Tell me what camera to buy

JAlps

JAlps

Member
Hey! So the older dslr I had and was planning on using this season seems to just not work at all (Canon rebel XT) so I am back to square one and looking to buy a camera. Sorry to make one of these threads but input from people who are doing the same thing I'm looking to do is so helpful! From what I have done in the past I see this as being something I could really enjoy and get into, so I would rather spend a little bit more now to serve as an investment into the future.

1) What is your budget? How much money can you spend right away, and do you think you can get more money to invest in the future?

Right now my budget is around $800, and I would definitely be able to invest more in the future.

2) What experience do you already have with cameras? Have you ever even used one before? Have you helped your friend out with his camera? Have you owned your own?

Yes I have used one, unfortunately said camera broke. I understand decently how to shoot in manual etc.

2) What gear, if any, do you currently have? (tripod, old camera lenses, mics, etc)

I have a tripod as well as a canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, as well as a macro lens that is currently hiding in my closet somewhere.

4) What are you planning to shoot and how do you want to use your camera? Are you going to use this with the sole purpose of shooting skiing? or do you think you might try other stuff as well (movies, documentaries, short films, etc)

99% of filming will be for skiing in the winter, and downhill riding in the summer.

5) Do you want a camera that you can hand to your friends, that could or could not have film experience, and let them shoot you? or will you be doing all the filming?

I'll be doing all the filming.

6) When filming skiing, how do you tend to shoot? (follow cams, leave it on record on a tripod and hike, film from a tripod, etc)

Just getting into filming but I would like to do a bit of it all. I figure Ill start out with just a tripod and work my way up to steadicams etc. with more experience/money.

7) What computer do you currently have/use to edit (if not currently editing, what would you most likely use)? If you can provide specifics, such as hard drive space, RAM, processor size, that would be great.

Gaming rig that I built myself, I also have an imac with final cut pro and photo shop etc.

specs: 2TB HDD, 128 GB SSD (boot drive), 8gb RAM, i5 3570k, GTX 660ti.

7) What program do you currently edit on? How familiar are you with it (1- just learning; 10- I can make tutorials and know the keyboard layout)

Final cut pro, as well as adobe cloud. I'm just learning but my sister works in film so I have pretty much everything I could need in terms of software, as well as a good teacher.

---------------------------Optional Section, for those seeking a more intensive upgrade/purchase------------------------

1) Do you think you might consider using a DSLR?

Yes

2) Do you have any knowledge about the HDSLRS?

Yes

3) Do you know the limitations to using HDSLRS?

Yes

4) Are you willing to take the time to learn about a DSLR, and how to shoot with manual lenses?

hell yes.

5) Again, do you want a camera that you can hand to your friends, that could or could not have film experience, and let them shoot you? or will you be doing all the filming?

100% me, if it isn't me it will be someone who knows their shit better than me haha.

Thanks for reading this wall of text!
 
not an expert on all types of cameras but from your answers it seems like you'd like a dslr. youre doing more video than anything else so personally id look at a good camcorder but i understand the desire for a dslr. im a canon guy so id probably reccomend a t4i or t5i. i know other than the 7d mk2 (which is way out of the budget you listed) all canons only do 1080 @30fps which is why i might look at something else i all youre gonna be doing is filming. the gh3 is apparently pretty good but i havent used one so i cant speak for it. might be able to find a used one for cheap
 
Oh yeah I forgot to mention! I have been looking a lot at the GH4 (one listed for $780 close to me), which honestly i think would be the best choice but it is slightly out of my budget.

The other thing I was looking at was the black magic pocket camera, does anybody have any experience using this for filming skiing specifically and if so how was it? I'm a little hesitant because it only shoots at 24fps, and that would pretty much eliminate the possibilty of slow mo shots.

Honestly never considered a camcorder, I always figured a decent one would be way out of my price range. But I think I would prefer an slr so I have the option of stills.
 
13595350:NightFantasies said:
Oh yeah I forgot to mention! I have been looking a lot at the GH4 (one listed for $780 close to me), which honestly i think would be the best choice but it is slightly out of my budget.

The other thing I was looking at was the black magic pocket camera, does anybody have any experience using this for filming skiing specifically and if so how was it? I'm a little hesitant because it only shoots at 24fps, and that would pretty much eliminate the possibilty of slow mo shots.

