Video with DSLR Kit??

Hey all,

So I'm new to video world and I'm wanting to get started with a good set up. I'm getting back from a deployment and have a good amount of money to get a basic set up. I'm not to sure what body to go with and lens and all that. I'm hoping some of ya'll can help me figure out a decent set up to get me started.

I'm mostly going to be focusing on shooting in a CrossFit gym and little outdoor stuff. Maybe even try and do some night club stuff on the weekends. Can I get some good set up suggestions? And decent editing program?

Thanks all

bump for help

We need more information about your budget and shooting needs (or desires). What kind of videos would you like to make?

Depending on the answer I could recommend $2k or $10K+ worth of stuff.

joe

charro callado wrote in post #15595105
We need more information about your budget and shooting needs (or desires). What kind of videos would you like to make?

Depending on the answer I could recommend $2k or $10K+ worth of stuff.

joe

Well I'm thinking my budget to be around $3,500 with a little room to go up.

Well I want to do some Work-out demo videos for CrossFIt.com

http://www.youtube.com …U&list=PLC8594C​43D84130D0
or
http://www.youtube.com …c&list=PL902308​6E06563C28

and some tours of the local gyms around me. I would like to try and get into some of those night club promo videos to try and maybe get a little money on the side.

martins88 wrote in post #15596661
Well I'm thinking my budget to be around $3,500 with a little room to go up.

Well I want to do some Work-out demo videos for CrossFIt.com

http://www.youtube.com …U&list=PLC8594C​43D84130D0
or
http://www.youtube.com …c&list=PL902308​6E06563C28

and some tours of the local gyms around me. I would like to try and get into some of those night club promo videos to try and maybe get a little money on the side.

Ok that's helpful.

For your body I would recommend either a 5D Mark II or a 7D. The 7D is cheaper, but it does not do as well in low light conditions. The differing sensor sizes will also impact your lens selection. I would go straight for the 5D if you want to shoot indoor/night events.

Personally - and I know others will strongly disagree - I would just start out with primes for video. On the 5D the 35 2.0 and 50 1.4 will work nicely and only set you back about $700 for the pair. You'll get great low light performance and two very workable focal lengths.

So far we're at about $2400 for a body and two primes.

You'll need a microphone. Pretty much all the fancy stuff is out of your price range, so I would go with a Rode Videomic Pro ($230). The 35 and 50 primes will require that talent stand relatively close to the camera anyway so sound should be passable.

$2730 subtotal.

Time for a tripod. I love manfrotto stuff but I recently just tried a Benro S4 kit that kind of blew me away for what it is - I'm picking one up to make it my go-to event tripod. $275 for the head and legs.

$3005 subtotal.

Extra cards and batteries. Plan on about 10 minutes for every 4 gigs. A good 32 gig CF card will cost you about $100, and will hold roughly 90 mins of video. Spare battery is $60.

$3165 subtotal.

Now, I use adobe premiere and I can't really say anything for final cut. Premiere costs $700 to purchase outright. Luckily, you can subscribe and use it on a monthly basis - $30/month. I would recommend doing that until (and if) you're able to swing the full license. Luckily you get a 30 day free trial to get you started.

So that will get you nicely started, slightly under budget at roughly $3200.

If you wanted to go the full $3500, I would pick up an external audio recorder like the Zoom H4n ($225). But your audio needs may not require it and it may be more of a post production headache than you're willing to deal with at this point. If that's the case, I'd recommend a monopod - manfrotto makes a nice one - that would be very handy to have in cramped event conditions.

hopefully someone else will chime in with their thoughts too.

joe

That's some great information. I really do appreciate your I sight and I'm going to look into that whole set up. I'll totally let you know what I end up doing. I'm really trying to buy it all before the end of April. I'm driving from North Carolina to Colorado and I'm stopping at a CrossFit gym in every state. So I'm hopping to record some of it. It should be interesting. Thank again Joe

martins88 wrote in post #15597033
That's some great information. I really do appreciate your I sight and I'm going to look into that whole set up. I'll totally let you know what I end up doing. I'm really trying to buy it all before the end of April. I'm driving from North Carolina to Colorado and I'm stopping at a CrossFit gym in every state. So I'm hopping to record some of it. It should be interesting. Thank again Joe

No problem. Obviously you should get more information from others in addition to stopping by your local camera shop to try different things out.

charro callado wrote in post #15596831
Ok that's helpful.

For your body I would recommend either a 5D Mark II or a 7D. The 7D is cheaper, but it does not do as well in low light conditions. The differing sensor sizes will also impact your lens selection. I would go straight for the 5D if you want to shoot indoor/night events.

Personally - and I know others will strongly disagree - I would just start out with primes for video. On the 5D the 35 2.0 and 50 1.4 will work nicely and only set you back about $700 for the pair. You'll get great low light performance and two very workable focal lengths.

So far we're at about $2400 for a body and two primes.

You'll need a microphone. Pretty much all the fancy stuff is out of your price range, so I would go with a Rode Videomic Pro ($230). The 35 and 50 primes will require that talent stand relatively close to the camera anyway so sound should be passable.

$2730 subtotal.

Time for a tripod. I love manfrotto stuff but I recently just tried a Benro S4 kit that kind of blew me away for what it is - I'm picking one up to make it my go-to event tripod. $275 for the head and legs.

$3005 subtotal.

Extra cards and batteries. Plan on about 10 minutes for every 4 gigs. A good 32 gig CF card will cost you about $100, and will hold roughly 90 mins of video. Spare battery is $60.

