Josh Oakhurst has a detailed interview with Kevin Knoblock, the creator of Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration. The filmmaker shares some of the technical and financial challenges behind the project. They largely utilized Sony HDW-F900 HDCAM and JVC-HD100U HDV cams for acquisition. Some Mini-DV SD camcorders were used for various pickup shots.

For most of the Los Angeles shoots (Lupe Moreno, Teri March) we used a Sony HDW-F900 HDCAM. Emmy Winner Jody Eldred was my Los Angeles cameraman. I’ve worked and traveled the world with Jody on various shows since we met at KABC in the mid 1980’s. His setup - with wide angles lenses - was over $125,000 in gear.
It might seem crazy to intercut a $125,000 setup (the Sony) with a sub $10,000 camera (the JVC). We were amazed at the results - and so were our colorists.

Everything was converted to 720p DVCPRO HD for post production (HDCAM downconverted). After editing in FCP, the footage was hardware upconverted for DaVinci color correction, and some 35mm prints created. After showing a 20-city self theatrical distribution run across the country, the DVD distribution rights were acquired by Genius Entertainment. Lots more details and nuggets in the interview, many thanks to Josh for putting this all together.