16, I plan on filming Youtube Skits with my Canon T3i, I have some questions.

[Viantef]

I'm just getting into Filmmaking/Videography, sorry for "noob" questions.

I have a budget of $250 to spend on a lens, what do you recommend?
Aside from Youtube Skits, whatever lens you recommend, could I ever use it professionally, like filming a commercial for a small business or church?


Last question, could I use the lens you're going to recommend for Music Videos? My friends have a little "rap group" and they'd like me to shoot their first music video.

Equipment I have:
Canon T3i (Kit Lens 18-55)
MacBook Air
May get a Rode VideoMic "Go", would an on camera shotgun mic be fine for skits?

Thanks!

 

[matteusclement]

That lens is fine, I used it for this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3tJYNsq5bQ

Use the 250 for lighting and sound.

Get a 5in1 reflector: http://www.amazon.ca/CowboyStudio-C...d=1396377778&sr=1-4&keywords=5+in+1+reflector

you can use the black as a background on tight shots / interviews.
The diffuser helps in really sunny shots.
It's invaluable. I bought the big one to cover my worklights I use:
http://www.rona.ca/en/tripod-halogen-worklamp

then get a monopod. use that with the zoom h1... then you have a boom mic.

there is your 250 on good lighting and decent sound. \

 

[AcesHigh87]

A good lens with large aperture (1.8 or better) would be good but I agree with the above: Lighting and Sound.

A lack of good lens will only really hurt your depth of field. That's important, I'll admit, but it's workable. Built-in Audio is not workable at all. DSLR audio is completely worthless.

Lighting can be had for a bit cheaper. Go to Home Depot and buy some work lights, preferably with removable cages. They get really hot and tend to need extension cords but can be had for $50 or less. Get at least two and something large and white, Foamcore works well from art stores. Shine one light on the subject and bounce the other off the Foamcore to diffuse it a bit (unless you have a dimmer lying around).

The above won't get you as good of lightning as a pro lighting kit but, IMO, for most stuff you describe audio will be more important. Ideally the music video will be sync to an mo3 version of the song instead of us info camera audio but still.

 

[Unami]

I also agree with the above - 250 could get you an O.K. used lens, but having some lighting, and, most important, good sound will improve your videos far more than just a different lens.

 

[matteusclement]

Viantef,

I have the same dual light that ACES mentioned, $50 a piece. = $100

I am 32 and have been filming for 10 years now, many of them on DSLR and I made the mistake of getting all bent out of shape on lens. Oh how I regret that...

Light will be everything. These lights with a reflector/diffuser will be able to do some great looking stuff.

I financed a zoom h2 thought long and mcquade and even at 4 years old, it's still chugging along. Great for voice overs and works great as a "boom" mic at the end of a monopod.

 

[ChrisA]

Equipment I have:
Canon T3i (Kit Lens 18-55)
MacBook Air
May get a Rode VideoMic "Go", would an on camera shotgun mic be fine for skits?

Thanks!

NO. Don't think for a minute that ANY camera mounted microphone can be any good at all. You use on-camera microphones as a last resort only. If the point of the video is to promote the music then you MUST have good sound. News crews us on-camera mics because they have no control over the action. But notice that they never do this to the reporter (who they can control) the reporter always uses a hand mic. or a lav. mic. The camera mounted mic. is for people not under the crew's control.

The #1 rule about sound is "get the microphone CLOSE to the source." That means you either place the mic on the person or use a boom mic where a sound guy holds the boom just barely outside of the camera's frame.

But then if the "singer" is really lip-syncing as they do in almost 100% of all music videos then any cheap on-camera mic is fine because yo only use that sound track for syncing the actor with the studio recording, so in this case the on-camera mic is recording a "throw away" track no one will ever hear.

If you do buy a lens get a used 50mm f/1.8 that will allow you to blur out the background.

People have said you need lighting gear too. They are correct but you can go REALLY cheep. Just get some really big reflectors. white foam-core boards work or even a white king-size bed sheet draped over a long wood board. Makes for an improvised wall-reflector.

Daylight balance fluorescent tubes in a 4 for long fixture work too. Cost under $50 Add some foam core board and duct tape.

Those high cost pro lights cost $$$ and are worth it for pros for whom "time is money". Fast set up and take down is important when you have expensive labor but in your case just have some guy hold a foam board in his hands for free or make a stand with 1" PVC pipe from Home depot and use a cinder block as a weight on the base.


In short, the camera and the lens should be the lowest cost part of your setup. Lighting and audio is the key to quality. In fact I'd prefer shooting with a $200 camcorder and good light to using a dSLR and no lighting.

 

[Small White Car]

could I ever use it professionally, like filming a commercial for a small business or church?

Don't worry too much about owning lenses for paid work. It's really easy and cheap to rent them these days:

http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/canon/lenses

If someone is paying you to do something, spending $100 to get 3 cool lenses for the shoot is way, way cheaper than trying buy every possible thing you may ever need. It also lets you get exactly what you need for the specific job.

If you're doing tons of work it eventually makes sense to own things, but until then, doing this will give you more options.

