I have 1500 Dollars, Here's what I have, What do I buy?

thef0x

thef0x

Active member
So I have:

DVX100a
diy 35mm lens adapter
140 dollar tripod
diy shoulder mount
diy steadicam ($20)
50mm 1.4 canon lens
28mm 2.8 canon lens
80-210 3.8 canon lens (old--need a better telephoto lens)
subtotal
2500 dollars roughly
a hand-me-down laptop that can run adobe premiere pro 2


I have been given 1500 dollars. This is the most amount of money I have been given in my life. I'm shocked.

I'm thinking that I'll do the following:
+200$ Sell old laptop (so I have 1700$)
-600$ Buy refurbished dell dua core 2.2gzh 2gig ram 80gig HD ---load mac osx on it for FCS2.0 -- hope its not buggy
-700$ SGpro? (I want to find a used one with a canon mount)
-400$ Good monitor

Thats 1500. Plus 200 from the laptop.

What would you guys suggest?

I'm trying to make movies part time as a student and then be able to move into full time film making and doing some camera work for money.

I'm going to invest money in welding classes (or ask a friend to learn). This is the indie film makers skill. That and talking (check).

Let me know. Thought experiment.
 
$600 for a reburb Dell with only a core 2 duo 2.2ghz is wayyyy too much, sh*t man I reckon I could buy a new one for that here and I'm in AU.
Where are you from ?
 
A 2.2ghz glossy screen 17 inch laptop with 2 gigs of ram for $ 600 USD is a good deal, I believe.

I'm hoping to edit on Mac but we'll see how OSX performs.

As far as equipment goes.

What I most need:

  1. HD
  2. Amazing shoulder mount (and then steadicam--learning welding for this project :)
  3. A really good Film Lens Adapter
I think that the best of the 3 for NOW... is the film lens adapter. I can buy some extra threads for the HVX in case I can budget to rent one for production.

I'm working on a new shoulder mount now. Starting with building my own rails.

I would like to upgrade to a DVX100b Adromeda modded machine and a nice macbook pro but not yet.

I think I want to get the SGpro and a new telephoto lens.

I'm building my diy dolly right now as well. So I have tons of gear and a friend with a crane. So far I prefer shoulder mount footage.

I also really want a real monitor. Does anyone have a suggestion for a monitor for less than $ 300 USD?
 
uh, have you tried osx before?
are you sure the hardware works with osx?
I've spent weeks trying to get the different hardware reqs working.
It comes down to either the kernels are made for the hardware spec or
you're screwed. Very hard to get going and I know some coding so
It's not like I just popped the CD in and gave up when it didn't work.
Just some caution before you spend 600 and are banking on some mod software to carry you towards using FCP.

If you checked out the hardware then great.
 
If you plan to edit with FCP you really should just get a mac. OSX when installed on PC's is very buggy and not realistic to use for anything other then saying "look i installed OS X"
With that being said though. Why FCP? Im a mac user myself but if i was using a pc I would probably opt for Premiere or one of the other PC based NLE's. Ive used Premiere and cant say i like it any more or less than FCP.
 
seunosewa said:
Buy nothing you don't absolutely need.
Click to expand...


This is good advice!

I spent a fortune on certain types of equipment long before the jobs rolled in. Now I look at the job & if I need a piece of equipment and there is enough money in the job to cover the purchase, Ill grab it.

The list of things to "have" is a never ending process. Instead of getting what I "wanted" before hand, I now control my spending, limiting investments of new equipment to 1 item for every paying job I have.
 
For your Mac situation, buy a used PowerBook G4/PowerMac on eBay for about the price of that Dell and load up FCS 2.

DO NOT rely on a hacked pc to get the work done.
 
yeah having smooth pan and tilt is one of the most important things.

It may also be good to keep some of that money on hand so you can rent lights or buy food for crew or whatever.
 
save your 1500 and write a script (if you havnt already done so) and just make a movie. use the 1500 for props n such use it for production value. pay like 50 bucks for the actors (if your friends wont do it for free) make something fun out of it. id buy a nice mic rode nt3/video mic if you havnt already have one. i use rode nt3 for outdoors and its beautiful (boom pole and deadcat). just confine your script to your limits. dont have a bunch of kids playin fbi agents. make something believable
 
hmm as far as it sounds i still want to get a better camera lens adapter
i dont particularly enjoy tripod footage in the slightest
and i have a decent sized crew to work with
it would be nice to have some better sound but we have a pretty good guy who gives us a few extra days for free so we enjoy his business
 
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