8K to spend, where do I start?

J

jlara1123

Member
First off let me say, I tried to find a thread on this topic, so forgive me if I overlooked it.

Newbie here. I am a Producer, occasional Director. I want to have more creative control, so I thought Id spend some money and work on my own projects. I will be mostly shooting narrative movie projects.

I have about 8k to spend right now and will be buying an HPX170.

With the roughly 3k left to spend, I have been looking at these options:

Tripod head (I have old Bogen sticks from my still photography days)
Mics (I was looking at sennheiser ME66/K6p shotgun)
35 adapter
follow focus
p2 cards/storage

How would you prioritize? Where do you think my money is best spent? In which cases am I better off renting specific equipment pieces?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Also, let me say that I have learned so much from these forums. Things have changed so much since I graduated with a film degree 20 years ago.
 
Well,

You'll have a good camera for sure... Next on my list would be good audio. But a good shotgun and hypercoid combo with a pole and wind protection is going to eat up the rest of your budget. The ME66 is not that highly regarded, though I do have one and it works well for me. You'll also need a way to record that audio as going straight to the camera with a cable could be pretty limiting.

I'd put a 35mm adapter and follow focus pretty far down the list. Good stuff to be sure, but not nearly as crucial as sound and lights.

Storage is a big deal of course. Probably good to have an hour or two for narrative work so you don't have to stop and change cards every other minute. But four 16GB cards is going to take up your whole budget.

It's a tough spot to be in. And I don't envy you.
 
You could spend the extra $3,000 on equipment rentals for your shoots until you realize what you need and what works for you.
 
I havent considered buying lighting equipment because it seems to be the cheapest to rent. I recently got 2-4ft -4bank fatboy + 1 2ft-4bank fatboy for 105/weekend. Contrast that with the 285 i spent renting the P+S mini 35 adapter. Granted I would buy a cheaper (?) 35 adapter (cinevate).
 
my advice, lighting never buy it unless you really need it every day, if you can rent it, rent it... think that most of the film makers don't need to buy their own lighting... until you have your own studio and need it on daily base....

same for the 35mm adapter, rent it.... is not so important item yet, maybe in a later stage & discover first the possibilities and limits of your HPX170 lens without any adapter... maybe you can work without one....

most important item after your camera is your SOUND and MATTEBOX :beer:

good sound does the other 50% of your movie, you have a good camera (HPX170) and that requires a good quality microphone.... a nice Schoeps mic but is not cheap... a Sanken CS-3E is a good second choice ($1500).... with a Rycote windjammer, a k-tek boompole and 20 feet XLR cable, your basic soundsystem is ready for professional shootings... of course you can record in the beginning audio on your camera... in a later stage you can always decide to buy a seperate audio recorder and mixer...
if you like to have a cheaper microphone, a Rode NTG-2 does the job too... personal I am not a big fan of Sennheiser, you pay more for the name then the product itself... and compared with Rode, results are the same.... but as I said, that's a personal thing....

most filmers forget to buy a good mattebox, and that is stupid because it is the finish touch of your film... that little sunhood on your lens does not the job well, black is not real black and diffusing light disturb the view... the mattebox corrects this problem and make your final image more balanced... more professional... and that fits more with your HPX170.... I own several camera's and each of them has his own mattebox... a simple sunshade from Chrosziel starts from $800 (sunshades).... there are also other brands as Petroff and RedRock... personal I use the Chrosziels & a Petroff...

next items, a tripod (for ex. a Libec LS-38 fits perfect with your cam and is very affordable) and more P2 cards...
so...

$599 kit at BH Photovideo with rode ntg-2, rycote windjammer, k-tek boompole, cable, shockmount...
$835 for an Mattebox
$675 for the LIBEC 38 with fluid head
and the rest of the money I should buy P2 cards... you will need them, gives much more freedom and you have no stress anymore or you have enough available space... yeh I know you can dump it to your notebook, but nobody on a set like to wait for you while dumping data to your notebook...

good luck :beer:
 
Last edited:
How good are your old Bogen sticks? I have sticks for photography and then a different set for video. Totally different set of legs. With $3k, I wouldn't even put a 35mm adapter on your list.

Renting lights is a good idea for every shoot - I have a 3 point Mole Richardson lighting kit, but thats because I have a lot of one day corporate shoots as well and need to have lights handy. For narrative, I'd just rent them.

Microphones are important. I'd pick up a RODE NTG-2/3 for your shotgun needs (cheap and definitely good quality in the < $1000 range). I'd also pick up a hyper cardiod mic for indoor stuff. I hear great things about the Octavia, which goes for under $250.

As for your tripod head, I would even consider just getting a kit again. Not many people like Manfrotto/Bogen, but I have a 501HDV head with 055 sticks and I get great results out of it...though if the sticks were a little heavier, it'd be nice. I'd probably go up to at least a 503 or 516 head and buy a decent pair of legs (if you were to go the Bogen route).

If you had money left over, I'd buy a 16 gig P2 card. How's your editing setup looking? Do you have enough power/storage to edit and store HD?

Again, 35mm adapter may not be the best place to spend your money at this point but it is all up to you.

-Kegan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top