Honestly never considered a camcorder, I always figured a decent one would be way out of my price range. But I think I would prefer an slr so I have the option of stills.
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I'd consider a GH3. They're cheap as hell now and every bit as good as a GH4 for shooting skiing. Chances are you're going to be shooting in 60p most of the time anyway, so the 4K on the GH4 is pretty much irrelevant. The extra couple hundred could go towards glass or support or a mic or whatever.

I had a Pocket cam for a couple years and I now have the 2.5K cinema camera, but I don't really shoot skiing anymore. The look of Blackmagic cameras blows every DSLR out of the water, but they do have a lot of annoying drawbacks for skiing. Battery life and internal audio quality are both abysmal. Not having 60p is kind of fun though. Forces you to shoot smoother and not rely on the really cliche excessive speed ramps everyone gets wet over around here. I shot some park edits on a pocket cam last winter and I just ended up adapting 24fps as a part of my filming/editing style.
 
I just got a Nikon d3300. I haven't used it yet since I just barely got it but I'm super excited and I'd recommend looking into it. It shoots 1080 60p like the GH3. Only downside is that it doesn't have a flip out screen, but the Nikon D5300 does and that's worth looking at as well. I also almost got the Sony a5100 too. So yeah just look into those cameras as well and see what you find.
 
After a ton of research I think I have whittled the choices down to the Nikon d5300, and the gh3. My main concern is lenses and the gh3's micro four thirds lense/sensor size, how big of a drawback really is this if any? There is always the option of a speedbooster but that's a pricey fix haha.

The next thing I have to look into is getting glass so that's whats kinda keeping me from pulling the trigger right now.

Thank you guys though you are being really helpful!
 
13595684:NightFantasies said:
After a ton of research I think I have whittled the choices down to the Nikon d5300, and the gh3. My main concern is lenses and the gh3's micro four thirds lense/sensor size, how big of a drawback really is this if any? There is always the option of a speedbooster but that's a pricey fix haha.

The next thing I have to look into is getting glass so that's whats kinda keeping me from pulling the trigger right now.

Thank you guys though you are being really helpful!
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I mean honestly if youre going totally new and you havent already invested in glass go gh3. M4/3 gets a little funky with an adapter but its still a huuuuuuge upgrade from any sort of canon t*i.

I went with an adapter with just a manual aperture and i get mad vignetting when I go over like f 11..but id rather invest in some voigt glass than drop 700 dollars on a metabones. Only lens i really havr is my 11-16 so im not too worried about it.

Gonna have to invest in some m4/3 lenses here pretty soon tho.
 
Okay yeah I just found a sweet deal for the gh3 near me on cragslist so I will now have around $450 to drop on a glass etc.

Any recommendations in terms of a good all around lens to pick up?
 
13595684:NightFantasies said:
After a ton of research I think I have whittled the choices down to the Nikon d5300, and the gh3. My main concern is lenses and the gh3's micro four thirds lense/sensor size, how big of a drawback really is this if any? There is always the option of a speedbooster but that's a pricey fix haha.

The next thing I have to look into is getting glass so that's whats kinda keeping me from pulling the trigger right now.

Thank you guys though you are being really helpful!
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hm one thing I will say is not all 1080p's are created equal.

if you need to look into getting glass, i'd say grab a gh3 and get some legacy nikon or canon glass and an adapter and you're good to go for way cheaper than nikon lenses would run you. IF you shot more stills the d5300 would likely be better but if not then the gh3 for video would be better by far. Depends what you wanna do with it I guess.

Also sensor size doesn't matter so much, just makes the crop factor around x2 so your lenses are all zoomed in a bit more. Doesn't bother me much if at all tbh, a 11mm lens comes out to 22mm and I've never really felt the need to shoot wider than that.
 
Aight well fortunately for me I just found an older canon ef 35-80 f/1.4-5.6 laying around on an old film camera in my house, so I think I'm going to just stick with that because why wouldn't I right?

As far as an adapter would one like this that supports lens auto focus functions be good? or do I just need to stick with the $30 option where everything is manual.
http://www.adorama.com/KAELAM43EOS.html?hotlink=t&svfor=5m&gclid=CK2jl5rLk8oCFckYHwodmmICbw

Once again thanks so much for real. I'm excited to start shooting.
 
13596349:NightFantasies said:
Aight well fortunately for me I just found an older canon ef 35-80 f/1.4-5.6 laying around on an old film camera in my house, so I think I'm going to just stick with that because why wouldn't I right?

