Just getting into DSLR's for video, advice needed!

Hello everyone,
With this first post I am looking for some guidance from the Canon community.
I have settled my heart on the beautiful Canon 60D to be my first DSLR.

I learned and developed as an amateur short film maker on a Sony PD170, and now am looking for more. my new 3 main concerns with the 60D are the following.

• Battery life, how is it when it comes to filming? should I be worried? How about footage storage, will my 32gb SD card be ok for a day's worth of filming at 1080p?

• Setting up a minimal rig that allows myself a shotgun mic, and overhead grip like the PD170. the lighter and more durable, the better.
  

• and of course lastly, finding the appropriate lens! I was already looking at the L series lens's because of their weatherproofing, but the prices seem to be very steep and other companies offer very competitive len's such as the: Tokina 11-16mm F2.8, Rokinon 14mm F2.8 , Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM etc...
  

Hey Adam.. Good luck with the new cam. The 60d will be really similar to your girlfriend's T2i. The flip out screen comes in handy on a lot of shots.. especially slider shots. A couple things to keep in mind for documentary filming with 'lots of action'.. You're gonna have to pull focus constantly. It's totally different than the Sony. You're also gonna have to be stabilized at ALL times. The same movement will look 10 times worse on the 60d compared to the Sony. The wider you go, the less shakiness.

The battery life isn't bad.. we use 3-4 batteries for an all day wedding. A 32gb card will get you about 90 minutes of footage @ 1080 24p

The Sony has a superior audio system. No XLR inputs on the 60d. Depending on the mic (1/4" to 1/8" shielded)

The tokina is a great lens.. I think it's sharper than most of our L's. It's flares pretty bad, but that is usually a good thing with video!

Agreed with Drozz.
Plus: The Tokina is really fun, very nice. No joke though, it is not afraid to flare LOL. It is built very solid but I don't honestly know about sealing. Could google it easy enough. The Roki 14mm gets a lot of good reviews. For $700 and "L" for weather sealing, the 17-40L fits. Has a more flexible range than the other 2 as well. None of them have IS so you're sacrificing that if you don't want something like a 3rd party 17-50 for lack of weather sealing. The 50 1.8 is not sealed in any way and is not the most durable lens by ANY stretch of the imagination. Not to mention, the focus ring is in a really bad spot manual focusing. The 40mm pancake will get you a little wider (50mm on a 60d is a bit long), better build, and good price. Still want wider? I'd look at the Canon 35 then Sigma 30.
A constant Ap zoom lens is preferable because your exposure won't get affected as you zoom in/out as the Ap changes too, but its not a necessity. Easiest way to address that is to set the Ap no faster than the slowest value. For example, set a f3.5-5.6 lens to f5.6 and you now have an f5.6 constant Ap zoom lens.

You will need spare batteries, but they do last pretty long. I have used 3rd party batteries (Wasabi I think is the name) and have had no problems. Like Drozz said, I'd recommend 3 or 4 extras.
Spare class 10 cards aren't very expensive, but do get a card case. Pelican makes a weather sealed one if you really want that. You don't want to lose cards. And having slots marked for which ones are full or empty makes life on the run easier.

There are a wide variety of rigs/configurations you can run, so your wants and budget would determine that.

You sound pretty serious about this, so I'd look into Juiced Link as part of my rig in order to run a real mic into the 60d. That would give you great audio control and eliminate having to sync in post.

An ND filter should be on your "to get" list as well.

Magic Lantern: it is software you can load on your 60d that will open up a ton of features and really make your camera a pretty serious beast for video. If nothing else, focus peaking and extra options for recording profiles alone would probably make it worth while for you.

Thanks for such quick feedback guys.
In terms of weather sealing, I guess its not a huge priority however it would be nice. Furthermore, in terms of stabilization... will it truly be that bad?

If so, are there any third party Ultra wide zoom lens that offer IS that would be worth looking at?

I have also been interested in the....
Tokina 11mm - 16mm F/2.8 ATX
Canon 10-22mm
sigma 8-16
Canon EF 17-40 f/4L USM

so any feedback in terms of video use would be great. Also these software add-ons sound amazing, I'll have to explore them more.

If your going be filming definitely get a battery grip,rokinon 35 1.4 I heard is great for filming...

I wouldn't worry about weather sealing. The camera's not, so I wouldn't make it a priority for my lenses.

Bagelsjustbagels wrote in post #14728106
Thanks for such quick feedback guys.
In terms of weather sealing, I guess its not a huge priority however it would be nice. Furthermore, in terms of stabilization... will it truly be that bad?

If so, are there any third party Ultra wide zoom lens that offer IS that would be worth looking at?

I have also been interested in the....
Tokina 11mm - 16mm F/2.8 ATX
Canon 10-22mm
sigma 8-16
Canon EF 17-40 f/4L USM

so any feedback in terms of video use would be great. Also these software add-ons sound amazing, I'll have to explore them more.

The reviews over at Lensrentals are nice and to the point.

http://www.lensrentals​.com …2mm-f3.5-4.5#.UAVhp_Xhf5I

Also, the 17-40L is actually meant as an ultra-wide zoom lens for a full frame camera. You can use it as a standard zoom on a crop camera (like the 60D), but if you have the option the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 is a better choice. It's sharper, has better range, and it has a stabilizer. The downside is that it's expensive. If you can live without a stabilizer, the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 (non-VC version) is similar to the Canon version in many respects, it just lacks a stabilizer and the autofocus isn't as quick. It's much less expensive and I believe it's also lighter, so from my understanding it's fairly popular among DSLR videographers.

