a lot of light available. He had an 85mm 2.0 and I had a 35mm 1, 8. We both shot at 30fps 1080p and similar exposure.

But his video looked almost perfectly clean while mine had noticeable noise. I don't know if he's going to be able to use it. Why is this the case for video? According to DXOmark, the Nikon d5100 has the best low light ISO capability of any APS-C camera except 1 Pentax one and most of the Canon ones are much less capable, so it must be exclusively a video thing.

Added (1). My lens was not stopped down, it was at 1.8. Also, when I said 30fps, what I meant to say was shutter speed of 30, 25fps.

I'm looking back over the video comparisons and it's not actually as different as I remember, but it is still there.

Added (2). As for what my ISO was set to, I can't say because on the d5100, the ISO setting doesn't affect live view at all, which is always set to auto-ISO, but I had my exposure set to -0.3 to give the right lowish lighting look and all my settings locked in manual.

50mm f1.8 AF lens compatible with autofocusing on Nikon 5100?

I was wondering if the Nikon 50mm f 1.8 AF lens will auto focus on the Nikon 5100. I saw on a review that you had to manually focus, but on a different one it said it would autofocus. Just wanted to clarify! Thanks!

Added (1). Would this autofocus?
http://www.ebay.com/...0937470527

Added (2). Oh gosh I just realized I forgot the d in d5100. Whoopsies.

Best photo locations for the Golden Gate?

I'm coming to San Francisco in January and hope to take a bunch of photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. My question - where are some of the best locations to photograph the bridge? Even if they are a little off the beaten path - I'm ok with that. I'm from Illinois and love bridges. This may be my only opportunity to catch some photos of it. Also, any lens suggestions? I have a Nikon D5100 that I will be bringing with.

Camera videos lose audio when transferred to laptop?

I've taken some videos with my camera (a Nikon D3100). When I transferred them to my laptop (an Asus… Something) and tried to play them, there was no audio. I tried opening in multiple programs, but it didn't make a difference. I've moved videos from the camera to the laptop before, and it was fine.

I tried a Google search for a solution, and got a few different Nikon- and photography-related forums and help pages. They all say to download an updated codec. I found a rather recently updated one (from September of this year) and attempted to download it. When it began to install, a notification popped up that said a newer codec was detected on my computer, so the installation stopped.

The videos are pretty big files, because they're kind of long. Would that have anything to do with it?

And I'm going to repeat a very important piece of info here: I already tried downloading a codec and it said it was up-to-date. I know someone's going to answer this and just say "Get a new codec." and think they're being incredibly helpful. That sort of thing happens every time I ask a question.

CODEC. UPDATED. ALREADY.

Anyway, thanks in advance.

Who sells the cheapest Nikon D5100 right now?

I'm going to be buying this camera. Anyone have any leads to who has it cheapest? From what I've seen, a lot of places have it for almost the same exact price!

Added (1). Yes, obviously cameras are expensive. I would just figure that there would be sales, you know, since we're in the holiday season.