the perfect gear?

M

mrpickwick

Member
hi everyone

i have a few bucks that i saved for my passion of video
but i have a question to ask before i burn my money in something else..

my gear is :
d7000
10 200 vr1
50 1.4 nikon
and 18 105 (bought in kit with the d7k)

i just wanted to know if i needed an extra lens (or another hdslr?) or if with this gear i'm ready to go for everything

thanks y'all
 
You can always worry about what you don't have, and let it keep you from making movies.

The best education, however, very much comes from setting out to do something with what you do have. Sure, you'll make some mistakes, but you'll learn from them. Push your gear as far as you can. When you cannot get what you want from what you have, figure out why. Then, see if you can find another way and, perhaps, expand your gear to fulfill that need.

My first piece of recording gear (audio) was a 4-track cassette mixer/recorder. I had that and a cheap-o mic, and a crummy set of headphones. It was by trying to get what I wanted out of this setup that I learned the most. I made a few recordings, which got me very familiar with the recorder's ins and outs and how it worked in between. Then I started to look at why my stuff didn't sound as good as others.

It was flat, dull, lifeless. So I did some reading and found out that things like reverb can really add some depth to the mix.

The recordings had a lot of hiss, even for cassette recording. So I did some research and learned about pre-amps. Needless to say, the pre-amps in the recorder weren't so stellar, so I bought a good pre-amp and my recordings improved... a bit.

Everything still sounded kind of cheap, so I did some more research and learned about different kinds of mics. I got the mic I needed, and my recordings improved, even though I was having a hard time getting my guitar to record well. A passive pickup helped, but studying about mic placement and recording techniques, and a little trial and error, improved my results tenfold.

Though my results were better, my recordings still lacked a certain feel. I learned about compressors, and what they do, and found a good compressor. It helped indeed.

My recordings sounded great, to my inexperienced ears, through the headphones, but didn't translate well to any other system. A little more research led me to information about monitors and sound treatment.

Each step of the way, I was satisfied with what I had until I wasn't. Only then did I look into what I needed to do (or purchase) next, and by the time I expanded my system I had already learned to make the best of something less. That helped me to get better results when I had new tools in place.

This may sound like a vicious cycle that can go on forever and end up costing too much money. It's possible, but it requires some responsible examination of needs vs. budget. This is about starting with the absolute bare bones, and building from there only when needed. I could tell you that you need to invest in this, or to rent that, before you start shooting... but that's not necessarily true for you right at this moment. Try to work with what you have on hand, and then research solutions when you come up against problems.

By the way, there's no such thing as the "perfect" gear. Every tool has its limitations. What matters is knowing how to use that tool to get the best results, and knowing when it may not be the right tool for the job.
 
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well that's an answer...

of course everything you say is true and i've been there a lot of times
but you still have to own a minimum nowadays
meaning no more dv and stuff like that ...

hd is the new rules

but frankly this was not my question
it's very interesting but nobody didn't really answer to my request

anyway from what you answered i understand that i have a good gear and now i just need a brain right?

well when you enter the domain of art you will learn all your life that's what i think and what i try to do every day
the road is f.... long though

thanks y'all for your answers
 
Good question mrpickwick, and I agree with the other responders that it requires both a practical and a philosophical answer. Here's my $0.02

Practical: Your camera is fine, definitely up to the task of capturing HD footage. Honestly, I'd sell the kit zooms and pick up a set of manual-focus Nikon primes from eBay or KEH.com. You're not going to be using autofocus in video anyway, and you'll get better glass with faster apertures using primes. I'd start with the following focal lengths: 20, 28, 35, 50, 85, and 135. If that's going to break the bank, drop the 20 and the 28 and get a 24. Other than that, I'd look for a decent set of sticks (used Manfrotto) and possibly a shoulder/gunstock rig (express35.com, indisystem.com) with an LCD viewfinder for handheld work (http://bhpho.to/bP7EPz).

Philosophical: After a short while, probably just a few days or weeks if you're out there shooting regularly, you'll be capturing good footage and have a feel for what kit you need to take with you on a job. But Macgregor and Alex hit it on the head: if you don't have a clear direction on what story you want to tell, whether it's in a music video, short or feature film, wedding video, etc. you'll just be grabbing shots, and your film will suffer for it. All the gear and technical expertise in the world won't save a crappy story (See: Michael Bay).

Good luck out there, please come back around to show off what you're working on! Cheers,

PB
 
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Okay, so HD is the new rule. And yes, there is a minimum kit required to record moving images. There are all-in-one HD camcorders, just like with miniDV. So we're talking specifically about HDSLR.

So what's the minimum, and what do you get with a camcorder? Well, you need a camera that will record the video. It needs a lens, at least one, to cover a range of focal lengths from wide to long. And it needs to record sound, assuming you aren't focusing on silent movies.

Sound is probably your only big challenge here. You have glass that will cover a pretty broad range. But again, shoot with what you've got so you'll better know what you need.
 
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Agreed, absolutely. My focus on glass comes from my typical shoot (music videos and lifestyle films) where sync sound isn't as much of a concern. For us, a Rode VideoMic Pro is typically all the sound gear we need.
 
And then there's lights.... tungsten (open face? fresnel?100w, 300w, 650's, 1k's, 2k's, barndoors?) Flos (biax? Biax twins or quads? 4-foot? Bulbs? Spirals or big 80-watt-plus deals?) HMI? HID? Stands, grip, flags, scrims, clamps, reflectors, softboxes... it never ends.
 
Lights!! You need light!! Even the fastest lenses still need light. I would suggest at the bare minimum to buy an on camera led light.
 
the problem with this thread is that i didn't make myself clear

fact is i just wanna know if my 3 lenses was the perfect lenses for shooting
i should have called this thread the perfect lenses
by the way i got some gear behind this
i spent a lot (nearly broke but i'm cool by now)

all i wanted to know was if my set of lenses was enough to face every kind of situation

anyway , this thread was interesting though
 
mrpickwick said:
the problem with this thread is that i didn't make myself clear

all i wanted to know was if my set of lenses was enough to face every kind of situation

anyway , this thread was interesting though
Click to expand...

Then the answer is no. Your lens set is not enough to face every kind of situation.
 
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