$3165 subtotal.

Now, I use adobe premiere and I can't really say anything for final cut. Premiere costs $700 to purchase outright. Luckily, you can subscribe and use it on a monthly basis - $30/month. I would recommend doing that until (and if) you're able to swing the full license. Luckily you get a 30 day free trial to get you started.

So that will get you nicely started, slightly under budget at roughly $3200.

If you wanted to go the full $3500, I would pick up an external audio recorder like the Zoom H4n ($225). But your audio needs may not require it and it may be more of a post production headache than you're willing to deal with at this point. If that's the case, I'd recommend a monopod - manfrotto makes a nice one - that would be very handy to have in cramped event conditions.

hopefully someone else will chime in with their thoughts too.

joe

I think this is the Monopod Joe was talking about:
<H1>Manfrotto Fluid Video Monopod W/Head

<LI class=first>B&H # MA561BHDV1 Mfr# 561BHDV-1
</H1>After going through the same thing this was the monopod that was pointed out by video shooters here. I also agree with the Use of the 5D as most of the focusing you'll want to do is Manual focus anyways (Which is the big advantage the 7D has over the 5D.) So having high ISO would help a lot of poor lighting.

What about hoods and filters for the lenses? I'm for sure going with the 50mm 1.4 and still deciding on the second lens but do i need hoods for video recording? I know my friend uses in on his 1D but he only shoots photos. I also keep seeing UV filters, will I need them?

UV filters were made for film cameras, they're not needed on DSLRs.

I like hoods in general because they shade stray light to a point and they offer a first line of defense if you ever bump the lens into anything.

martins88 wrote in post #15610272
What about hoods and filters for the lenses? I'm for sure going with the 50mm 1.4 and still deciding on the second lens but do i need hoods for video recording? I know my friend uses in on his 1D but he only shoots photos. I also keep seeing UV filters, will I need them?

Need? No, you don't need either. The only filters that are really important for video work are plain and graduated neutral density filters. Regular ND's allow you to keep your aperture nice and wide in bright conditions without having to set the shutter speed to a visually-displeasing value. Graduated ND's allow you to balance bright skies with dark grounds.

I'm thinking about just getting a 24-70mm f/2.8L II...My friend told me that I could really do a lot with just that to start off with. Suggestions?????

charro callado wrote in post #15596831
Ok that's helpful.

For your body I would recommend either a 5D Mark II or a 7D. The 7D is cheaper, but it does not do as well in low light conditions. The differing sensor sizes will also impact your lens selection. I would go straight for the 5D if you want to shoot indoor/night events.

Personally - and I know others will strongly disagree - I would just start out with primes for video. On the 5D the 35 2.0 and 50 1.4 will work nicely and only set you back about $700 for the pair. You'll get great low light performance and two very workable focal lengths.

So far we're at about $2400 for a body and two primes.

You'll need a microphone. Pretty much all the fancy stuff is out of your price range, so I would go with a Rode Videomic Pro ($230). The 35 and 50 primes will require that talent stand relatively close to the camera anyway so sound should be passable.

$2730 subtotal.

Time for a tripod. I love manfrotto stuff but I recently just tried a Benro S4 kit that kind of blew me away for what it is - I'm picking one up to make it my go-to event tripod. $275 for the head and legs.

$3005 subtotal.

Extra cards and batteries. Plan on about 10 minutes for every 4 gigs. A good 32 gig CF card will cost you about $100, and will hold roughly 90 mins of video. Spare battery is $60.

$3165 subtotal.

Now, I use adobe premiere and I can't really say anything for final cut. Premiere costs $700 to purchase outright. Luckily, you can subscribe and use it on a monthly basis - $30/month. I would recommend doing that until (and if) you're able to swing the full license. Luckily you get a 30 day free trial to get you started.

So that will get you nicely started, slightly under budget at roughly $3200.

If you wanted to go the full $3500, I would pick up an external audio recorder like the Zoom H4n ($225). But your audio needs may not require it and it may be more of a post production headache than you're willing to deal with at this point. If that's the case, I'd recommend a monopod - manfrotto makes a nice one - that would be very handy to have in cramped event conditions.

hopefully someone else will chime in with their thoughts too.

joe

This is good advice. The reason you see UV filters is they are generally protectors too.
If you shoot outdoors, you will need an ND filter. I use Singh Ray variables but they are pricey. A good set of single filters can be used as well.

Get a loupe of some sort. Hoodman makes one that's not that expensive. This will also help obtain accurate focus and is a must for outdoors.

I would add the Zoom or similar to the kit anyway.
Premier is the best game in town for pro editing. FCPX is OK too but I don't really like it.
Get Plural Eyes which is a plugin to automatically sync video and audio.
Other than that, practice, practice, practice.

martins88 wrote in post #15610335
I'm thinking about just getting a 24-70mm f/2.8L II...My friend told me that I could really do a lot with just that to start off with. Suggestions?????

2.8 is going to hurt in the dark (nightclubs or whatever). Your ISO will be 3200 quite often - too much noise for me. That's why I suggested primes.

charro callado wrote in post #15610348
2.8 is going to hurt in the dark (nightclubs or whatever). Your ISO will be 3200 quite often - too much noise for me. That's why I suggested primes.

so what about the 50 1.4 for the club and then the 24-70 for outdoor and when i need a zoom? I heard that the first version of the 24-70 isnt to expensive