As far as an adapter would one like this that supports lens auto focus functions be good? or do I just need to stick with the $30 option where everything is manual.
http://www.adorama.com/KAELAM43EOS.html?hotlink=t&svfor=5m&gclid=CK2jl5rLk8oCFckYHwodmmICbw

Once again thanks so much for real. I'm excited to start shooting.
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metabones is amazing, so much $ tho
 
13596662:cdip said:
metabones is amazing, so much $ tho
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Tru though. I don't really understand why it's THAT expensive but it doesn't suprise me too much.

I changed my mind again (hopefully for the final time) to the Sony a7. I found out that evidently my family has a 4 different canon FD and 2 EF lenses that I didn't know about, so I would rather pay slightly more for the frame and the ability to just throw a cheaper adapter on it and have all the glass I could need to learn. Also the capability to shoot raw video at 60p is quite attractive.
 
13596679:NightFantasies said:
Tru though. I don't really understand why it's THAT expensive but it doesn't suprise me too much.

I changed my mind again (hopefully for the final time) to the Sony a7. I found out that evidently my family has a 4 different canon FD and 2 EF lenses that I didn't know about, so I would rather pay slightly more for the frame and the ability to just throw a cheaper adapter on it and have all the glass I could need to learn. Also the capability to shoot raw video at 60p is quite attractive.
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I have the a7, its a great cam. im selling mine and upgrading to the s version!
 
13596704:NightFantasies said:
Selling it for how much ;)
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i have lots of time to sell so im trying to get the most I can get. sadly I wouldnt sell it to you because for NS members I sell my stuff cheap.

try ebay and bphotovideo used department
 
13596728:cdip said:
i have lots of time to sell so im trying to get the most I can get. sadly I wouldnt sell it to you because for NS members I sell my stuff cheap.

try ebay and bphotovideo used department
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That doesn't make much sense... If you want to sell something then name a price. Let him deal with the shipping and dont give him a deal. NS isn't the obligatory deal site...

N0 h8
 
Ok hopefully this is my last question in here since I think i'm starting to obsess over this too much and need to focus more on just getting something and taking lots of pictures and videos.

How important is video compression in these cameras, is a lower compression rate really going to be noticeable. Is it something that I should really get caught up on at all considering I'm going to be using this camera mostly for video?

More in context here:

Sony A7: 1920x1080 at 28mb/s (AVCHD)

panasonic gh3 1920x1080 at 72mb/s (MOV)

panasonic gh4 1920x1080 at 200mb/s (MOV)

It seems like the a7 generally will take the best stills with a full frame sensor, higher definition etc. and the Panasonic's are more accustomed to video. The only thing stopping me from just going with the Panasonic is that I have a few FD and EF lenses that will be much easier to adapt to the a7 than the Panasonic.

Also is auto focus even useful for this king of shooting?

I should be deciding soon so I can get out of everyone's hair here ;)
 
13597820:NightFantasies said:
Ok hopefully this is my last question in here since I think i'm starting to obsess over this too much and need to focus more on just getting something and taking lots of pictures and videos.

How important is video compression in these cameras, is a lower compression rate really going to be noticeable. Is it something that I should really get caught up on at all considering I'm going to be using this camera mostly for video?

More in context here:

Sony A7: 1920x1080 at 28mb/s (AVCHD)

panasonic gh3 1920x1080 at 72mb/s (MOV)

panasonic gh4 1920x1080 at 200mb/s (MOV)

It seems like the a7 generally will take the best stills with a full frame sensor, higher definition etc. and the Panasonic's are more accustomed to video. The only thing stopping me from just going with the Panasonic is that I have a few FD and EF lenses that will be much easier to adapt to the a7 than the Panasonic.

Also is auto focus even useful for this king of shooting?

I should be deciding soon so I can get out of everyone's hair here ;)
Click to expand...

GH3 video > A7 video hands down and gh4 even more so, and the a7 probably takes better quality pics, you're right.

the 200 mb/s isn't necessary for most things (maybe if you were just filming foliage all day long), but the gh4 offers 100mb/s and 50 mb/s which is cool too, not to mention the chances of your memory card failing at 200 mb/s is a lot higher.

Autofocus is useless for video.

Also dude, it'll be just as easy to adapt for panasonic as a7 if not easier. you buy an adapter (micro 4/3rds can adapt MORE lenses than the a7 Including dx lenses because of the crop factor).

but before you even start comparing specs and stuff, Look at a photo shot with a gh3/gh4 and compare it to a photo shot with an a7 and try and tell me if you personally can actually tell them apart. Same for video for that matter although video might be a lot more obvious
 
Well I finally pulled the trigger on a GH4, thank you guys for being so helpful with my questions. Can't wait to start posting some edits!
 
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