Gear advice for restructuring a high school video class

Thank you very much! The Aputure led light is really useful.

TheDingo said:
Given your limited budget, and that students will need portable solutions that will work in both daylight and tungsten conditions, here's what I would look at...

CAMERA
New Panasonic G6 with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens (currently $580)
Used Panasonic AF-100

The Panasonic G6 is low cost, shoots 24p/30p/60p, has very high quality ETC "crop" mode, focus-peaking, and can be controlled/monitored wirelessly via a smart-phone or tablet. The version II kit lens is optically quite good, with built-in OIS for smooth handheld shots.

The AF100 takes the same lenses and can be used for shoots with larger crews.

SUPPORT
Benro S6 Video Head and Tripod (currently $300)
Sachtler Ace M Video Head and Tripod (currently $590)

The Benro S6 is about the cheapest tripod/head combo that will properly counter-balance a small DSLR package. The Sachtler Ace M is a low-cost upgrade from the Benro S6, with better performance.

AUDIO
Tascam DR-40 (currently $143 with rebate)
Sennheiser HD 202-II DJ Headphones (currently $35)
Sennheiser MKE 600 Shotgun Mic (currently $330)
Rycote InVision Universal Camera Kit (currently $179)
Rode 10' Boompole (currently $149)

Tascam DR-40 and Sennheiser MKE600 work well together, and produce quite good audio for a low cost setup.

LIGHTING
Aputure Amaran AL-528S LED Video Light Kit with Bag (currently $307)
Lowel Pro-light Two-Light Kit with Case (currently $325)

Aputure LED lights are cheap, daylight balanced, portable, can run for 2+ hours with low cost generic Sony L type batteries, and comes with a case.
Lowel Pro lights are also fairly cheap, produce good tungsten output for a small package, compact, lots of light modifiers are available or can be adapted for this light.
Click to expand...
 
I'm thinking of getting them the Benro H10. It's a 100mm bowl tripod. Which is pretty standard. It will also hold the heavier rigs that will inevitably be built in the future and the EX3's right away. Only challenge is, high schoolers are apparently lazy and don't like taking the "heavy gear" with them. The EX3 apparently qualifies as "heavy."
 
I wanted to update everyone. I'm in my 3rd year or teaching. And boy have I learned a lot! There is so much to learn, but I've also discovered a lot of resources. I've always build up my equipment inventory slowly with a lot of sweat, tears and planning. If anyone is in the bay area, I'd love to have you as a guest speaker!
 
It's great that the teacher is learning as well as the students, Jon- congrats! :thumbsup:
Are the students still using the EX? Have any decided to pursue production as a profession?

I guess you're focused enough on teaching that you don't need your site... but what happened to your url?
 
My url lapsed briefly and was bought by someone else. I've since relocated to www.jonfilms.com. I'll update that.

It's been a long 3 1/2 years. Just now got my reel updated and starting to get back into freelance work on the side again.

Cameras wise, we are still using the EX cameras. They are getting long in the tooth and need to be serviced very badly. I'm wondering if it's not worth the cost and should just put it toward our new camera system.

It's looking more and more like the Sony FS5 is where i'm going to go next. Any thoughts?
 
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