Both the Canon and Tamron 17-xx f/2.8 lenses are a full stop faster than the 17-40L f/4 (lets in twice as much light) so if you're filming anything indoors it will be a huge boon over using an f/4 aperture.

The sigma 17-50 is a great lens for filming its so sharp to me the best zoom lens you can get for crop. your going want a low light killer too I would look at some 1.4 options

Thanks for all the additional info guys, looks like im ditching the weather seal idea, and looking for a heavy duty Low F-stop lens.

As of right now it looks like the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 is going to take the cake. Amazon is selling for 700 new, but how about refurbished or used? any advice when it comes to buying len's?

Furthermore, any suggestions other than 77mm UV filter to get along with it? possibly a hood or any other suggestions?

Thanks again for all the other great len's suggestions guys, the Sigma that was suggested numerous times also seems like a possible purchase in the future, but with my budget im looking for a really low mm giving me that super-wide feel.


Now in terms of a nice mic...i looked into Juiced Link... however it seems quite bulky and difficult for the "on the go" travel shooting I plan on doing, I fear that a cable might get hungup on something, not to mention it might be too much for my audio needs (dual xlr inputs etc...) I truly only need a decent quality shotgun mic.

Thanks again guys! We've got the camera, lens,battery, and software down already!
-Adam

Another lens to consider is the Tamron 17-50 with IS. I use it with my 7D and I'd recommend it fully:

http://www.amazon.com …8-2&keywords=tamron+17-50

Other random advice: Don't be afraid to get generic third-party batteries from ebay. I've got three of those, and they work fine. I can't tell them apart from the Canon battery I have. They work fine in the same charger and you'll save a ton of money. If I were you, though, don't go crazy and buy a bunch of batteries. They last longer than you think. They're nice to have, sure, but if you plan things well, and you're shooting in the same location, it's easy to have one battery charging while you're using another one. As long as you're near a plug, you're not going to be in a situation where you'll go through, say, 4 batteries before the first one is fully charged again.

As someone else said, if you're going to be shooting outside a lot, you're going to want to get a neutral density filter pretty early on. Otherwise you're not going to be able to utilize that nice 2.8 aperture on a bright sunny day.

Fleet of Foot wrote in post #14826803
Another lens to consider is the Tamron 17-50 with IS.

http://www.amazon.com …8-2&keywords=tamron+17-50

Other random advice: Don't be afraid to get generic third-party batteries from ebay. I've got three of those, and they work fine. I can't tell them apart from the Canon battery I have. They work fine in the same charger and you'll save a ton of money. If I were you, though, don't go crazy and buy a bunch of batteries. They last longer than you think. They're nice to have, sure, but if you plan things well, and you're shooting in the same location, it's easy to have one battery charging while you're using another one. As long as you're near a plug, you're not going to be in a situation where you'll go through, say, 4 batteries before the first one is fully charged again.

As someone else said, if you're going to be shooting outside a lot, you're going to want to get a neutral density filter pretty early on. Otherwise you're not going to be able to utilize that nice 2.8 aperture on a bright sunny day.

Agreed on all points.
Lee of F-Stoppers is a big fan of the Tamron 17-50VC for video. Tamron's VC is pretty amazing in a lens.
I too use 3rd party batteries (Wasabi) in both my 550d and 60d, no issues at all.

Don't forget to put money aside for:
- ND filters
- viewfinder
- tripod+videohead
- audio department
Horses for courses so can't advice you on that, but almost everything is better then the internal mic witch also picks up lots of handling noise so you need something shock mounted or completely separate or both. And the VC of your lens will be picked up by the internal mic !)
- extra memory
- battery grip / extra battery
- loads of storage room on your computer
- loads of storage room on your backup system
- depending on the things that you'll be shooting you might want to consider some lights to control the look, feel and mood of your video.

You'll discover your own need along the way, it all depends on your shooting style en type of video.

I agree on the 3rd party batteries. Unless you are getting realy carried away 4>5 should do you.

I'm a little apprehensive on the lens choices though. My go to lens for documentary is the 24-105 IS L. It has great flexibility of length and is only let down by its speed. If you need fast glass then you need fast glass and will want to be going f1.4 which will mean swapping to a prime.

hey guys thanks for all the advice.
The tamron seams awesome because of the VC, however I really want a super wide angle lens, in which case the tokina outperforms.

Furthermore.... I'm looking at the 7D now instead of the 60D. (In terms of an investment- it would be best if I invest just a little bit more (1400 refurbished on canon.com) and then have all the benefits of the better camera and more durable camera (with new 2.0 firmware of course) for a long time. Rather than wanting to upgrade in a year or 2 and losing money.
Do you guys believe this would be a good choice? or am I being rediculous and the 7D isnt worth THAT many benefits? I am focused on video, however I will also being use it for amateur photography. Unless someone here has a GREAT deal on a 7D with low actuations

Also, thanks for the battery advice!

-Adam

The 60d is a better video dslr even considering the new 7d firmware. The 60d already has the audio levels. It also has a video histogram. The flip screen is what puts it over the top. They have identical IQ. For the $500 you save, you could have a sennheiser mic.