Photographers & film makers: I need a low budget DSLR for filming, the market seems like an absolute minefield when you don’t possess the knowledge! Whats my best option for shooting video with a budget of £300ish (willing to pay more if I need to)? Im aiming for a second hand deal and don’t care if the cameras 5 years old, as long as it does the job to a decent standard. Its mainly for filming live performance videos for Youtube and Video as well as some creative work to add layers into my live set visuals. Am I right in thinking the Cannon 600d is a good shout?
Is there a specific reason why you want or need a DSLR for this?
Wow! that looks impressive! I just want something simple like this to be honest. I was looking at Go pro’s too.
Dont go for go-pro’s because everybody does… just look for a nice video-recorder with a lineinput…
plugin your gear, aim it at your gear… press record… and voila… movie + sound in 1 file, both propperly synced…
You walk out your studio onto a stage… fine… take 2 or 3 of them…
hook all 3 to your gear… aim 1 at you. .1 at audience… 1 at gear… press record on all 3… start to play.
sync them 3 up… and cut your movie… done…
and if you wanna add layers to your visual stuff… then you probably have some vj program running… so get webcams or whatever for that … compagnies like zoom sell little video-recorders that can also be a webcam for vj’s or record your gigs…
No theres no specific reason. Im actually clueless on what to go for. Friends online are saying most of the things I’ve looked at are bad in low light so I’m really stumped. Its gonna be used for gigs possibly too and my studio has one bay window so i get some natural light but ‘winter is coming!’ That Osmo looks amazing but again it may be a little too pricey for my budget.
well…
I am very happy with my zoom q3hd… i know people with zoom q4n, they reasonably happy with it…
heard worse things about zoom Q8… and there is this sony thing, that was cheap and looked good on paper…
i am currently on irc https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.esper.net/?nick=Elektronaut?#elektron
if you wanna talk about it…
It’s true that in general you will be able to achieve the best low-light performance when you use a DSLR combined with a lens that’s ideal for this kind of situation.
However, the lenses that are included with cheap DSLRs are not the ones you’d want to use for this purpose. A suitable lens for this purpose alone will take you outside the budget you stated above.
Additionally, using a DSLR for this purpose will probably require more setup and attention to get good results.
For example, the relatively large sensor combined with a big aperture (which you’d want in a low-light situation) results in a shallow depth-of-field which makes that you’ll have to work much harder to make sure that the main subject you’re filming stays in focus.
Most Go Pro cameras aren’t really good in low-light situations as they’re optimized for wide daylight shots. I’d only use them if you expect to abuse them heavily.
My recommendation would be to get started with a relatively recent iPhone (5 and up) or a latest model iPod Touch. Make sure to get a good tripod mount for it (such as one of the Joby GripTight models) and use a sturdy second-hand tripod to get steady shots.
For live performance videos, I’d recommend recording the audio separately and then syncing that up with the video on your computer.
One neat trick you can do when using an iOS device is to get a small class-compliant USB audio interface (Behring UCA202), connect it to your iPhone with Apple’s “Lightning to USB Camera Adapter” and then connect your mixer’s main output to the interface to get perfectly synced high quality audio directly with your video.
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Getting good results in low light conditions means using prime lenses and big sensors. Sadly both are really expensive and don’t fit your budget.
Ideally the lens has a low f-number (f2 would be nice) and a fixed wide angle for nice results in low light. Don’t use the stock lens cause these are a compromise between cost and functionality.(wide and tele in one system means more components that all absorb a bit of the available light).
Also try to choose something that can shoot in RAW. Raw footage uses a lot more data from the sensor and enables you to push the levels in editing without a dramatic loss in quality.
You can compare different camera’s here https://www.dpreview.com/ . Here’s your Canon 600D review https://www.dpreview.com/products/canon/slrs/canon_eos600d
For example a new gopro Hero 5 or Canon EOS M3 with the Canon 22mm lens are decent, but most devices in the £300-600 range offer comparable results. Just don’t expect perfection. Even the big and ridiculous expensive pro rigs need extra light to bring out the best in every image.
As a video editor for television i’ve seen material from hundreds of sources, from gopro to Arri Alexa (that’s £70.000+) and low light is always a problem (obviously an Alexa handles low light a lot better the a gopro does).
So maybe the 600D (with a 50mm f/1.8 lens) isn’t a bad choice considering your buget.
Good luck.
