Essential Equipment

alpha54

alpha54

Active member
Hey guys,

For the last few months, I've been torn between either buying a new camera (probably DVX100) or getting some proper equipment for my current cam (Sony TRV950). Now I know that the DVX is a superior camera, but in the end I decided it would make more sense to get some proper equipment first (I've only been using the on-camera mic until now, for example), and then upgrade to a better camera later.

Now, this is a short list of the equipment I'm currently looking at getting; what do you guys think? Any further recommendations would be much appreciated!

Audio:
  • Rode NTG-2 Shotgun Microphone
    • Seems to be the best compromise, price/performance wise.
  • Rode Boom Pole
    • Is supposed to be quite sturdy, I'm thinking if I'm getting a Rode mic then I might as well get the Rode boom pole to go along with it?
  • Rode DeadCat Wind Filter
    • For outdoor use when more wind filtering is required.
  • Rode SM3 Suspension Shock Mount
    • I've been hearing that a suspension shock mount will cut back on vibration and provide me with better sound? Or is it not neccessary in most cases?
Tripod:
  • Cartoni Focus or Bogen Manfrotto 503 Fluid Head
    • Its about time I got a proper tripod head, and both of these seem to be very popular, especially in their price class. Are they worth it, and which one should I go for? I've got no experience with either, and there aren't really any "specialist" video shops here in Stockholm, so I'm pretty much reliant on the experience and recommendations of other users... :huh:
  • New Tripod Legs
    • I haven't decided on any tripod legs yet, so I'm really looking for some advice here. I often film on uneven ground, so I can't use floorspreaders. It would also be cool if the tripod was quite tall (2 metres?), so I could get some "semi crane-like-ish" shots at least.
  • A camera stabiliser would be great, but I'm a bit clueless as to which one to choose - seems that everytime I look around, I just end up getting more confused!
Other:
  • Green Screen
    • I really noticed how much a green screen would've helped me during my last project (which was the first more serious film project I ever did) so I think its about time to invest in one. A small price tag is preferably, as I'm already planning to invest a bit of money into the audio and tripod side of things, and I really have no clue as to what makes a good/easy-to-use green screen so I could really use some advice here!
  • Warm Cards or ExpoDisc?
    • One of my biggest problems during the short film I just made (I'm only 16, so quality-wise its nowhere near most of the stuff on this site) was that I used auto white balance (I know, huge mistake) which meant that I spent a lot of time trying to get the colours to match from shot to shot in post. Is it recommended to use something like the Warm Cards or the ExpoDisc in order to get proper, repeatable white balance?
Thanks again for your help and time, I hope somebody read through all that! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :)
 
I'm not gonna comment too much on the audio or tripod cuz it's a really complicated question as there's a lot of factors to consider like how much you're truly willing to spend, quality vs price, etc.

As for the Other section though, if you want to get a greenscreen, hey it'd be cool, but just know that a DV camera will never in my opinion pull off "passable" greenscreen. (passable as in will fool the audience) You can get successful greenscreen, but peeps will know it's not a real background. My friend tried out greenscreen on his project last semester and it was cool and all but totally obviously greenscreen.

They even do a little greenscreen test on the DVXuser DVD from this site and even then you could tell it was greenscreen, despite the fact that this is coming from peeps totally in command of the camera and technology, thus all shortcomings I attribute to the inherent weaknesses of DV, even from a camera as awesome as the DVX.

Also for the Warm Cards, I can see how they'd be cool but I'm not sure if it is one of those ABSOLUTELY neccesary accessories. Your problem with consistency with the image tone from your last project has more to do with you using auto-white balance than not having any warm cards. If you consistently manually white balanced to true white, that would help your problem (although I think it's a myth that always white balancing will make all your shots look the same. It won't. I tried. Things like the amount of light, shadows, type of light (sunlight vs incandesent vs flouresent) will always change your pictures color tone a little, even if you manually white balance all the time.

The purpose of the warm cards is more so that it'll (like it's namesake implies) give you a warmer image. That's all. Again, hey that's cool, but you could easily do the same thing in post with a little color correction. True, it'd be more work but then again, you'd have more control over your final image. And if you don't want to do all that in post, you could also just adjust your camera settings to give you a warmer picture. I do that all the time. The DVX has a lot of options to control your image which might make the warm cards unneccesary.
 
Thanks for your reply mate!

Yeah, I've heard that DV isn't all that great for green screen work, but I will be filming a spoof newscast soon and the simplest way I can think of to put a cityscape or something along those lines behind the news presenter is with a greenscreen. There will be very little movement in the scene, so I think I should be able to get a good enough key to pass it of, at least.

I wasn't really looking at the warm cards in order to make my image warmer, but more in order to just get easily repeatable white balance. If I manually white balance, should I just use a white sheet of paper then?
 
I have the Rode NGT 2 an use and the Sennheiser ME66/K6. You definitely need a shock mount to isolate vibration. I like both mic's the Rode works well and produces great sound. It is probably in the lower end of what you would call "professional" grade but its in my field kit 24/7 The Seenheiser I bought used as a back up. If you end up with two mic's try to use the same one for your entire project so as not to have an differences in the sound.

I use these as schock mount with a painters pole http://www.tensimount.com/ordering.htm (Polekit)

Works very well and if you travel on a plane just bring the head and buy a pole at the local Home Depot, Lowes, or Wal-mart for $10.00

I like to save my money for the things like quality lenses, filters, mic's, etc.


I used the Bogan 501 for years on a set of 3221 sticks with no leveling except for leg adjustment. Urgh!

Last year I bought this set up and love it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=387808&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

It has a 75mm ball and bubble level so you adjust to level using the bowl shaft in seconds,

Lastly forget the warm cards a good white piece of foamcore will do the trick. Color balance every time you move or at least use the preset for a baseline. Your DVX has a color temp setting in the scene file which you can adjust for warmer or cooler looks and its free!. You can white balance the camera, then in the scene file adjust the Color temp to shift the balance in the direction you want for the shoot/project and save it in the scene file. Next set-up you can change again to you liking if you want to return to normal just go back to 0 and save. Make a note of these set-ups in you production notes. This is handy for reusing set-ups during production and for reference when editing.
 
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Well, after getting some replies on this forum as well as on some other ones, I'll definitely be going with the Rode NTG-2. I'm planning on getting it along with the Rode accessoires I listed above, as this just makes it easier and I can get it all from the same shop.

Thanks also for your advice about the white foam, sounds good! :)

I guess the two biggest points that I still need advice on then is the tripod head and legs, as well as the green screen. I would guess that the easiest way to get a green screen is off Ebay? Is there anything particular I need to pay attention to in regards to brand or other factors? Like I said, there's no specialist shops that I know of here in Stockholm, so I'm pretty reliant on internet shopping here.

Thanks for your help by the way!
 
Since your need is for keying out behind a fake newscaster one presumes that you do not need a great deal of width. Why not try a local pro photography shop for a roll of technical green seamless background paper? In the states we have Savage brand. Standard width is a bit less than 3 meters by almost 8 meters long at a price of around $35US per roll.

Good luck keying with the DV codec.
 
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