Extremely Frustrated, I'm tired of clients saying T2i does not look professional

C

Cieloent

Well-known member
I have shot several shoots and every time I go to a new gig with my T2i I always get the comments, "You shoot with that little thing", "Where is your real camera" etc. No one denies my quality and what I do but it is truly making me feel uncomfortable and I am asking the community for some help.

Do I need to get a crazy rig with follow focus , small monitor, external mic, etc?


Help me out

thanks
 
NoxNoctus said:
$1200 mattebox, monitor, and soundman. does the trick
Click to expand...

Correct, BUT alternatively though if it is just to "look" more professional I don't why you would want to spend $1,200... Just get a mattebox as big as you can, slap a good big viewfinder, follow focus, and monitor and they will hardly be able to see the t2i.

Another far cheaper route would be to roll with it, "I know, amazing the quality, technology has come so far so quick, when people realize what you can do with these things, etc. etc." or something similar. Word it like you are agreeing with them because you assume they realize how awesome it is. It will make them feel dumb and not want to bring it up because presumably they don't know what you know, why else would they hire you?

If you don't get defensive it won't seem like you have something to be defensive about.
 
Burritoclock said:
Correct, BUT alternatively though if it is just to "look" more professional I don't why you would want to spend $1,200... Just get a mattebox as big as you can, slap a good big viewfinder, follow focus, and monitor and they will hardly be able to see the t2i.

Another far cheaper route would be to roll with it, "I know, amazing the quality, technology has come so far so quick, when people realize what you can do with these things, etc. etc." or something similar. Word it like you are agreeing with them because you assume they realize how awesome it is. It will make them feel dumb and not want to bring it up because presumably they don't know what you know, why else would they hire you?

If you don't get defensive it won't seem like you have something to be defensive about.
Click to expand...


Great response and yes from clients to even actual other video/film makers they simply do not believe that the T2i puts out the image it does. I have had at least a couple of people tell me that it is simply not true :angry:

But yeah I guess I must relax and understand that Canon has blessed us with the t2i, let me get back to work now
 
only answer to the one that is signing the paychecks, if the boss says that, tell him or her that all that matters is the end result, tell them " just wait till you see the final result, you be the judge"
 
most clients i deal with criticized my equipment, until they saw what i put out. Unless they have a background or an interest in it, they really wont know what they are looking at, and take a 'bigger is better' approach to everything.

We used to shoot with a 5D mkII most the time, now we have the 5D mkII on hand as well as my D300s and XH-A1; before that we would rent, and most the time the DSLR's handled 90% of the footage, and the client was 100% sure the DLSR's were just there for backup or photo's while the rented cam or the new rig was the majority of the shots.

I try to show a portfolio of work first. Heck, i still sell a lot of prints from my little Nikon D50 (circa 2005). Things have progressed VERY quickly in the video world AND the photographic world; unless a person has kept on top of it, it is likely they will not expect the same or better quality out of a DSLR that they expect out of dedicated video machines.

For reasons of perception, most of my clients feel so much better that we have a few 'real cameras' on hand, even though my personal D300 shoots NO video and the D300 is also pretty much dedicated to stills as well, and the 5D mkII is still the workhorse, they look to the XH-A1 assuming the best quality comes out of it. Frankly i shoot a lot of moving shots, so the 5D mkII isnt used in those, but the perception remains when the lighting is low, 'its just a big fat digital camera'.

I actually had one client try to show me up shooting the 5D mkII and D300s in low light with a little handycam he brought from home...

Show your best work, and dont worry about clients perceptions, just prove you can do it with the equipment you have.
 
I think it's worth investing a few extra dollars on a matte box and an outboard monitor. That alone makes it look a lot more pro and also helps you do better work. Just keep in mind how much dough you're saving on the next camera up from the T2i. It's a steal what you get for that price...

Noah
 
I have a friend who went through the same issue with his clients, he ended up buying the bells and whistles to give himself the professional look. Personally, spend the dough on better lenses or accessories that will help up the quality of the final product. I'd rather buy Carl Zeiss lens and deal with reassuring a client of their insecurities than buy accessories you could live without.
 
Great responses people, I am using a simple rig but would like to know exactly what rig I could use to mount a small monitor onto?

I would love to have the lilliput monitor mounted onto my camera, but my DIY
(spray painted black pvc pipe ) has no way really of mounted anything to it :(

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
I was scared at first but eventually became accustomed to the 8" lilliput monitor attached to the 7D hot-shoe.

25069_389915497174_517257174_4488031_6274362_n.jpg
 
really Cieloent?...you think these are great suggestions?...here's one. if you're even considering dropping the kind of cash being discussed here to make your camera more visually impressive, why didn't you just get a 5dMII with battery grip and a nice fat strap? seriously...
 
Chris Light said:
really Cieloent?...you think these are great suggestions?...here's one. if you're even considering dropping the kind of cash being discussed here to make your camera more visually impressive, why didn't you just get a 5dMII with battery grip and a nice fat strap? seriously...
Click to expand...

You know this is not the first time you have said some sideways comment. Do yourself and myself a favor and do not post in any of my threads nor anything I am speaking about. You bring NOTHING positive here and for lack of a few words you need to get a life dude.


A great response was buy something you truly need like lenses and just deal with the talk, that's what I was referring too. This is the T2i and 7D section, cameras you do not own and probably never even operated.

