Videographers, lend me your ears! (Gear Question - what to get?)

FruitFlakes

FruitFlakes

Messages
1,690
Name
Lloyd
Edit My Images
Yes
So, a friend of mine is looking to start shooting some video later this year and has asked for my opinion on what route to go down with regards to equipment, both in terms of video and audio capture. So I thought I'd ask around here and pick your brains a bit, and to see what you guys think of my own plan for this. The budget is £1500, and two bodies + lenses would be nice, but I don't think that's a wholly essential requirement. Here's what I've come up with:

- 2x GH1 bodies, with hacked firmware, ~£800
- 2x adapters for a mount that has lenses with manual aperture control (or maybe just one, more on that later)
- Lenses: I'm thinking some old Nikon AI/AIS glass, one wide (tricky), one normal (would be a 24mm due to the crop), and one telephoto (any old 50/1.8 would) do - however I honestly doubt that the tele would be much use for most video work, and if they do need it they can borrow my 50. Alternately, I could still get the normal and tele lenses and go with a M4/3 kit zoom for wider shots, but which ones are good for video?

OR

- Swap out the two GH1's for two 550D's w/hacked firmware (Magic Lantern)
- Adapters + lenses, which should be cheaper

Any other lens mounts that would be good for video capture? K-mount? M42?

Finally, I want to record the audio externally. Any recommendations for a good recording rig? Or perhaps on board sound would be enough?

I'd thoroughly appreciate any feedback!
 
Last edited:
2x 550 with magic lantern (fantastic for video). Also EF lenses are cheaper and more easily available. Never heard of 50mm regarded as telephoto before?

I film regularly with DSLRs (film student, and i'm involved in several small productions) and i would say the most commonly used lens is a 50mm 1.8 by far (though this is to some extent to do with budget!). Godsend for filming.

For audio we tend to use a zoom H1 with a rode shotgun mic, as well as recording on camera (doesn't hurt, right?)
 
Thanks for your thoughts. :)

50mm on a GH1 would give you a FOV similar to that of a 100mm, so it's a short tele in that context. I'm leaning towards the 550D's myself, since I feel going wide would be an issue with the GH1.
 
Quite a variety of things, since the set up with be used to replace my uni's student union's cameras (which were stolen last year). So interviews, on site reporting, short films (which I'll be handling) and some close quarters interior work.
 
student tv? or just general usage?

I'd suggest having a 'simple to use' camera that you can hand to anyone and they'll still get decent video/sound - slrs make nice video in the right hands, but aren't the simplest to use...

Jacob's list above looks good, though I'd be inclined to add a couple of LED panel lights off ebay too, and probably an ME66 mic.
 
Well looking at what they've done, it's more news-y stuff with a few things shot in studio, so I would say student tv. Having something simple to use would be good since I won't always be around to help with the filming, although I will be teaching a few of the regulars on how to use them anyway.
 
Nigey said:
As for sound recording you cannot beat the Zoom H4N. 4channel input 2 x onboard mics excellent quality for the price.

http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/h4n
Click to expand...

I recommended the DR-40 over the Zoom H4N because it has a safety track feature which could be useful for recording important audio, it also has much better pre-amps. The only downside is that you can only control the levels together and not independently like the DR-100
 
If you can pull focus well then I'd go for an ML550D. In my opinion the only real advantage the GH2 has over an ML500D is continuous autofocus.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top