Video Production Equipment Budget Help

B

Boe

New member
Hi folks,

This seemed like the most appropriate forum for this topic.

I'll try and give you the abridged version of my situation but essentially, I'm requesting feedback on the assembly of a video production equipment list that I'm putting together for work.

Three years ago, I took a job at a company that sells recreational vehicles. At the time, that company didn't have a video department but they were hoping to bring it back in the near future and I was hired as a sort of placeholder for the position if and when it was approved to return to the budget. Well, two years and change later, it finally was but we didn't really have the budget to buy the gear we wanted. Instead, they agreed to buy the equipment that I owned and we'd been using for our occasional shoots at work (I know... but it's a long story).

Cut to: last week when my boss says that we might be able to get our equipment budget this year and that I should put together a list. So of course, my eyes light up with the fire of a thousand suns because I enjoy nerding out over gear. Another perk of the job is that I'm allowed to use my work gear for personal projects like the short film I made last year and the follow up I hope to make this year.

I need to decide what gear I want to put in for in the budget. I wouldn't be afraid to go up to $40,000. There's no guarantee we'll get approved for that much, but at that point, we can recalibrate.
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We currently have:

GH3 w/ 12-35 Lumix Vario

a good manfrotto tripod w/ fluid head

Arri tungsten light kit (only about 3 of the lights work at this point)

2012 model macbook pro 15" w/ two 23" cinema displays and a WD thunderbolt raid

A decent amount of C-stands, light stands, flags. and a few other odds and ends
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The lion's share of the work I do is instructional content (sometimes zoomed in on a small part with lighting that is often subpar) and talking head interviews. Right now, we don't do any marketing material or content directed at customers but that expectation could evolve once we get more equipment.

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Currently, I'm leaning towards going back to canon. My tentative list is:

Canon C100 Mark II Camcorder - with 3 Lens Kit
$9,999
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...inema_eos.html

Canon 70D DSLR B Camera
$1099

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._70d_dslr.html

Arri LoCaster LED Light Kit
$2544.95

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._Panel_AC.html

Bescor bi-color LED 2-light kit
$499

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...olor_500w.html

Cinevate 35” Slider
$779.98

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...5_TERRAIN.html

CameraRibbon Shoulder Rig
$419

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ig_Camera.html

Shape Camera Shoulder Rig
$1055.12

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...c300_c500.html

Manfrotto 536 Tripod
$1799.88

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Head_with.html

Varizoom QuickJib
$1329.96

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._QuickJib.html

Shure SM7b Mic (with some sort of desk mount for VO)
$349

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...d_Dynamic.html

Rode PSA1 Mic Mount Arm
$99

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._Boom_Arm.html

M-Audio 2 track USB sound interface
$74.66

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...e_digital.html

3x GoPro Hero 4 Blacks
$1500

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...adventure.html

iMac
$3899

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...th_retina.html

Apple Thunderbolt Display
$949

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...t_Display.html

Total: $26,396.55

The only thing I haven't really tabulated yet are extra batteries, media cards, and cases.
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Sorry for the lengthy post but I always like to get some feedback from people who are smarter than me before I make an investment, even when it's not my money.

Let me know your thoughts, if you think I should go in a different direction, or if you have any suggested tweaks to the list I've got. Another route I could see as being viable would be to stick with panasonic and get an A camera, keeping the GH3 as my B camera. If we get approved for the budget, I'll probably just sell our current equipment to help recover costs. Thanks for any advice that you may be able to provide!

Edit: I forgot to mention that we currently use an Azden wireless LAV for most of our field audio recording. We also have a Rode VideoMic Pro and an older sennheiser shotgun mic. We're hoping to eventually get our own studio space but right now, we often have to deal with filming in places that aren't always quiet, so background noise is sometimes an issue.
 
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Make sure to budget some money in for software (FCP, Adobe, etc.) - that can add a significant amount to your totals. I think overall this is fairly solid, but the multiple GoPros, multiple shoulder rigs, and lack of some additional audio equipment is what stands out to me. Why do you need 3 GoPros? Why the multiple shoulder mounts? I think that getting a solid shoulder rig you can use with both your DSLR and C100 would be best (so maybe adding a few extra QR plates in case you need to swap quickly) - and one that would allow for repositioning the C100 grip as well. If you're not afraid of going up to 40k why not see if you can get a C300 at first? Unless you already have some I think a few professional lavs, various length XLRs, and maybe a boom kit would go a long way for your talking head interviews. I would add some bags/cases in there too to haul equipment around.
Adam
 
adamrahn said:
Make sure to budget some money in for software (FCP, Adobe, etc.) - that can add a significant amount to your totals. I think overall this is fairly solid, but the multiple GoPros, multiple shoulder rigs, and lack of some additional audio equipment is what stands out to me. Why do you need 3 GoPros? Why the multiple shoulder mounts? I think that getting a solid shoulder rig you can use with both your DSLR and C100 would be best (so maybe adding a few extra QR plates in case you need to swap quickly) - and one that would allow for repositioning the C100 grip as well. If you're not afraid of going up to 40k why not see if you can get a C300 at first? Unless you already have some I think a few professional lavs, various length XLRs, and maybe a boom kit would go a long way for your talking head interviews. I would add some bags/cases in there too to haul equipment around.
Adam
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I appreciate the sage advice, sir! I was able to convince them to pick up FCP X and I use my personal Creative Cloud subscription at work, but I'll probably try and get a subscription worked into the budget as well.