Not everyone makes a lot of money and even they do there are several things and reasons why people choose not to spend anymore. I am an up coming director doing what I love, I do not need garbage following me so please go troll somewhere else...........

A t2i only cost $800 where as a 5d cost almost 3 times as much, now yo do the math.......
 
Cieloent said:
You know this is not the first time you have said some sideways comment. Do yourself and myself a favor and do not post in any of my threads nor anything I am speaking about. You bring NOTHING positive here and for lack of a few words you need to get a life dude.
Click to expand...

take it easy. my comment wasnt meant to piss you off, but since i had a feeling you'd remember me, i'm not surprised at your reaction. however, since you fly off the handle with the slightest bit of sarcasm, i'll refrain from commenting any further, because i am sarcastic, and many users here know that about me. apparantly we're oil and water amigo. take care.
 
Chill peeps. Just because one is able to buy a 5D alone doesn't mean one wouldn't prefer to get a T2i and with the rest of 5D $get support equipment.

To the op...I'd say just keep delivering and make the work shut them up. Nod and say "yup...is is what I shoot with wait till u see the result". And be done.

Dvcity has some nice mattboxes that a lot of guys here use...can remember the model now...but is about $200. U can dop on and that will immediately make it look more "pro".
 
Cieloent said:
I

Do I need to get a crazy rig with follow focus , small monitor, external mic, etc?
Click to expand...

Just tell them that you use that camera, because you where impressed by the result of George Lukas, who used DLSR's on his last feature film, and hey - what´s good enough for George Lukas, shood be fine for them. :beer:

Frank
 
At some point I stopped worrying about that because there's no real need to. Clients won't cancel the shoot anyway by the time they see your gear, if they get nervous on set talk to them and be confident about yourself.

I actually experienced a nice side effect too.
The more "suspicious" the clients were, the more surprised and happy they ended up being with the final product, leaving them with a very positive feeling about you and your work, comfortable to hire you again or recommend you. Like a movie with a surprisingly nice ending rather than a special effects and stars packed movie where expectations are automatically high.

But it's important to feel confident and if you feel like you have to have impressive looking gear to do so then why not get it.
 
Thanks for the DVCity link. That really helps. What's the build quality on their products?

I've had quite a few clients look at my 7D and ask, "you're shooting with that?" but I've got such faith in the equipment that it never phases me.

I get the same questions when they find out I'm using CS3 instead of CS4. They're just buzzwords. So far, the features in CS4 weren't needed. CS5 is a different story, gotta have that and it's going to impress a lot of clients with the roto features.

How small is a 550D? I've used a Sony Handycam to make one film and all the actress had to say about it was that she'd seen a lot of good films filmed with less and you've got interchangable lenses, 24P, and 1080 recording.

Honestly, I think it's silly to gear up to impress the clients. You should gear up if you're going to use 4x4 filters and need a follow focus. I'd love both so I can get the shots I need, but these are the shots the client is going to want to. I'm shooting alot of independant films right now and we're getting by with just a 7D and a few lenses. It's all we need to storytell right now. The directors I'm working with are not asking for any rack focus shots I'd need a follow focus for so I'm guess I'm golden until the request comes.

Oh by the way, sarcasm rules and that's not sarcasm and neither was that.
 
One thing to think about is that a quality matte box and follow focus set up will last a lifetime no matter what camera you attach to it. I have a Redrock Micro MB/FF kit and have adapted it to numerous cameras as a 35mm adapter and now as a DSLR rig. Once the next generation of cameras come along I can use this stuff for that as well. It's very versatile.

Also, with a more pimped out rig my rate goes up. Many clients expect a certain level of dog and pony show and to spend an amount of money to get that show. Every one's expectations are met and my MB/FF rig has paid for itself many times over.

Of course the image quality has to be there as well because in the end if the client doesn't like your work there will be no call back no matter what crap you hang from DSLR.
 
I think that one thing people are missing, is that he mentioned shooting with a PVC pipe shoulder rig. That's almost ALWAYS going to drag your client's faith in you down.

i don't have a mattebox yet, but my kit consists of the following:

- Canon 7D
- 2x Canon batteries
- 2x Generic batteries
- AC adapter
- 3x 8GB Sandisk Extreme IVs
- 1x 32GB Kingston 133x CF Card
- Tamron 17-55mm 2.8f VC
- Canon 50mm 1.8f
- Zoom H4n Audio Recorder
- K-Finder LCD Loupe
- Zacuto Rapid Fire
- Manfrotto 519 head w/ 525MVB sticks
- Manfrotto 701HDV head w/ 055b sticks (for light travel)
- Micromount x1 (for mounting the Zoom H4n)
- Manfrotto 394 Quick Release Plate
- ND Fader 72mm (for 17-55mm)
- Mounting arm x2 (one long, one short - one for monitor, one for Zoom)
- Lilliput 7" HDMI Monitor
- 1.5m miniHDMI -> HDMI cable
- ProAim FF w/ rod support (whip + speed crank + 6 gear rings)
- RedHead Windscreen for Zoom
- 24" indiSLIDER mini deluxe

Not once have I been questioned on set about my equipment and for the most part, its only been the follow focus/rails, monitor and camera that have been setup. I think these are all essential tools to my kit and not superficial by any means. I am likely going to add one of CPM's cages so that I can use the top handle as well and that will probably make your camera look bigger and better.

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