Basic, decent video & audio equipment

Started by Sleepless, April 20, 2012, 12:14:10 PM

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Sleepless

Hey guys, I am probably one of the least technically astute people on this board. I've always leaned more to the creative (writing) aspect of film than the technical stuff. I know a bunch of you really know your shit, so I'm asking for recommendations.

The lawyer I (currently) work for wants to start doing more videos. Primarily these will be short vlogs shot either at the office or outside. Occasionally some green screen work (urgh). I'm looking for suggestions for a decent camera and microphone. I don't particularly like lapel mikes and was thinking rifle/boom but what do you guys recommend? If push came to shove, I'd sacrifice image over audio quality.

Our overall budget is around the $1,000 ballpark. Any recommendations? Appreciate it.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

matt35mm

This'll do ya for sound ($230, free shipping).

http://www.amazon.com/Rode-VideoMic-VMP-Shotgun-Microphone/dp/B004K8WPUQ

Something like this for camera ($350, free shipping):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&sku=748413&is=REG&A=details&Q=

Any basic tripod would be fine. ($20)

So that's $600 and it'll look and sound pretty damn good for your purposes.

Do y'all already have editing software? If not, Final Cut Pro X is $300, or you can even go with something more basic like Windows Movie Maker, although I've never used that and don't know how easy it is to use or what features it has.

Either way, you can definitely come in well under budget for everything that you'll need. And the nice thing about the set-up that I've recommended is that it couldn't be simpler to use. That mic doesn't need any cables and you won't need to buy anything extra. You wouldn't need an extra person to do sound or worry about syncing sound. It's all just point-and-shoot. For vlog purposes, the person can just point the camera at him/herself and not need any extra people.

Sleepless

Thanks Matt. We're just going to use iMovie for editing. Basic, but it suits our needs.

One concern we have is the mic picking up up background sounds. Is that more or less eliminated with a shotgun mic? Bearing in mind, we're going to be mostly shooting in an office building (with the door closed of course, but it's not like shooting on a set per se).
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

matt35mm

The shotgun mic will help with most of that, depending on how far away the subject is from the camera. You can also try to find a variation of that mic with a longer shotgun (the longer the shotgun, the more the sound will be isolated to what you're pointing it at). But I think that mic will be just fine. The good thing about that setup is that it's simple and it all goes straight into the camera. You won't want to fuss with recording audio to a separate unit and having to sync it up.

The reviews for that mic are really good though, so if it were me, I'd feel totally comfortable buying that mic. Whatever camera you get, make sure it has a 3.5mm minijack input for a mic (it most likely will; the camera that I linked to does).

iMovie will work just fine.

Sleepless

He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Sleepless

Alright, so I need y'all's shopping advice once more.

I'm considering buying a microphone which I can use for shooting straight-forward videos (just a person talking direct to camera). However, ideally I'd like to be able to use it to record podcasts and webinars too.

Would something like a Blue Yeti work for shooting videos, or would you recommend something more conventional like a radio mic? I realize that asking for one mic to do both of these things isn't ideal, but I'm only going to be able to afford one mic for now. I need to be able to use it easily when shooting video, but it's also got to produce good quality audio so - at the very least - I can strip away the video and just use it as audio.

Suggestions much appreciated!!!
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.