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You can probably pick up an Canon from 2008-2010 for pretty cheap now (T3i or something). Then there are some basic f/1.8 lenses that you can also probably get for used. Here’s a forum in that vein and you can ask photogs for tips. http://www.t2iforum.com/
The new iPhone is supposedly all about the low-light shooting. Outside the budget but you would get a phone too.
have a look on the low light capabilities of the EOS 600d with the Kit Lens / 50mm f1,8 (the 50mm is also perfect for depth of field shots) but remember the 50mm has a crop factor of 1,6x with the sensor of the 600d.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/crop-factor.htm
if you’re techy then get the original canon eos m for under 100 pounds used, install magic lantern and you get raw video. Da vinci resolve is free and you will need a monster computer as well as advanced editing skills.
If you dont know much about cameras and want to use basic movie editing software, just get a used sony nex 5n or an rx100 mk2.
The rx100 mk2 is an all in one solution that is pocketable, but the footage wont look cinematic. is better than phones or gopros or entry level dslrs with kit lenses in low light.
The nex 5n with some old manual lenses or a sony 50 1.8 oss would give you a cinematic “blurry background” look.
Both can be had for around under 300 pounds used.
An advantage of the rx100 mk2 is that you can use it is a daily/holiday camera as it fits in a shirt pocket. It wont be just somthing that you will use when only need to film. Iys super easy to use too.
Take a look at Filmic Pro (http://www.filmicpro.com/) if you want to shoot 24fps and/or higher bitrate on an iPhone.
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Another consideration with Digital SLR’s are their video capturing restrictions. Meaning to my knowledge most Digital SLR recording times are about 20 minutes. Mirrorless cameras don’t seem to have these limitations.
I get filmmaking at artskool don’t spend to Mutch money on your camera if it’s for small beginning projects you better get the right lenses these will last you longer 600d is more then good Enough
I shoot video at work (sometimes) with a Canon 70D. Sounds like it’ll be out of your budget range, but just wanted to echo earlier comments and say, even a nice camera like that will be hard to shoot with in the dark. I have to use 3-4 powerful lights arranged around a subject to get decent lighting, and that’s in the daytime with some ambient lighting as well. Granted, I do video interviews where lighting is key. Shooting a jam in a studio or club you might not care about perfect lighting, but all I’m saying is, it always surprises me how much light is needed to get good footage.
Another thing to think about is versatility. Maybe you’ll enjoy the photography/videography and want to do more. I would go for something very versatile to start with. Something like an iPhone could obviously be used for lots of other things. Really impressed with that video Veets posted - if that was really all shot on an iPhone, then dayummm! The Filmic Pro software, and accessories, that t posted looks so cool. Really opens the iPhone up as a viable platform. I’m highly impressed.
I don’t think I would go for something mid-range. Then you’re stuck if you feel like you want to go to higher-end items and your budget is mostly gone. Dip a toe in with iPods and iPhones and if you enjoy the process, save up for something even better. Maybe start a little side video-biz to pay for gear as you go?
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50/1.8 is a great and cheap lense for the canon!!! But I guess the angel is not wide enough to capture a hole setup from a near distance. Would be also hard to capture a big screen of VJing stuff. But if you just wanna focus on playing one machine … it´s great! But recording on the old canons (I have 550d) stops after around 12 minutes / 4 GB!
I went with the gopro hero 4 silver. The low light recordings are so la la … it depens a bit on the settings. The good thing is you can adjust the settings on your phone and make test shots.
You can have a look here. I filmed my live set with the gopro. In some parts you see the noise … maybe the ISO was to high. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8o6SxKcb1A
The good thing with the gopro is, you can record as long as you want (or as long as the battery has power). The cam automactly splits the videos into diffents files of max 4GB and you can merge it afterwards in your video cuting software.
The iPhone 7 Plus really does seems to perform well in low-light situations:
Hellooo
Just started uploading performance videos with some gear to social media pages.
Right now I just use an iphone and irig to route the audio and video at the same time into instagram.
But I’m looking to start making more high quality videos and wanted to get some ideas on what you guys use for you video and audio setup for making performance videos.
So far I’m thinking of either a DSLR or Go Pro setup for video. Favoring go pro, for the size, i’m limited in space, and might get two for multicam.
But then I gotta figure out a way to route the audio and video simultaneously. For audio I’ll look into the zoom H mics that accept quarter inch.
and of course lastly, I might get a small lighting source. I have no good lighting and it’s killing my videos…
Reviving this old thread because I am about to do some video work with some tracks I am working on.
I just got the DJi Osmo 3 yesterday and it is awesome.
Going to get the new iPhone 11 (not pro) with the wide angle and larger wide angle - price is really decent compared to the previous XR ones.
And aMoment Anamorphic lens for cinema style shots.
Anyone else got some tips and tricks on this kind of gear?