New Film-Maker, A Few Gear Questions

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BugaBoo

Active member
Hello, sorry if some of this information has been stated elsewhere in the forum, I searched quite a bit, and figured I would make a thread to answer these

Shoot mainly music videos with a Canon T2i, here are a few questions I have:

1.)I bought a ProAm crane with a 7-inch External LCD, the one attached in the link below. Once I got the item I realized that the supplied cables wouldn't attach my camera to the lcd. Is there any type of HDMI/out -to- a/v cables. Now I know that this monitor doesn't play back in HD, the quality of playback on the monitor wouldn't bother me, would I still be able to connect it to my camera in any way?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ProAm-7-On-Came...119?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5194f8df9f
^^Exact LCD

2.) LENSES ..I'm currently only using the stock lens on my camera, need to upgrade. Looking for a lens that works well in low-light, the stock lens doesn't cut it. Budget is around 200$ for that one.

3.) Lighting ..searched many lights, not sure if tungsten lights or a different type work better. What would any other music video filmmakers recommend? Budget isn't too specific on this one, looking for a good deal though

4.) RIGS, etc. Thinking of a glidecam as my first rig to buy. Any personal suggestions on other types of rigs or other gear for someone just starting out would be appreciated. Thanks
 
From my personal experience with cameras in general & the T2i specifically:

VIDEO OUTPUT: My T2i came with a connector for the camera's AV output; it has sort of a "mini USB" looking plug on one end, and the yellow-red-white RCA jacks on the other. You should be able to connect yellow-to-yellow and be fine (that's what I use on my crane). You might need a male-to-male or similar RCA adapter; radio shack or online shops should have that.

LENSES: for video, you don't need AF. You want something that opens to at least 2.8. There's a 50mm 1.8 EOS lens for under $200, which will give you the crop equivalent of about a 70mm. Personally, if I had no fast primes, I'd consider something like a 28-70 or 35-70 2.8 zoom. It's a common size of lens from Nikon, Canon, Sigma, etc. I'd find one on eBay (or KEH.com) for EOS or Nikon (there's a LOT of Nikon glass out there). If I ended up with Nikon, I'd get the Fotodiox EOS adapter ($70, but "no play" compared to the cheaper ones).

People may flame me for suggesting a zoom, but the camera's compression will negate a lot of sharpness issues, and the crop factor keeps you shooting only the center of the lens - many lenses fail at the corners with decent centers.

Beyond that, look at eBay and KEH, and research which Canon MANUAL FOCUS lenses will work on an EOS body (fully manual of course). I'd suggest a wide 2.8 prime (20mm, 28mm) and a 50mm to start.

LIGHTING: Canon's video seems to work much better with daylight. Again, just my personal experience, but I'd look at getting a couple 55watt-tube Biax flo's (2 or 4 tube versions). Every day more people are importing these from China - I bought three "FloLight" twins, with decent bags and (surprisingly good) stands for $650.

I would add to that at least one 750-ish watt 6" fresnel (and some full CTB gels), which would give you a "spot" style light, full daylight, at about 400 watts after the gel (flame on people, but you can find such a fresnel for under $100 if you look around - you just won't get anything HMI for that).

Several theater suppliers sell the Altman (actually an L&E make) 1k, 8" lens fresnel for about $260.

And maybe a couple 750-1k open face lights with barn doors, which again can be gelled. And get a few china balls, which you can stick spiral flo's in.

You CAN go all-tungsten with the Canon - it's kind of a fight to avoid noise and sort of a "murkiness", in my (and others') experience.

This is one area where you will get fifty very different startup suggestions - again, if my studio burned down and I had a thousand bucks to spend on lights, this is likely the way I'd go. I have 5 or 6 softboxes for instance - but only use them for product stills - other people love 'em for video.

RIGS: The first thing you will likely need is the best fluid head you can afford, on a strong set of legs. Unless you want to shoot only static or handheld and forego pans and tilts.

Everyone's so into their "rigs" these days, but it comes down to what you expect to shoot. If all you're doing is skate videos, yeah, handheld may cut it. You already have a crane, and with needing lights, stands, cases, grip gear (what are you gonna flag those lights with, etc?) you may want to look into DIY solutions for dollies and handheld rigs - unless you have money to burn.

Again, the above is "what works for me" (I do corporate stuff, ads, some music videos - no weddings, no documentary stuff, etc).
 
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