Ive owned camers before but I want something I can use to Jump start my film career with. I shopped around and saw some camera bundles at sams club that look resonable. The fist bundle is the Canon Rebel T3i comes with two lenses, an 8GB SDHC card, and a carrying case. The second bundle is for the Nikon D3200. It comes with two lenses, 16GB card, and a carring case. Im kind of leaning toward the Canon because Ive used them before (for Photography not Video) so Im kind of comfotable with them. But Ive also heard good things about the Canon. What do you guys think? Do you have suggestions for any other cameras? And I want to keep my budget at $800 for now.
My First Camera
- Thread starter odd1out
- Start date
I did my research a month back and Canon 60d came off the long hours of research. The refurbished pack from Canon is around 750 and it comes with a 18-135mm lens and all. Dunno if thats tempting at all, but the things a Canon godsend. Crop sensor though, but nothing you cant get used to on a budget!
Here's an example: https://vimeo.com/71279713
May I suggest a different approach? The camera is almost completely unimportant at this stage... If you were to get an EOS M ($266 Amazon) and an M-mount to EF adapter ($135 Amazon) as well as a Nifty-Fifty ($110 Amazon) and top that off with a Zoom H4N or Tascam DR-40 ($225 +or-) you would be a little farther ahead in the game. You could even do without the adapter and 50mm and go for a kit M-mount 18-55mm ($100 Amazon) to save $50... This will allow you to have a few dollars left over for extras like a viewfinder, batteries, or editing software and get you up and running with adequate gear to start sharing stories.
Start learning manual focus technique, audio recording/sound design, editing, and framing... It will be more important than the camera as they tend to change over the years. This will be a better "jump start" than any T3i or D3200 ever could do for your film career.
Just my thoughts on the matter as I went for the camera/gear route first and regretted it as I then needed to spend more for the "other" film making gear and spent more time learning than using that shiny new super-cool camera. As far as I know, that's the best gear bang-for-buck currently unless you go for used stuff. Hope it helps!!
May I suggest a different approach? The camera is almost completely unimportant at this stage... If you were to get an EOS M ($266 Amazon) and an M-mount to EF adapter ($135 Amazon) as well as a Nifty-Fifty ($110 Amazon) and top that off with a Zoom H4N or Tascam DR-40 ($225 +or-) you would be a little farther ahead in the game. You could even do without the adapter and 50mm and go for a kit M-mount 18-55mm ($100 Amazon) to save $50... This will allow you to have a few dollars left over for extras like a viewfinder, batteries, or editing software and get you up and running with adequate gear to start sharing stories.
Start learning manual focus technique, audio recording/sound design, editing, and framing... It will be more important than the camera as they tend to change over the years. This will be a better "jump start" than any T3i or D3200 ever could do for your film career.
Just my thoughts on the matter as I went for the camera/gear route first and regretted it as I then needed to spend more for the "other" film making gear and spent more time learning than using that shiny new super-cool camera. As far as I know, that's the best gear bang-for-buck currently unless you go for used stuff. Hope it helps!!
Last edited:
Thanks icba! I had actually been looking into the EOS M for a bit now, since a number of users have begun suggesting it for people who are simply trying to get started. So I used your suggestions as inspiration and decided to see what I could come up with. I snapped up a used EOS M for $235.60 from Amazon Warehouse. Grabbed the Fotodiox Mount Adapter for $59.95. Then I went over the Canon's site, their having a sale on refurbished lenses, a nfity 50 cost me just $70.55. All of these deals saved me nearly $150 off of your original suggestions! Add in taxes and S&H and its right around $400. I personally added a 16GB card and an extra battery, putting me right around $425. Also, Amazon Basics has a $25 backpack for SLR cameras.
So odd1out, what I would say to you is...shop around! If you do what I did you'll have a usable camera for half your budget and half left over to spend on lights and sound, which are the most widely recommended elements I've seen on this site to spend a little money on. And those elements will likely make your films pop more than a nice camera. Now I'm going to look for a deal on Zoom the H4N or Tascam DR-40.
icba, any suggestions on lighting would be appreciated. Thank you!
So odd1out, what I would say to you is...shop around! If you do what I did you'll have a usable camera for half your budget and half left over to spend on lights and sound, which are the most widely recommended elements I've seen on this site to spend a little money on. And those elements will likely make your films pop more than a nice camera. Now I'm going to look for a deal on Zoom the H4N or Tascam DR-40.
icba, any suggestions on lighting would be appreciated. Thank you!
Also the SanDisk Ultra 32GB (45MB/s), is on sale right now at Best Buy in store and online, for $25. I got one myself the other day and works great considering I was only using a 2 GB card before.
