Looking to purchase my first legitiment camera need a bit of help (not a noob)

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Ehh...

Active member
1) Budget: $500-$700 right away roughly about 200 within a month or so of work.

2) Experience: Have never owned a DSLR but have taken some basic photography classes as well as used DSLR in a few shoots

3) Current gear? Have none, starting fresh

4) Planned use for the camera? Mixture of still frames as well as taking videos for skiing as well as skating around town

5) Ease of use for friends? Not much, I would rather prefer to shoot everything

6) How I film? With a tripod and hiking as well as with handheld moving

7) Computer I will be editing with 2.6ghz Quad Core with about 500GB with expandable external memory as well. Roughly 4GB of ram as well.

7) Adobe Premier 5.1 is what I will be editing on, I have little experience from editing on my own. But I am basically a strong beginner with it.

Also will be editing photos in photoshop. Editing in photoshop my skills are about a 5 or 6

Please ask any other questions to me. I am more than willing to provide information to make suggestions as painless as possible.
 
I assume $700 is including lenses right?

You could always go the easy route and get a used t2i for like 250, and then spend the rest on some decent glass, although you might have to choose between a uwa and a tele with what you have left
 
realistically $700 isnt going to get you far in terms of getting a dslr set up, but it sounds like you want the option of taking stills as well so it might be the best way to go. Id personally save up for another month or so and take your total up to nearer to $1000, thats going to give your self a lot more to play with.

it seems the standard setup for alot of filmers here on ns is T2i ($300 body only) tamron 17-50 ($300) class 10 memory card x 2 ($30-40) spare batteries ($20), camera bag ($50+), that is the bare essentials, nothing else.

after that you'd need to invest in some form of stabilisation, whether that be a tripod w/ fluid head, or a glide cam (i know alot of people would argue that a from of stabilisation is an essential but you dont need it to take your cam up on the hill, where as everything listed in the previous paragraph you do need. ). a second lens, although i have never used it i know everybody talks highly of the tokina 11-16. A mic because the onboard mic sucks on canon dslrs, i use the rode video mic, but alot of people prefer the video mic pro.

basically it adds quickly, so be prepared to put money into your setup when you have it.
 
I appreciate the responses.

My thought on the matter is the poster above me gave a good startup plan on how to make a decent set.

My question is though for my skill set and budget would it even be worth it to save up 1000 dollar set?

Also if I did realistically save up for 1000 dollars set up what would be the best setup then? Does that change the equation much?
 
Honestly, for 700, you could do a lot.

300-400 gets you a T2i or a T3i - depending on if you care about the flippy screen or not. Then just buy a kit lens (seriously, it's not as bad as everyone says it is, and you can get them for cheap as hell since nobody can sell them anyways). If anything, it's the most cost-affordable way of getting 28mm equivalent focal length on your crop-sensor DSLR, and honestly, it's not even all that terrible.

Then, just buy a couple of vintage prime lenses and adapters for really cheap - something like a Pentax 50 f2 and maybe a 28mm/135mm won't cost you more than 50$ all together - and then pick up a cheap mic and you're set.

For Audio, You can either spend say 150 on either a rode video mic or a tascam DR-40 field recorder (which is what I'd recommend - though it means extra work in post), or you can go really cheap and buy something like the Shenggu for like 30 bucks, and at least live with directional, and overall better quality audio than the on-board mic. (I have one as a backup, and honestly it isn't the most god-awful thing you'd expect it to be.)

Overall you don't have to spend as much money to get into video as people think you do. If you really want to drop 300-400 on the Tamron 17-50 f2.8, then do that later on once you've played around with your camera a little and have had some fun with what you DO have.
 
What all does a typically kit lens entail? is just a stock lens that would come with a body T2i or T3i?
 
A kit lens is the "Canon EF-s 18-55mm IS f3.5-5.6". It's the usual lens that's come with new Canon DSLR's since 2004 or so, and although it gets much hate, it really only gets this hate because it's not particularly good at any one thing, unlike many other more specialized lenses.

regardless, it's still useful, especially at it's wide end of 18mm, where it comes in as a slightly distorted 18mm f3.5 lens - which is more/less equivalent to a 28 f3.5 lens on a full frame camera like a 5D. It's perfectly suitable to daytime wide angle/landscape shots, and for shooting at least SOME sports - definitely works just fine for skating and skiing.
 
Excellent, sounds like it should be fine for what I intend to use from the start. As I progress what len's are typically in a photographer's arsenal for good shooting in skiing and skate conditions?
 
For skiing youd want something that actually does some stabilizing. Don't get me wrong, its a fantastic accessory for filming skating and other less choppy activities.

For skiing I would get a tripod with a fluid head and a glidecam.
 
i have no experience with this, but I've definitely seen people jerry rig some stabilization together. essentially all you need is some bottom weight and a solid handle that attaches through the tripod mount. I think I've seen some tutorials around.

obviously a glidecam is the best option, but if you're mechanically inclined you could probably work something out to save some money.
 
Here's a list for you guys.

used T2i/T3i: 300-400$

used Kit Lens+Vintage 28+50mm: 50-150$ (depends on how all-out you go on lenses)

Rode Videomic/Tascam DR-40: ~150$ (Or get something cheap like the Shenggu 108: 30$)

Ravelli AVT pro 67" Video Tripod: 75-90$

Giottos QR plate (works with Ravelli tripods) 30$

Flycam Nano (works fine with this light of a setup) 175$

Cards: 20-50$ (entirely depends on memory and quality)

Extra Batteries: (buy cheapo 3rd party, they'll work fine) 10+$

Battery Grip: (again, 3rd party is fine) 30+$

After you have everything here, or even most of it, THEN tack on extra things, such as expensive zoom lenses, more batteries, shoulder mounts, heavier stabilizers, monitors, etc etc etc. This is about all anyone is ever going to need most of the time - more than, in fact.
 
It can handle upwards about 5lbs from what I've put on mine. It's not as perfect per-se as the glidecam 1000 hd, but honestly, it's not far off. I've used both, and it doesn't take a whole lot to figure out the balance on it.

But really, most of the time I use a stabilizer, I'm not putting much more than a microphone on top of it, so there's not a whole lot you need, anyways. I've used a hotshoe flashlight before for a night skate followcam, but really, you don't need much, especially if you're not using some big hefty lens.

If you throw a 5D and a field recorder with an external shotgun mic, a big ol' shockmount and a heavy L lens on it, then sure, it's going to be overloaded. But who the fuck does that.

 
True. Plus I can always sell it if I need something larger. But the plan is to acquire my moms 5D after I toy around with the T3i for a couple years.
 
I have a Sony a65, not the greatest for photos but when it comes to video it is amazing. Fast AF, good clarity, I got one brand new with decent glass for $1000. I'd say it might be worth it to save up a bit more than $700, even if its not this camera, just for any camera in general
 
I have to add that with Sony DSLT's, you will be inclined to shoot 1080p@60fps. Don't do it with the computer setup you have. I have a really similar computer setup to you, and those files were just too much for it to handle when my friend gave me his footage from his A65.
 
What software were you using to mess with the footage, you should be just fine with that kind of a setup. Also you can change your recording mode from AVCHD to MP4 which would be easier for a lot of computers to handle, just not quite as high quality
 
I converted all of his AVCHD's to MP4's in handbrake, then I edited it with premiere. I tried playing back at 1/4 quality as well but it just didn't work well at all.
 
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