 

[matteusclement]

Don't worry too much about owning lenses for paid work. It's really easy and cheap to rent them these days:

http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/canon/lenses

If someone is paying you to do something, spending $100 to get 3 cool lenses for the shoot is way, way cheaper than trying buy every possible thing you may ever need. It also lets you get exactly what you need for the specific job.

If you're doing tons of work it eventually makes sense to own things, but until then, doing this will give you more options.

Damn you America and your cheap lens rentals. Nothing like that in Canada. I pay $30-$50 PER DAY for my lens rentals

 

[Viantef]

Thanks a lot guys!

Slightly confused however. If I was to get a Zoom H1 mic, would it be completely separate from the Camera, in which I'll just have to correctly sync and add the audio in Final Cut Pro?

Seems like I could potentially run into a lot of syncing issues if their is a time delay between the camera and the zoom H1, what's your take on the matter?

Equipment I'll get:
50mm 1.8/f Lens
Zoom H1
Lighting Equipment
(This'll probably run a $250, but I have a birthday coming up)

 

[matteusclement]

I have never had sync issues unless it's a couple hours long....

if you really want nice lenses, check out adapting m42 mount leneses from the 70' and 80's. I have done it and it saved me $100's. Plus they are all metal = super tough. If you look at that canon 50mm sideways... it will explode. Total ****.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3912-PENTAX...65412398?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item2a3a38922e

with an adapter (no AF chip. they are crap)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/M42-Lens-to...ens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item33808f1f16

by looking around locally I picked up a 28mm, 55mm, and 135mm for $25 each. Get adapters for each one.

 

[Small White Car]

Seems like I could potentially run into a lot of syncing issues if their is a time delay between the camera and the zoom H1, what's your take on the matter?

I assume you're talking about Final Cut Pro X?

If so, you're in luck because it uses audio waveforms to sync tracks, so this is very easy to do these days. Just make sure you start recording on both devices within a few seconds of each other and Final Cut will do the rest.

Make sure that you set the audio recorder to 48 kHz, that will make things easier for Final Cut. I'm pretty sure it could converts 44.1 or 96 properly, but why create extra work for it? I like keeping things simple.

 

[ChrisA]

....
Seems like I could potentially run into a lot of syncing issues if their is a time delay between the camera and the zoom H1, what's your take on the matter?
...

It's pretty easy to sync. FCPX uses the audio track from the camera's built-in microphone to sync the external recorder. As long as both recorded about the same sounds it will work

In years past we had to do this with a clap board. You'd match the spike in the audio track to the exact frame with the sticks were 100% closed. You could also write some notes on the whiteboard portion of the clap board and it was good for organizing footage. A hand clap made on-camera is also good enough for sound sync. As long as the camera can clearly see when the hands make contact and all the microphones can record the clap.

That Zoom H2 is cheap and the built-in mice are a big step up from the camera mic. But you will find a "real microphone" is the next thing you will need.

if this is all for a music video ask the musicians what microphones THEY when they perform. They MUST have something. You can use that for video recording and they can likely be plugged into either the camera or the zoom H2.

Also note the each recorder is at least two tracks. That means you can use two microphones as mice are typically mono.

 

[eric4]

That lens is fine, I used it for this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3tJYNsq5bQ

That is a great video, nice and clear. I'll assume your knowledge of lighting helps with the great look. I hope to be able to learn more about lighting as I go.

But I do have a question about filming video with a DSLR. I have a Nikon but they all seem to be similar. My problem is focusing. It seems the auto focus has a real hard time catching anything that moves. For the scenes in your video, do you use the automatic focus? or manual focus? It seems camcorders or even a smart phone do better job than the DSLR. It's also really noisy but in many cases I'd be throwing away the audio anyway.

My experience filming my son's basketball game with my DSLR was basically a disaster. Nothing was in focus and the lens was moving the whole time back and forth looking for something to focus on.

I see everyone else's really cool DSLR video, to my untrained eye it looks as good as any professional. What am I missing?

 

[AcesHigh87]

That is a great video, nice and clear. I'll assume your knowledge of lighting helps with the great look. I hope to be able to learn more about lighting as I go.

But I do have a question about filming video with a DSLR. I have a Nikon but they all seem to be similar. My problem is focusing. It seems the auto focus has a real hard time catching anything that moves. For the scenes in your video, do you use the automatic focus? or manual focus? It seems camcorders or even a smart phone do better job than the DSLR. It's also really noisy but in many cases I'd be throwing away the audio anyway.

My experience filming my son's basketball game with my DSLR was basically a disaster. Nothing was in focus and the lens was moving the whole time back and forth looking for something to focus on.

I see everyone else's really cool DSLR video, to my untrained eye it looks as good as any professional. What am I missing?

Never trust the auto-focus. It'll constantly try to shift focus and overall give you nothing of value.

For artistic stuff (films, etc) try to get depth with your focus. For something like sports that you describe you might be better off just focussing out to infinity. It'll be all in focus that way which doesn't do much for artistic value but the with pace of the game you wouldn't be able to keep focus anyway.

Either way it'll always be better than letting the auto-focus do it.