Best price / performance ratio of any piece of gear you've ever purchased?

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DBP

Well-known member
What are some pieces of kit that have blown you away with the quality to cost ratio?

Mine are:

Sigma 60 f2.8 lens for m43. Brought it used off a guy for $160 Canadian. Incredibly sharp, even wide open. Great quality all around, still boggles my mind that it was so cheap.

Audiotechnica AT875r Mic. Still surprised how good it sounds for a mic that was $200 8 years ago.

Panasonic GH2. Still holds up and at the time, insane quality for the price.
 
Not exactly what you mean by price/performance, but... I’d say one of the best for me was a used BVW-35 portable Betacam SP deck. Bought it used on eBay for maybe $1000-$1300(can’t remember exactly, now) around 2003 so producers could screen tape in the field on shoots. I got several hundred bucks per day for rental on it(again, don’t remember the exact going rate back then), and averaged probably 70-100 days a year with it until I went HD. Back in the day when certain clients expected playback decks and would actually pay for them, it was basically a license to print money.
 
Run&Gun said:
Not exactly what you mean by price/performance, but... I’d say one of the best for me was a used BVW-35 portable Betacam SP deck. Bought it used on eBay for maybe $1000-$1300(can’t remember exactly, now) around 2003 so producers could screen tape in the field on shoots. I got several hundred bucks per day for rental on it(again, don’t remember the exact going rate back then), and averaged probably 70-100 days a year with it until I went HD. Back in the day when certain clients expected playback decks and would actually pay for them, it was basically a license to print money.
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Lovely!!!
 
DBP said:
What are some pieces of kit that have blown you away with the quality to cost ratio?

Mine are:

Sigma 60 f2.8 lens for m43. Brought it used off a guy for $160 Canadian. Incredibly sharp, even wide open. Great quality all around, still boggles my mind that it was so cheap.

Audiotechnica AT875r Mic. Still surprised how good it sounds for a mic that was $200 8 years ago.

Panasonic GH2. Still holds up and at the time, insane quality for the price.
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Those Audio Technica mics are pretty great. I picked up a few AT4041 cardis Several years ago and they still are in my kit today.
 
nikkor 50 1.8 - less than $100 but my most used lens

I also have an 50 canon FD - so I can give that to an operator who doesn not like the 'nikon way' - that cost $40

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tamron 10-24 I bought for $100 and has been way better than I expected.

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Some small rig rigging bits

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FS7!
 
Easy. Cowboy Studio's infamous shoulder rig. It makes me laugh every time I think of it but for less than $30, it continues to be one of the most versatile and comfortable shoulder rigs out there for smaller cameras -- and this is coming from someone who has spent many thousands of dollars on shoulder rigs over the years. It took me a while to figure out that I need to leave a little room so that I can use the front "tong" as a handle; otherwise it will pick up your breathing. The plastic is basically indestructible and it folds down to fit easily in a backpack. It has been an integral part of my kit for a decade.
 
Super 16mm arri sr 2 camera

I had no idea how much work I was going to get from it
 
i always thought digital would progress faster than it did. Film is still king nearly two decades since Lucas films declared war on it.
 
James0b57 said:
i always thought digital would progress faster than it did. Film is still king nearly two decades since Lucas films declared war on it.
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Agreed. Film still looks significantly better. Remember when we all thought the DVX100b looked like film?
 
Nokton 25mm (m43) - workhorse, great IQ jump
Think tank international bag - 7 years strong, still looks new, constantly used

Retro -

Sony digital 8 handicam - for $800 i used this for 6 years (1999-2005) in high school and college to make over $100k in video as a side hustle with no other equipment except an old cheap budget tripod from the 70s. Even reused tapes over and over, and used a bundled version of ulead media studio pro. Ah the good old days when people were still impressed that “there are words on the screen!”
 
QuickHitRecord said:
Easy. Cowboy Studio's infamous shoulder rig. It makes me laugh every time I think of it but for less than $30, it continues to be one of the most versatile and comfortable shoulder rigs out there for smaller cameras -- and this is coming from someone who has spent many thousands of dollars on shoulder rigs over the years. It took me a while to figure out that I need to leave a little room so that I can use the front "tong" as a handle; otherwise it will pick up your breathing. The plastic is basically indestructible and it folds down to fit easily in a backpack. It has been an integral part of my kit for a decade.
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Seconding this as well... I have a box full of shoulder rigs from various brands. I think I got the revo version of this or something, but I was shocked at how well it works for DSLRs. At $30 it’s an improvement over many much more expensive rigs. No kidding.
 
There are a lot of simple things that make life easier. Though too many to actually list, I think they collectively get an honorable mention:

the headlamps,
the bongo ties
the gloves,
the small case that keeps small items and short cables organize in the pelican or camera case.
that back up memory card or ssd you get on sale when you don't need one at the time.
and so many more.
 
Drew Ott said:
Agreed. Film still looks significantly better. Remember when we all thought the DVX100b looked like film?
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Haha! Yeah, i remember the feeling of shooting 24p for the first time.


I am doing a vintage video camera shootout. Going to have dvx up with the varicam and f35. Should be fun to see how far we’ve come a long, and how far we still need to go. Digital has exceeded expectations in resolution and sensitivity. But still could improve in many ways. Specs symantics seems to hold back the train.

I’ll say, cameras like the Varicam, 5d, and few others where excellent money making tools in their perspecetive eras.
 
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James0b57 said:
Haha! Yeah, i remember the feeling of shooting 24p for the first time.


I am doing a vintage video camera shootout. Going to have dvx up with the varicam and f35. Should be fun to see how far we’ve come a long, and how far we still need to go. Digital has exceeded expectations in resolution and sensitivity. But still could improve in many ways. Specs symantics seems to hold back the train.

I’ll say, cameras like the Varicam, 5d, and few others where excellent money making tools in their perspecetive eras.
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My VariCam's are still making me money. They still look great, even in the context of todays cameras, whether it's "film" or "video". I just did a two-day show for one of my network clients with my two 2700's and the director back in the studio, our field director and head-of-directors was saying how good the cameras looked. Obviously part of it was our lighting, but I've always prided myself in having good looking cameras. It's part of our freaking jobs. ESPECIALLY when they are YOUR cameras.



*The head of directors brings us in every year for this event coverage, because he likes and knows what he's going to get out of us with our cameras, lighting and experience.
 
Run&Gun said:
My VariCam's are still making me money. They still look great, even in the context of todays cameras, whether it's "film" or "video". I just did a two-day show for one of my network clients with my two 2700's and the director back in the studio, our field director and head-of-directors was saying how good the cameras looked. Obviously part of it was our lighting, but I've always prided myself in having good looking cameras. It's part of our freaking jobs. ESPECIALLY when they are YOUR cameras.



*The head of directors brings us in every year for this event coverage, because he likes and knows what he's going to get out of us with our cameras, lighting and experience.
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I've never used the 2700/3700 series vari's. I'm still quite surprised by the original 27. To think that 15yrs later cameras with all the advancements, and there is still something to the tone curve on the old varicam. It is the reason I am doing a vintage digital camera shoot out. I am curious what makes us respond to some cameras, and whether that was a fleeting moment in time when we didn't know any better, or if there really was something good going on.
 
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