WirelessPhreak.com

I like to travel, f*ck with technology, and partake in the occasional tropical drink.
I am also a co-host on The NBD Show podcast.
Follow Me

A Videographer's Starter Gear Bag



By   WirelessPhreak      Tuesday, August 15, 2017      Labels: , , ,  

Friend, co-worker, and guest blogger Matt Krieg owner of Krieg Productions talks about his video setup. You can find him at his website www.kriegproductions.com or check out his youtube channel.

So, you want to be a videographer?
It seems like everyone with a camera wants to make money creating videos these days. But there’s a lot more that goes into video production than you might think. From the monthly software or subscription fees to the thousand dollar stabilizers, the investment needed for professional level video is much higher than you may think. However, that isn’t to say it can’t be done on a budget and I’m going to show you the bare minimum you’ll need to get started in professional video production.

Equipment
Alright - just accept this bitter reality right now - camera equipment is very expensive. Don’t try to cut corners on everything by buying the cheapest gear y
ou can find because you’ll pay the difference later down the road. Trust me. You don’t need a whole lot to get started but you’ll probably end up buying more equipment for each project you take on. Don’t get caught up in all the gear specs right now, if your brand new to videography just understand this one concept on gear. The diminishing return on camera equipment starts a lot sooner than you may expect. There is a huge difference between a $100 camera and a $1,000 camera but there is very little difference between a $1,000 camera and a $3,000 camera. You’ll want to stay at this sweet spot of about $1,000 for your camera. Maybe even lower if you’re on a serious budget. So, once you understand that you don’t need to drop $5,000 on your first camera let’s get right into the gear.

Camera
Your camera is going to be your workhorse, so leave a little more room on the budget for a solid camera. Since our main objective is video I’m going to focus on the two powerhouse brands in the video market right now: Panasonic and Sony. I’m not going to discuss which is the better camera, but Sony seems to run on the more expensive side compared to Panasonic’s line. I think the best budget friendly 4k camera on the market today is the Lumix G7 from Panasonic. It currently cost around $600 with the kit lens but I’ve seen them as low as $500 during sales. You get a ton of features for the price and you’ll be future proof for a bit longer with the 4k video resolution. If you do end up going the Sony route be aware that you’ll be paying a premium for lens’ and accessories.

Lens
Lenses are often overlooked when getting into videography; however, I believe having the right lens can be more important than having a high-end camera in most cases. You’ll want to keep a little money for a nice quality lens or two. Most kit lenses are sufficient, but having a couple focal lengths to choose from will definitely step up your quality game. I like to use a 25mm fixed (equivalent to a 50mm in full frame) and a 12–60mm zoom lens. The 25mm is one of the cheapest lenses out there and it is very versatile. The 12–60mm, or 14–42mm if you get the G7, will be a great ‘run & gun’ lens.

Audio
Sound is just as important as video and if you’re lacking in the sound department, no one will watch your videos. The brain actually processes sound before visuals so it is crucial to spend just as much, if not more time, perfecting audio than video. The on-board audio from your camera is garbage.  But you do have a few options as far as audio recording goes. If you’re not sure what kind of videos you’ll be making, I’d recommend going with a small shotgun mic that attaches to the camera’s shoe mount and plugs directly into the camera. Rode makes a nice line of mics for this category and the two big options are the VideoMic GO or the VideoMic Pro. The Pro version has a built-in audio processor while the GO version is just a shotgun microphone using the cameras audio processing. There is plenty of info out there comparing these mics so you’ll have to make the call on which one will fit your needs. Of course, in some cases a lavalier mic (worn on the collar) or external shotgun mic will work better but this is going to cost a lot more and won’t be as versatile.
Here are a few of my recommended microphones on the market:
VideoMic Pro - http://amzn.to/2i4KEg7
VideoMic GO -  http://amzn.to/2wOmI3Q 
Great wireless lavalier - http://amzn.to/2i38Pvg
Affordable lavalier - http://amzn.to/2vZKaxm
Solid external shotgun mic - http://amzn.to/2vGOAXB 

Lighting
You will go crazy trying to find the best lighting equipment on a budget so, to make this easy for you, just pick up some 700W softbox lights for $60 - $80. For most shoots, I like to use as much natural light as possible and I find myself rarely using artificial light. But it is great to have some as a backup just in case. Good lighting will take creativity and practice so don’t spend a ton of money on lighting early on.

Everything else

Tripod – Amazon basics makes an affordable tripod that gets the job done, however if you have more to spend I’d recommend the Manfrotto 290 Xtra as it is a much higher quality. You can watch my review if it here: https://youtu.be/U-0_l_zkncQ 
Manfrotto tripod - http://amzn.to/2vBRdv3
AmazonBasics tripod - http://amzn.to/2wOxLKq 

Batteries – Four batteries should be plenty for a day of shooting and you can find batteries for your camera relatively cheap from numerous brands on Amazon.

SD Cards – The one thing you’ll want to look out for here is the speed of the card. Make sure the card says U3 which is usually 95MB/s. Having two 64GB SD cards should give you just over 2hours of 4k recording.
95MB/s - http://amzn.to/2fIJJkJ
150MB/s - http://amzn.to/2vGXUL3

Storage – You’re going to go through hard drives like never before when you start importing all the 4k video files so make sure you set aside some money for external hard drives. If you’re getting paid to do video work you will need to back up everything at least twice. The last thing you want is a corrupt or failed hard drive with someone’s valuable footage on it so save yourself that headache and back it all up.

Editing software – This is mainly personal preference but you can’t go wrong with Adobe Premiere Pro CC which is available in the Adobe Creative Cloud service. Another good editing program is Sony Vegas but I haven’t used that brand nearly as much as Adobe’s programs. If you’re a student in college you can get a nice discount on the creative cloud membership and it’s well worth it.

Conclusion 
Remember this is the bare minimum of what you would need to start shooting professional videos. There are TONS of other accessories that would help you create the best possible product however it would also cost a lot more for all of it. You will more than likely end up like me - purchasing a new piece of gear for every new project, with some reason to justify your guilty spending. But in the end, it comes down to you as a creative videographer and your ability to create a meaningful story through the lens. If it all came down to who had the best equipment then all the richest filmmakers would have the best content and this is simply not the case. So do your research, buy a camera that fits your budget, and start filming.

But keep in mind - the best camera is always the one you have with you.

About WirelessPhreak

Just your everyday Packet Wrangler who enjoy's traveling and anything techie...