I actually think you're right with regard to the extra shoulder rigs. Heck, even the tripod is probably overkill considering we have a good fluid-head tripod and the two camera shoots will probably just entail the 70d sitting stationary at a different angle. Extra QR plates sound like a great idea. In terms of the gopros, I think the hope is that we'll eventually do more consumer-based stuff and product demo - at which point, I think having multiple GoPros mounted to a vehicle at different angles could be advantageous. But two would probably be enough.

I've been considering getting a Zoom H6 and just using that to record all of my audio both in the field (with LAVs or a boom pole configuration) and in the studio (with a studio mic for VO). What are your thoughts on that?

I've also been looking into bags and cases as that's something that we're severely lacking right now. The pelican stuff looks nice. I do transport gear fairly often but it's mostly just between our facilities in the same town.

I really appreciate the insight!
 
Not sure what kind of work is going to be produced which could really effect the type of lighting you purchase. I would also think you should invest in a good field mixer from sound devices (a Mix Pre-D at a minimum) as well as a decent super and hypercardiod mic.

With a 40K budget you could also afford a steadicam rig like a Pilot or maybe even a zephyr (if you want to learn how to use it) or a 3 axis gimbal.
 
egproductions said:
Not sure what kind of work is going to be produced which could really effect the type of lighting you purchase. I would also think you should invest in a good field mixer from sound devices (a Mix Pre-D at a minimum) as well as a decent super and hypercardiod mic.

With a 40K budget you could also afford a steadicam rig like a Pilot or maybe even a zephyr (if you want to learn how to use it) or a 3 axis gimbal.
Click to expand...

The majority of the work we do is instructional content for our dealer network - how to videos, safety bulletins, tech shortcuts. Eventually, we hope to branch out and do more consumer-centric and marketing stuff that's currently done by an ad agency.

I'll check into a field mixer and mic.
 
Whatever you budget for a camera, budget twice as much for sound... or budget to hire a sound professional with gear (recommended). If you are insistent on keeping sound completely within the company, get a couple of solid wireless kits (minimum: Sennheiser G3 ENG kits) with extra lavaliere mics (Countryman B3 or Sanken COS-11D). Get a couple of hard-wired lavs as well. You'll need a good field mixer and recorder (Sound Devices 633 is both mixer and recorder) and good headphones (Sony MDR-7506) to go with it. Plus an audio organizer bag (Porta Brace, Kata, or K-tek), and extra cables. Shotgun and hypercardioid mics with shock mounts and wind protection, plus a boom pole, are great as well; a boom pole holder to mount to a C-stand is perfect for seated interviews. And never buy just one cable. Buy in pairs, because a cable can and will fail on you over time and you don't want to be caught without a backup. And all this is only for production sound, not for post-production.

For lighting: since you're dealing with RVs, you might look at picking up one or two Ice Lights. They can fit into tight spaces, and since they're LED they put off no heat. These might help you light details in and on the vehicles.
 
Boe said:
I've been considering getting a Zoom H6 and just using that to record all of my audio both in the field (with LAVs or a boom pole configuration) and in the studio (with a studio mic for VO). What are your thoughts on that?
Click to expand...

I use an H4N with some nice mid-tier Sony lavs and/or an Audio Technica boom mic kit for a lot of my lower and mid budget stuff, and then higher end equipment when I'm able, so the advice from the audio guys here is going to be better than what I can posit. Regardless you'll want the H6 with some lavs, a boom, or a decent wireless system at bare minimum. If you do mostly one-man band stuff consider one of those boom pole holders as well, they're a life saver on smaller productions.
 
I genuinely appreciate all of these great replies, folks. I'm going back through and reading/digesting them and have made some changes to my list as a result.

I should clarify that saying I work at a company that makes "recreational vehicles" was probably misleading. We make snowmobiles, ATVs, and ROVs.
 
Many people are getting great images from the C100Mk2, and running profitable businesses with it. That said, I believe it's locked to 8bit, even out to an external recorder (correct me if I'm wrong).

if indeed that's the case, let me suggest a smaller form factor camera (say, GH4?), that can output 10bit. This way you can get the 10bit post advantages, but keeping size and weight small enough that your support gear (sliders, tripods, jibs, gimbals) isn't super expensive. And then with the savings you can splurge on lenses, audio, lighting and software.

Then, when your video business starts to grow, you can invest in higher tier equipment, once your financials are more predictable. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm underestimating your business and practice. I'm definitely not! $40k is nothing to sneeze at!!
 
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