Entry Level DSLR's on the big screen?

PugLifePro

PugLifePro

Hi. I'm hoping to upgrade my camera sometime in the near future (probably Christmas) and I'm just wondering about some things.

First off, I have a Nikon D5100 right now so I'm hoping to upgrade to another Nikon since I already have multiple lenses for it. From what I've read on it lately, Nikon is certainly competing with Canon now with entry level DSLR video. Is that true? Is the D5300 a good camera to look at for an upgrade or will it not make a ton of difference from the D5100? From what I'm reading and seeing, it looks like it'll be a pretty big step up.

Next, I'm curious about film festivals and things like that. I have no idea about stuff when it comes to the details of pixels and coding and all of that stuff. So, if I were to shoot something on the D5300, is the quality good enough to go on a big screen? Would I need a better camera than an entry level camera? Like a 5D or something since that's what I see most of the successful DSLR features are shot on.

Sorry for my noobness. I'm just very cautious when buying new things like this and want to get as much information from as many places as I can before making a decision.
 
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a lot of the festivals you'd probably enter will project only DVD versions on playback, so HD material displays fine at the lower res. I dont know your camera specifically so...

Now, heres a thought. You have Nikon glass. If you have some VERY WIDE glass, Your in a great position to look atusing the metabones Nikon to M43 speedboster adapter to any micro four thirds mount camera (m43=microfour thirds) There are some good cameras for cinema in the M43 lens mount area. GH2, GH3, Blackmagic Cinema and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema cameras.
 
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I'm shooting with a Canon T3i with Magic Lantern... love it. I think Nikon competes well with Canon on image quality out of the box, but Magic Lantern changes that dynamic pretty heavily toward Canon.
 
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Sorry, missed the existing glass part... either buy a Nikon to utilize your existing investment, or sell and replace, or buy adaptors... The adaptors aren't as good an option as the first two.
 
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Festival-wise: You'll mostly be passed over for a boring-as-hell submission, irregardless of image quality, followed by cr@ppy-as-hell audio collection.

Audio: GIGO. Audio engineer can only do so much.

Cr@ppy film occurs somewhere between the screenplay's FADE IN: and FADE OUT: lines.

Seriously. If the first ten to twenty minutes are terrible they ain't watching the rest.

20130820Firsttenortwentyminutes_zpsa80b24c8.png
 
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Ah. Ok. Thanks guys! I think I pretty much know what I need to now.

I was mostly just thinking about smaller festivals for now. Nothing too big, so I think I'll be just fine if I make a slight upgrade but stick with Nikon for now if they just use DVD copies of the film.

As for audio. I don't know much about it other than the fact that it's one of the most important aspects of a film. I have a friend who's been doing audio for a long time and really knows his stuff. So, I'm just going to bribe him whenever I want to shoot haha.

And for the story, I've taken multiple creative writing classes, and my cousin who I'm going to be working with has taken a bunch as well. So, we might not be professionals, but we're by no means slouches when it comes to crafting a good story.
 
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I also find it slightly amusing that you say it doesn't matter about image quality at all rayw, but in the image you posted it says that if the first 10 minutes of it look like $hit, odds are...
 
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Dude, I think it'd be a waste for you to upgrage right now. Your camera is more than fine for film festivals, and I think we'll all agree that it's much more important what you do with the it.

Save your money from the upgrade and spend it on a nice DIY lighting package. Or audio. Or a production budget. Or more glass. Or a multitude of other things.

If all you're trying to do right now is get into festivals, while practicing and improving your skills, and hopefully networking with like-minded people, you don't need fancy gear. When you're ready to take the big jump into a project that you intend to make bank off of, then you do whatever you can to get the good gear (and it's probably best to rent, depending on your career plans).

The technology is increasing at such a fast rate that anything you buy now will be obsolete by the time you actually need the high-end gear.
 
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rayw said:
Figurative.
Not literal. :cool:;)
Click to expand...

Yeah I know. I just thought it was funny.

As for the camera situation. I think you've convinced me to stick with the one I have now, but now here's my next question. With the $200 or so I'm going to now save by not upgrading the camera, what would you suggest I do with that money? I personally don't have a good microphone right now, but I also don't know if I want to spend all $200 on a mic. I don't have any quality lighting other than natural light, but I think I can make do with a kit I put together at Menards for the time being. I've got decent glass and a decent array of it, so I don't know if I should spend any in that department.

So. If I want to go with a microphone, what do you suggest? What would be pretty cheap, would leave me with money left over for some lights, and do a good job of capturing audio?
 
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Fair enuf. :)

Thow us up a youtube short of yours to see how "satisfactory" your current audio situation is.
You'll likely be better off figuring a better lighting situation AFTER you get inexcusable audio addressed.

Will you be a one-man director/camera/audio guy for your festival entry?
Or will you be able to hire/find a volunteer audio guy, presumably one that knows what he/she's doing?
 
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rayw said:
Fair enuf. :)

Thow us up a youtube short of yours to see how "satisfactory" your current audio situation is.
You'll likely be better off figuring a better lighting situation AFTER you get inexcusable audio addressed.

Will you be a one-man director/camera/audio guy for your festival entry?
Or will you be able to hire/find a volunteer audio guy, presumably one that knows what he/she's doing?
Click to expand...

Here's an example of the audio that I CAN get with the small cheapo mic I have. (Obviously I haven't kept up with the each week thing, poop kind of hit the fan a couple weeks ago and I haven't been able to do much until now.) This is also working with only available light with nothing happening in post in terms of color or enhancing or anything, so if I'm smart with how I set things up it shouldn't be too bad on the lighting situation if I can tweak it to my liking later, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02sR_YgX5tA

This is what can happen if it's a big echo-y room. This was from a while ago, so I'm better with the camera and edits and all around organization of things, but the audio is what I'm concerned about. I promise you I've progressed since this was made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc8cbfEBee4

I will be the one man director/camera/editor, yes, but I will absolutely be trying to find help for audio. Like I said, I have a friend that I interned with this summer who did all of the audio stuff for us and he's amazing at what he does. He really knows his stuff. So, yeah, I'll be able to rope him into some stuff I think. I'll be able to get him to do post audio work at the very least even if he's not able to be on set.

I'm not necessarily just talking about this for festivals. Yeah, I hope I can enter them into festivals or competitions, but I'm ultimately just wanting to get better at filmmaking.
 
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Did you know that a Canon 7d was used to film some of The Avengers movie?

Did anyone here spot which shots were the ones from the 7d? Probably not. You camera is plenty good enough and you've already got glass. I'd chuck that money at lighting, audio, rigs etc.
 
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ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
I'd recommend you get a better mic, learn to use your mic properly, or hire an audio guy. That sound is terrible. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just trying to be honest.
Click to expand...

Oh I know the audio is not good. I'm not taking that personally or anything haha. I was just working with what I had. So for $200 what do you suggest I get to get better audio? I'm guessing I'll be able to fix it a little bit in post if it's not the greatest mic on earth, but I want something a little better than my $15 mic I have now.

Even if I went with the super low budget indie filmmaker route and used an iPhone, do you think that would make a difference if I got the guy to work his magic in post?

Again, I know nothing about audio, so I'm not even sure how much you can improve it in post. I would assume a fair amount, right? As long as it's not 100% terrible.
 
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And is the audio that bad in the first one? I thought it was relatively decent for what I was working with. Maybe a little bit of noise because I forgot to turn my fish tank filter off haha, but is that one at least workable if I give it to someone to fix with their fancy computer skillz?
 
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